3 Doctrinal Areas I’m Struggling with Right Now

Going further in exposing those who insist that the doctrines of the Catholic Church are the correct ones, we would like to point out that no human being, not even Jesus, is perfect. Jesus could have sinned but did not. Jesus could get angry, which he did on certain occasions, once even knocking over tables in a temple.

The Catholic Church as well as Jehovah’s Witnesses attribute infallibility to their church leaders, but that is contrary to the thought or teaching of the Bible.

Papal infallibility, in Roman Catholic theology, the doctrine that the pope, acting as supreme teacher and under certain conditions, cannot err when he teaches in matters of faith or morals.

The Pope isn’t infallible, the same as the Watchtower and Tract Bible Society is not infallible.

The writer of this reblogged article should be aware that there are many good reasons not to convert to the Roman or any other Catholic faith, or even to come under the authority of any Church he or she can find on this globe. Churches are only means, no necessity, to come to God.

I think there is something to be said of being willing to come under authority, even when it would require you to submit areas of your life and belief that you haven’t completely worked out yet.

Good that the writer can’t accept the doctrines the Catholic Church has of Mary and the Saints, because the God of the Bible is very clear, that He has to be considered the Only One True God above all gods and that He as the only Eternal Spirit (i.e; having no birth and not death) Who no man can see (Jesus and all other gods were seen). One does not have to be “ready to dive into those deep theological waters” because the Bible speaks very clear logical language. “Those deep waters” many people encounter or see by several denominations are just there because those denominations do not keep to the Biblical teachings but have set their own human teachings above the Biblical teachings.

The best thing to have your faith grow is by going from the first book of the Bible to the last, by just letting the Words of the Bible speak to you, forgetting for a while the words of many churches who most often claim for themselves that they are the only true church.

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Preceding

Biblical inerrancy and the Catholic Church

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Literature of interest

1. The Almighty Lord, God above all gods
2. Only One God
3. God is one
4. 1.253 billion Catholics worldwide
5. Rumours of problems in Roman Catholic Church
6. Two synods and life in the church community
7. Different assessment criteria and a new language to be found for communicating the faith
8. Youngsters, parents and the search to root in life
9. 25 Orthodox rabbis issued a statement on Christianity
10. Anti Jehovah sites
11. Belonging to or being judged by
12. Dave Norris and his writings on the Belgian Bible Students
13. Jehovah’s Witnesses Circuit Assembly and a Pillar to freedom
14. French Catholic church covered up abuse of 330,000 children
15. Indulgence still offered by roman Catholic Church
16. Evangelicalism in France on the rise

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Related

1. Doctrines of the Bible
2. The Foundation Of Sound Biblical Doctrine
3. Thinking through Biblical doctrine
4. Reading the Bible in a Year: Things to Note Before You Begin
5. Youth Group: Teaching Doctrine
6. Freedom and Order
7. The Church Is Holy
8. Reading from a different bible
9. Verbum Catechism Collection Giveaway
10. False Prophets of Capitalism
11. It’s most opposed to the Christian spirit
12. Where are Catholic Teachings in the Bible?
13. Why Does the Catholic Church Teach That Contraception Is Wrong?
14. Following Jesus requires you to grow up
15. Octave of Christian Unity – Vine and branch
16. Catholic Action
17. The Christian Church solemnly condemned slavery 500 years ago
18. Why the Luminous Mysteries of the Rosary?
19. Discipleship | Forming the Believer
20. Beware
21. The Foundation Of Sound Biblical Doctrine
22. The Making of Images
23. A Common Misunderstanding Among Christians Todays
24. What is Blasphemy of the Holy Spirit?
25. The Fallacy of the “Old Testament God”

Running to Rome

Change is never easy.

Especially when that change is in a foundational area of your life.

Like faith.

That is why I want to be totally upfront with those that read this blog. The change that is taking place in me isn’t easy. I’ve been a Protestant Christian since I was 8 years old, and my whole life has revolved around it. That means for the better part of 32 years I have followed, been involved in, and worshipped as a passionate Protestant Christian. I have raised my family here, worked here, and served here.

It has been home for myself, and my family.

It’s never easy to change something that is so deeply entrenched in your life, and the life of your family.

That is why I am taking my time with this transition. This isn’t something where you blow up old foundations to lay new ones. You must…

View original post 1,048 more words

Need to reject an archaic, racist inspired interpretation of the Bible and animosity against other believers

In Belgium and France we see a growing hatred against lovers of the One and Only One True God, the Elohim Hashem Jehovah. Several Jews have been attacked physically or were made afraid by all kinds of threats or intimidations. That made many of our brethren and sisters leave for Israel. In France Jehovah’s Witnesses, Bible Students and Christadelphians are prohibited to proclaim the Good News or the Gospel of the Kingdom in public, for example by speaking to people on the street or by billing leaflets. In several regions people look down at Muslims or show their hate, giving the impression that they must be all so terrible or be believers of the faith IS promotes.

The Netherlands for years already had their very conservative Calvinist groups, but the last 30 years they were joined by other radical Christians. Many of those follow the Bible literally and can’t read in between the lines nor showing understanding Hebrew thinking or Hebrew way of talk.

As a college professor, the writer of Help from Heaven looks at this world and sees how we have come to a period people want to have eye-flaps, but also finds that the present youngsters could perhaps be more interested in and learning from stories that illustrated the teachings he was bringing but also about the teaching the Holy Scriptures wants to bring to mankind.

Is it

Archaic, bygone, ancient, passe, primitive, old. {Bonkers away blog: daily-prompt: Archaic}

that makes us not fitting in this world any more, giving us the impression it is becoming less accepting, more limited of views, less free thinking, more prudent, less receptive to other opinions. We clearly feel how youngsters today look more hostile to different thinking people, otherwise believers and to those who belong to a different culture.

Also certain communities are guilty of bringing limitations to free thinking. We even do not have to go far. In our own regions we have very conservative Jews who want to have the children over protected and also want them to believe in literal Biblical interpretation, holding fast on a six day creation and as such with their thought on the same line as the growing group of Christian Creationists. You may call it a response to modern evolutionary theory, which explains the emergence and diversity of life without recourse to the doctrine of God or any other divine power. Mainstream scientists generally rejecting creationism may find several believers in God joining them too, but worse is to see how by the growing pressure of certain religious groups trying to get diversion or war between other religious groups, we can see many more people getting fed up with religion and putting it aside.

Certain people want to to overwrite history and think they can make for it a better picture that covers the archaic marks and portray a new picture. They have the impression the strokes that they shall strike this time shall be much stronger and sharper just like the person they have become in the journey of their life … {“Life is like an Old Sketch”}

The article “The Racist Bible” brings a view of the recent problems our world is facing. There is written:

We live with such an archaic interpretation of the Bible. People interpreted the Bible in different ways 100 years ago, 500 years ago, and 1500 years ago. We need to know why those interpretations came into being. Once we do, we can see how it is hurting us. Only then can we move on to a powerful Biblical interpretation, one that is vibrant and appeals to the modern non-Christian. {The Racist Bible}

In several of the Jeshuaists their articles they try to bring a view how the ancient Hebrews saw the beginning of the world and how the Adonai handled the rebellion of man. We can see how by the years ‘Church‘ made use to bend words or twist interpretations to get people under the spell or in their ban. Several religious groups love to have control over their flock and found it most appropriate to do that with fearmongering and with hard language (sometimes even going so far to use abusive language or enormity). Scaring people or trying to intimidate them has become more popular these days. We can find certain preachers (like Mr. Dave Norris) happy to present all sorts of lies about other religious groups than their own church, (for Mr Norris: the Bible Church), which must be the only one true church every one should have to become a member, because otherwise they shall have to burn in hell for ever. Strangely enough in several articles he attacks groups which say we are saved but still have to do works.  He then claims (like Mr. Cross Roman)  we do not have to do any works any more because we are saved by Christ his blood. Norris also knows about the problems of human tradition and writes

All this is ridiculous and pits Apostolic Authority against scripture. Judaism regards the Torah or the first five books of the Bible highly but not quite as high as the Talmud which is Jewish tradition. Tradition can be classified as a philosophy written by men. Whether you believe it or not the Bible was not written by men per se but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. Christadelphians and Bible students also follow their own traditions which supersedes the word of God and each Congregation of those bodies believe differently as there is no uniform Doctrine. Just like in the Book of Judges when everyone did what was right in their own eyes yes. I follow the word of God and place very little impetus on tradition. {Precious Spiritual Children- 2}

He tells others lies about the Belgian Biblestudents and Christadelphians, so called claiming Jesus would return a certain day or year (what they certainly do not)  but he himself writes that the Jewish people will accept a guaranteed peace covenant secured by the countries of the now 80% Islamic Roman Empire.

Norris on return of Christ + Jews+ Islamic world + doctrine of imminence+end-time prophesies

Some preachers, because they believe the world shall come to an end, try to call others false prophets and try their believers to belief that those groups would have prophesied such dates for the end of the world, whilst those groups, like the Belgian Bible Students and the Christadelphians already have spend many articles saying that we should be careful with people claiming that Jesus would return on such or such a day, because even Jesus did not know it and we also can not know the exact day of the return of Jesus. But for sure we may be sure that the world shall not come to an end, not because the Belgian Bible students and the Christadelphians belief so , but because that is just the biblical truth and God’s promise  to our Patriarch Abraham, that we may look forward to a big state of united people under God’s King his reign her on earth and in heaven.

Lots of present teachers attacking Jews, Non-Trinitarian Christians and Muslims do have much self-esteem and though they seem to recognise it as part of the possible signs of the end-times do not see the beam in their own eyes but blame the splinters in someone else’s skin, claiming that at all dates setters fail to do is to rely on the words of the scripture which they only are able to do, them being able to see how fast Satan is working to cause chaos and evil, deceiving this world (like Mr. Norris is doing), because all others are “kindergartners” or “have no brains” (Norris his words).

The kettle blames the pot that it looks black but does not see the beam in its own eyes while it complains about the splinters in someone else’s skin. Mr. Dave Norris blaming others to tell and warn about end-times sings, but giving himself also some recognition to those signs in his series over the The End Times (namely part 4)

It might look honourable when people try to talk about that nice prospect of their Messiah coming back. But then they would have to follow the footsteps of that Nazarene master teacher Jeshua, Jesus Christ, who preached peace and not war, like they are doing. So many preachers may be happy with the contemporary technology making it very easy to bring the Word of God all over the nations. To our regret we also find lots of people finding in it a tool to spit their gal and to do everything to have their poisonous words to obscure all reality and decency.

Internet evangelism is how the nations will have an opportunity to hear and receive the Good News. No longer can one person reach only as many as he knows or comes into contact with. Today one person, right out of the comfort of his home, can reach millions of people in places he has never been and most likely, never will go. One person can invest a little time, without investing thousands of dollars in travel expenses, and can do much more, plant more seeds, and encourage more brethren than if he were to board a plane and go somewhere. {Today’s “Roman Road” – the Internet}

But at the same time we can see how one person can manage to bring all sorts of writings on the different denominations which exist in the world of religion, to break them. He even attacks the people of God and let his readers believe that we give more attention to human teachings and traditions than to the Torah.

Dave Norris of the Bible Church on Jews + Talmud + Rabbinical teaching

Mr Dave Norris of an American bible Church wanting his readers and all people in the world to believe the Jews are using the goyim as their slaves and would find raping women and killing whites ok, clearly wanting to create hatred against the Jewish people (Picture from The Shocking Jewish Talmud Revealed)

Concerning founders Mr. Norris has shown, about other denominations too, he also has a strange view, him believing it were the Hebrews who founded Judaism, though it was the Most Almighty Elohim Who has chosen us as His people and promised us by the seed of Abraham a great nation.

He also seems to forget one of the main points of a monotheist religion, which according to him our ancestors would have created. In Judaism part 101-1 he mentions the essence of a monotheist religion, namely worshipping only One True God above all gods, whilst he is a worshipper not of “One and Unique” God, but of the trinity and as such worships three gods: a God the Father, god the son and god the Holy Spirit, and by doing so should fall under the polytheists. When he considers the Hebrew religion as the mother religion of his religion, we would like to ask him why he went so far away from his mother and betrayed her?

Judaism – Jews chosen by God practising and teaching monotheism

For Mr. Norris it seems to be clear that all those who preach peace between Jews, Christians, Muslims and non believers are oxymorons.

Mr Dave Norris finds all those who want to live in peace together and accept the other religious groups “biblical oxymoron” finding they falter between two opinions following Baal considering that (according to him) God and Baal are oxymorons as is this question of the agreement the temple of God has with idols. (Though he himself belongs to a church with several idols or gods.) (picture of his article: The Coexist Movement- 2)

Like he does not seem to see the many differences between the Bible students he also does not seem to know much about the different forms of Judaism, only mentioning three.

Dave Norris limited vision on Jewish groups

Though people like him are being followed by many as if they are the gurus of truth.

Perhaps he, living in the United States, feels united with the many creationists and conservative and fundamentalist Christians. Him also for the whites, thinking Jews love to kill them, can find  confirmation in the writing of the professor who writes

In fact, it was not until Luther that people started taking the Bible more literally. The Creationist movement, though, including the world-wide flood didn’t really take root until the southerners of 1850+ started promoting it. Thus, we had a racist theology demand that their interpretation was the only one. Many were convinced to write on it, without referring to slavery. Slowly the arguments strengthened, until many who are not racist accept the arguments. This, though has saddled us with a theology that contradicts science. Now, we have to invent miracles that are not mentioned in the Bible to fit this theology. For example, a single flood doesn’t leave layers, it jumbles up everything.  {The Racist Bible}

For the professor it might be clear that certain Western Christians have perhaps taken a too restricted look at the Scriptures and perhaps in their thought that the King James Bible is the only true Bible, many Americans even thinking those Hebrews, like Abraham, Isaiah and Jesus all had English Names and as such find, it can not be that the rebbe his name is Jeshua or that God is called Jehovah.

Perhaps it is getting time that people from the West Northern hemisphere start looking at the Bible with other eyes. They also should start questioning their attitude to Jews, real Christians, Muslims, other and non-believers. If they want to win souls or if they want to convert people, loving to see them as members of their Christian faith, it will certainly come down not to follow the way of preachers like Dave Norris serves his community of the Bible Church, because I think he is at the moment getting more people away from faith and religion than getting them in his group or into becoming a Christian. The way we see many Christians act against other Christians and how there is a growing number of Christians reacting cruel against other faith groups or pushing others not to believe in the existence of dinosaurs or that the earth is flat and that NASA would be fooling us about the round earth, it is understandable why so many Christians are leaving the Christian Faith.

We need to reject the archaic, racist inspired interpretation of the Bible. We need to look at it afresh. The interpretation I suggested is not necessarily right, but is a reasonable alternative. Right now, because we are stuck with the racist inspired creationism, we are losing Christians when they go to High School and college and study science. They see how the two conflict, and are rejecting the Bible in great numbers. If we study the Bible fresh, we will see that there are literal interpretations that do not conflict with science, and we can then focus on talking about Jesus without people saying, “I don’t believe that stuff. It is just an archaic myth that science has shown to be wrong.” {The Racist Bible}

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Preceding

Confrontation by people telling lies to force others to avoid the targetted groups

The written, the spoken, and the audible a part of the soul and a blessing to humanity but also the trigger to those who love Crusades and the Inquisition

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Additional reading

1. Dave Norris and his writings on the Belgian Bible Students
2. Trusting present youngsters who are not necessary evil
3. Overprotection and making youngsters drifting away
4. The way of looking at the Scriptures and the people in this world
5. Knife-trust in democratic sore back
6. Pushing people in a corner danger for indoctrination and loss of democratic values

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Related

1. The Watchtower Belgian Biblestudents
2. Belgian Biblestudent Deception- 1
3. Comfort Zone Gospel
4. Jonah; Wake Up
5. The Missing Piece to Salvation
6. Saved From What?
7. Selling Jesus
8. Think About It…
9. Entering the Trail to True Freedom
10. Main Reason to Share the Gospel
11. Evangelism as a lifestyle
12. How to Overcome Fear of Sharing the Gospel – The Story of the Waldensians
13. Forgetting that the Gospel is Good News, Romans 1:7
14. Salty Agape
15. Communicating the Wondrous Truth of God’s Love and Mercy
16. Eschatology for beginners (part 1)
17. The Return of Yeshua Ben Joseph, also known as Jesus – by New Dimension – 12-23-17
18. Exit Strategy End Times: “Unforgiveness and the Band Aid of agreement.” “
19. This is NOT the Time to be SILENT
20. Eastern Lightning | The Awakening of a Deceived Spirit (Part 2)
21. Keep Racing!
22. How to Teach About the Second Coming
23. Today’s “Roman Road” – the Internet
24. The Antichrist in the Holy Place Church
25. The Historical Lesson Historians Need to Learn
26. Scoffers
27. Why Is Christ’s Return Not Widely Taught?
28. The Beginning and the Ending
29. Seven Reasons For Six Day Creation
30. The Creationism
31. Elmore Fundamentalism, Part 1: Matter
32. More on Evolution: From the Mail Room, by Fred Reed
33. Is There Biological Evidence of Life’s Recent Creation? – Part I
34. Scientists Identify a Key Cognitive Error that Could Explain Why People Believe in Creationism and Conspiracy Theories
35. Why Evolution is True Review
36. Teleogical views predict not just creationism, but conspiracy theories
37. A Creationist Surprise
38. Is Creationism racist?
39. God and Science
40. Eric Hedin, prohibited from teaching intelligent design at Ball State, retires and moves to a Christian university
41. Claim of creationism taught in school linked to National
42. School response on creationism, claims evolution ‘controversies’
43. School response on creationism, claims evolution ‘controversies’ — Your NZ
44. Origin Story: A Big History of Everything
45. There IS Purpose!
46. Your Mythology is not Science
47. Where Were You Radicalized?
48. The Ends of the World
49. Civil Debate? Catcall? Or Creationist Ruse?
50. Faith abates reason at Edmonton’s first Flat-Earth International Conference
51. #1: Inexplicable Species and the Theory of Evolution
52. Evolutionary psychology: The naturalistic and agency fallacies
53. A creationist makes the dumbest criticism of evolution ever
54. Noah’s ark: the most ridiculed story in the Bible
55. Tel Aviv’s new natural history museum (built to look like Noah’s Ark) deliberately omits mentioning evolution
56. Why Do the Fundamentalists Love Tracey Ullman Now?
57. InfightingNon-Physical Fighting 2
58. Sikh Radicalisation in Britain
59. Waitress Denied Tip for ‘not loving Jesus’
60. Christian-hating transgender VT gubernatorial candidate DUPED by satire site: ‘Some evangelists just crazy!’
61. The Nashville Statement (A Plain Language Translation)
62. Love and Hate

Confrontation by people telling lies to force others to avoid the targetted groups

Many times in our life we have to make choices and do we have to be confronted by people willing to force us to make certain choices or to go certain directions. Those who want to re-direct people often are not afraid to use very offensive or intimidating language.

On the internet we do find lots of people who do not mind their way of speech. Some are convinced that their offensive manner of speech can attract more followers (what it seems to do) and shall get people so much afraid that they would not dare to give a negative reaction or would not dare to contradict the web-owner.

Dave Norris picturing Son. H. Spirit. Father. Christadelphians. Unitarians. Created Being. Mere Force. GOD. Jehovah Witnesses.

One such person is Dave Norris who seems to find pleasure in attacking Roman Catholics, Christadelphians and also seems to have a thing (or fling) with Mormons, because all people who dare to give an other reaction than what he expect he calls Morons and Mormons. Because this (seemingly very frustrated) author bombards the net with anti-Christadelphian material and provides several Christadelphian members with hateful or inappropriate language mails, the Belgian Biblestudents, after a lot of patience, did find it time to react on the net and to provide a special website to show people the many lies such people as Mr. Norris are presenting on the net as so called proof that Christadelphians, Jehovah’s Witnesses and other non-Trinitarian Christians are following false prophets, adhering false teachings and are people sent by Satan.

Too many people do forget that this matter about Trinity or not is a very old issue that came into existence after the death of Christ and became a terrible matter long after the death of the apostles, bringing clergy agreeing to a three-headed god for political and power reasons.

The clergy also found an interesting tool to keep people in their power and to please them with offering them all heathen pleasures, being able to have graven images to pray for, to use incense and do all sorts of rites taken from the pagan people and traditions. People also found more  pleasing answers in possibilities to have an other life after this life on earth, than the teachings of the Bible could offer them. The mixture of the philosophical writings, of the Greek and Roman cultures could find a nice amalgamation with the many pagan teachings and were blended in the Roman Catholic Church its teachings.

The Belgian Christadelphian Biblestudents (not to confuse with some other Belgian Christadelphian groups) are aware that lots of people do not have enough bible knowledge and therefore they would love to give an incentive to come to read the Bible, so that it can be examined who keeps most to the teachings of the bible, the trinitarians or the non-trinitarians.

Please come to know this website which want to come to the defence of all non-Trinitarians and in the near future also wants to present the different denominations which believe in only One God Who is One and not three.

Unmasking anti Jehovah sites and people

Showing the only One True God and the Way to That God

 

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Have a look at one way of Dave Norris reacting: Reaction to Vragensteller on Christadelphian Hogwash

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Find also

1. Anti Jehovah sites
2. For those who do everything to stop the work of Christadelphians
3. The Trinity matter
4. The Trinity – the Truth
5. Altered to fit a Trinity
6. Trinity – behind a false doctrine
7. Trinity – History

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Related

1. Unitarism [745] – Please take into account that the Belgian Christadelphians have no ties with the JW and that the Belgian Christadelphian Biblestudents may have connections with and have ex-JW members in the Biblestudent movement [those who returned after they first went with the schism group of the JW which was founded by Rutherford and not by Charles Taze Russell, the student of John Thomas (the founder of the Christadelphians)] Mr. Crossroman seems to have a limited view on the Christadelphians in general, but perhaps also thinks all Lutherans are as followers of the woman unfriendly Martin Luther women-haters, though he misses the point that the Christadelphians are not called Thomasians or Thomasists, like we can find Calvinists and Lutherans.
2. Trinity, Logic, and the Transcendence of Transcendence
3. What Constitutes a Cult?
4. Moongazers and Sunflowers
5. In which I cement my place in hell via Newton
6. 18 May: Alison Patrick of the Unitarian Church in Shrewsbury: Unitarian? What’s that?
7. Worship
8. Please don’t call me a Christian
9. I am an agnostic at heart
10. Is religious faith madness?
11. The Conflict that lives on.
12. A Theology of Doubt
13. Letter of the Day: Government must probe trial process
14. When Windows Become Mirrors
15. All One InTent
16. Open Minds, Welcome Hearts
17. The Broken Pastorate
18. Labyrinth #17: Unitarian Universalist Congregation, Rock Tavern, NY
19. A Rescued Life from Cult to Freedom: A Rebuttal of JW’s Beliefs
20. Top Of The Morning: What Do You Know About Jehovah Witnesses
21. Why Jehovah Witnesss confuse people 
22. Jehovah’s Witnesses
23. Denomination’s 5..Jehovah’s Witnesses.
24. August Dickmann-executed without a trial.
25. 10 Things You Should Know about Jehovah’s Witnesses (at that site once again we read the false statement that Charles Taze Russell would have been the first JW.)
26. Leaked Documents Reveal Jehovah’s Witnesses A Pedophile Cult David Zublick Channel Leaked internal documents from the Jehovah’s Witnesses church reveal a cover-up of a huge pedophile ring operating within the …
27. How Should We Act In The Face Of A False Teacher?
28. Was Jesus the Archangel Michael?
29. Do You Have to Believe in the Trinity to be Saved?
30. Ep. 4 – Jehovah’s Witnesses
31. More advice on dealing with Jehovah Witnesses
32. Why I hate fundamentalist people so much
33. Is the Watchtower Using (or Creating) Apocryphal Material?
34. Enduring as a Transgender Christian
35. OSC’s Watchtower street teach pt 1
36. YouTube: Who’s Lying Now Stephen Lett?
37. YouTube: Bigotry & Emotional Manipulation
38. My Interview with Mick Pillar-A Survivor of the JW Cult
39. Congratulations to Naomi!
40. ‘Extremist’ Faith: Russian Jehovah’s Witnesses Report Wave Of Police Raids, Detentions
41. UnBiblical Interpretation Can Cause Havoc To Your Faith
    Unitarian group supports BDS nomination for Nobel Peace Prize
42. Welcome! on a website to promote Unitarian Christianity as the best path to a personal relationship with God.
43. Dare Not Linger
44. Weighing Our Choices
45. The Peace of Wild Things
46. The End of the World

Americans their stars, pretension, God, Allah and end of times signs #3 Cyberwars and prophesy

There are people who think people are and/or should be free to call onto Allah or to say  “Allahu akbar”, but more and more we see all over the capitalist world antagonism. The hostility we can find mostly in Alt right and Neo nazist groups but also by the very conservative  (not to say “fundamentalist Christians”). Those fundamentalist Christians have the pretension to tell others what words they may or should use even in languages which are not their own. Others, like atheists, look at them and laugh with them, certainly when there are shootings in a church and everybody calls unto their god and is not helped by him. those who look at such shooting might question then

Does god exist, and if so, is jesus christ/christianity, the correct and factual representation of god? Now, anyone sane knows god does not exist, but put that aside for the purpose of this essay, and let’s consider the question to be legitimate. {Seven Days Later: The Fundamentalist Christian Dictatorship of amerikkka}

The “Seer of Forbidden Truth“, creator of “The Manifesto of Forbidden Truth”, as a believer in other things than God, naturally finds it a joke  what happens in this world, because he does not know or does not understand what God gave to the first human beings and what the Plan is of God. She (or he) is not the only ” anarchist, atheist, Immortalist, virgin for life, lover of Self, hater of humanity” {About Me} and is a good example of several youngsters of this capitalist world, where there is no place for God, who think they have all knowledge with

thousands of different uniquely brilliant insights into humanity and the human condition of existence, recognized and articulated by Me within The Manifesto of Forbidden Truth. {About Forbidden Truth}

Maliciously misinformed websites spread quickly, and on social media lots of people wanted to help spread false messages and took every opportunity to say bad things about lovers of God. Certain religious groups, like the Jehovah’s Witnesses seemed to work as a red cloth on a bull. They were left holding the baby. Not that they would have been so eager to be a sitting target, but for many who call themselves Christian they are the scapegoat. Often we could see that Roman Catholics tried to get the attention away from their paedophile priests by using the Jehovah’s Witnesses as the fall guys, as if they are an organisation letting children molested by their elders. In several countries former Jehovah’s Witnesses got together to go against that organisation, but in some cases also against the believes of that group. Several ex-Jehovah’s Witnesses having turned their back to God and often also against other non-trinitarians. A problem with many ex-Jehovah’s Witnesses is that they often quit faith and start using a terrible language which undermines their sayings as well, because it takes away a lot of credibility and gives the impression they got so cross and frustrated because they did not get what they wanted. All the hate language we can see by those ex-JW is not helping the advancement of the preaching of the Kingdom of God. The Jehovah’s Witnesses Organisation also denying they made several prophesies which did not come to a reality, undermines also the value of that organisation and of the people who follow in the footsteps of that church.  A big problem also seems to be that lots of people in that organisation are not taken serious and

more half-truths and obfuscations*are spouted by these so-called ‘Men of God’, in defense of the indefensable, and it’s about time they were called out on it. {This is the main reason that I left the Jehovah’s Witnesses . . .}

Some of those ex-JW became very strong opponents of the true faith in Jehovah. Many joined the trinitarians who found some strong fighters against the Biblical truth and people who could help in the message of hate. It is even incredible to hear what those so called christians use against the ones who belief in only one God and not want to make their Jesus in their god.

Trinitarian or non-trinitarian Christian, every reader of the bible should know that those preachers who tell that Jesus has come already should be aware that they should be cautious for false teachings because:

“23 Then if any man shall say unto you, ‘Lo, here is Christ,’ or ‘there,’ believe it not. 24 For there shall arise false Christs and false prophets and shall show great signs and wonders, insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. 25 Behold, I have told you before. 26 Therefore, if they shall say unto you, ‘Behold, He is in the desert!’ go not forth; or ‘Behold, He is in the secret chambers!’ believe it not. 27 For as the lightning cometh out of the east and shineth even unto the west, so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be. 28 For wheresoever the carcass is, there will the vultures be gathered together.” (Mt 24:23-28 KJ21)

Even Jesus could not tell when he would be coming back. In case he is God, he naturally would have known and than he would have told a lie, though you should know that God does not tell lies and that Jesus did not sin and as such also did not tell lies. Human beings and human organisations can tell many lies and can spread fake news, but God is a God of truth, God of reliability and a God of order and not a God of confusion. His language is clear and not confusing. When He says something you should take it as what it says.

We all hear from time to time that the world is about to end.  The most famous case in recent years might be 2012, when the Mayan calendar ended and thus many thought the world would end in that year also.  (Yet we’re all still here.) {Matthew 24:35-36: “But Of That Day And Hour No One Knows…”}

writes Jon Mitchell in his Weekend Bible Reflections. He also remembers hearing that this was it, back in 2008 when the economic crisis was happening.

‘Follow the shepherd‘ who takes himself a false god but also recognises that

Ever since the beginning of the Church, there have been people who have risen up claiming to be the Messiah or the only way to Heaven. But we know from God’s Word that there is one way, one truth, one life, and that is Jesus. Scripture is very clear and very serious about the exclusivity of Christ and the Gospel. {Stay Woke [A Look at Matthew Chapter 24]}

and continues

Head’s up: false teachers are coming. They’ve been around for ages, actually; people who go around looking to deceive the Church. They’re wolves in sheep’s clothing and false messengers of an unbiblical and false gospel. This is a tool Satan has used for centuries that will culminate with the rise of the Anti-Christ in the last days. Don’t be misled! Look around; stay woke. Let your foundation be built on the truth of Jesus and that He is the only way to salvation. {Stay Woke [A Look at Matthew Chapter 24]}

Some people do not like it when some one comes at their door to talk about their faith. Stevie Turner is such a full time writer, who was a member of a church choir, and came to question why so many children are made to follow their parents’ religious views, and writes

I’ve had Mormons, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Buddhists and Baptists at my door trying to convert me to their way of thinking. Why? Why can’t I be left in peace to follow my own beliefs? I don’t go knocking on people’s doors telling them which religion to follow. My philosophy is – if you want to believe in God, then believe in Him. If you don’t believe, then that’s fine too. {A Little Bit of Controversy Now & Again…}

Did she ever think it could have been of interest in her and her future, and out of love for her that people came to her door to talk about their faith?

For sure we are told that by the time we come closer to the end times there shall be more preaching in the world. But we are also warned that the world shall be in a terrible godless state.

“36 But of that day and hour, knoweth no man, no, not the angels of Heaven, but My Father only. 37 But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be. 38 For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark 39 and knew not until the flood came and took them all away, so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be. 40 Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken and the other left. 41 Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken and the other left. 42 “Watch therefore, for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come. 43 But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched and would not have suffered his house to be broken into. 44 Therefore be ye also ready, for in such an hour as ye think not, the Son of Man cometh.” (Mt 24:36-44 KJ21)

That world which does not want to know about God loves to use the internet platform to wage a cyberwar to divide society and to bring more hate between people and their religious groups. With that “cyberwarfare” we not only think of the use of digital attacks by one country or nation to disrupt the computer systems of another with the aim of creating significant damage, death or destruction. {(Ranger S., 2017 August 29)} Though we must be aware that it is not aimed uniquely at military or conflicting purposes. In a time when a cyberwar is a ‘bigger threat than terrorism’ people should know that the internet is by several people used to undermine the system and the stability in communities, countries and states.

When most people think of warfare they conjure images of combat on the front lines that are often depicted in historical war films. However, cyberwar is becoming an increasingly terrifying weapon. {Cyberwar}

Everywhere we can find groups who find themself superior to the other and who like to disparage the others.

Jesus who described his coming as similar to when the flood came, should have to make us wondering if we are prepared, or if we are just like when the flood suddenly came upon the people in Moses time (Matthew 24:37-41).

The world got the promise of God that there would never again be such a flood that the whole world would be under water. He warned that tsunami‘s and earthquakes would come more frequently and become stronger. The more frequently recurring natural disasters would get us closer to the time of Christ’s return and the to the rapture. And the time close to the return of Christ shall be a time of a lot of disorder, stress, nation fighting against nations and religions fighting against religions. when people would come to see such signs they should be prepared and not be like the foolish virgins or  the bridesmaids in the parables of Jesus. Even Jesus did not know the hour when it would come. In case he is God naturally he would have known but also would have lied when his disciples asked him when it would come. Therefore please make sure you are on guard and are ready for when the day would come. Take heed to yourself, so that your heart not become burdened by excessiveness and drunkenness and anxieties of life, and that Day comes on you unexpectedly. We must know God gave us His word to come to recognise the signs, but many shall be taken by it. For as a snare it will come on all those who dwell on the face of the whole earth. when we are willing to recognise that Jesus is the way to God and the way to salvation, the way to life, and worship the Only One True God we may count on the liberation by Christ and on his work as mediator between God and man. Therefore let us not become weak and be taken by false teachings and fake news but be on the watch-out, every day praying that we may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will happen and to stand before the Son of Man. (see Matthew 24:36-44; Marc 13:32-37; Luke 21:34-38; Matthew 25:1-13).

 

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Preceding

Americans their stars, pretension, God, Allah and end of times signs #1 Abrahamic religions

Americans their stars, pretension, God, Allah and end of times signs #2 War on God’s Plan, Name and title

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Additional reading

1. Creator and Blogger God 9 A Blog of a Book 3 Blog about Prophecy
2. God’s Plan, Purpose and teachings
3. The flood, floods and mythic flood stories 1 Flooding and Water-waves
4. Profitable disasters
5. Facing disaster fatigue
6. At the closing hours of 2016 #2 Low but also highlights
7. Are Christianity and Capitalism Compatible?
8. Social media a destabilisation tool in the Middle East and Syrian conflict
9. A busy 2017 #3 Fake, gossip and real news
10. I have not hidden …
11. Today’s thought “Sun, moon and stars” (January 22)
12. Date Setting
13. Signs of the Last Days
14. Signs of the the last days when difficult times will come

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Related

1. Muslim writer wants his “Allahu akbar” back
2. Seven Days Later: The Fundamentalist Christian Dictatorship of amerikkka
3. Why (Fundamentalist) Christians Hate Atheists
4. On Jehovah’s Witnesses 
5. Of Yehovah and Jehovah’s Witnesses — Dr. Michael Heiser
6. FaithLeaks, a ‘Wikileaks for Religion,’ Releases Documents On Sexual Abuse Among Jehovah’s Witnesses
7. My Last Defense
8. Jehovah’s Witnesses Exposed! Jordan Maxwell and Santos Bonacci
9. This is the main reason that I left the Jehovah’s Witnesses . . .
10. Waking Up Jehovah’s Witnesses With Proactive Activism in Poland
11. Jehovah’s Witnesses and False Prophecies
12. Watch: Gracefully Broken-Why We Left The Jehovah’s Witnesses
13. Jehovah’s Witnesses Are Wrong: 14. God Gives Eternal Life
14. My Story: Leaving Jehovah’s Witnesses at 15
15. A Little Bit of Controversy Now & Again…
16. The two Jehovah’s Witnesses
17. Cult Programming That Causes Parental Alienation is Absolutely Dangerous
18. Sad Note to the Jehovah’s Witnesses series
19. How to Rescue Your Family from the Jehovah’s Witnesses?
20. Why We Believe What We Do? You Sure About That? I Bet Not…
21. A reply from a child molester. 
22. Nancy Pelosi defends Al Franken and John Conyers but attacks Donald Trump and calls Roy Moore a child molester
23. A Child Molester or a Democrat?
24. Donald Trump is defending homophobic child molester Roy Moore
25. “>Trump endorses accused child molester Moore for Senate
26. An open letter to anyone who would vote for a child molester…
27. Oh Alabama, You Hurt Me So…
28. Moral Compass
29. Online Predators
30. Cardinal Law, central figure in church abuse scandal, dies
31. Metropolitan Opera House Accused of Ignoring Reports of Child Molestation Involving Icon James Levine
32. Hypocrisy on high alert
33. Genesis 6:5
34. “Life wasn’t meant to be Easy”
35. Religion
36. Understanding Shame growing up in a High Control Religious Group / Cult
37. The Church and Survivors of Fundamentalist Religions
38. I’ve been Published!
39. Sexist Attitudes in the Church
40. “I’m not coming back”
41. Needing to Belong
42. The Trials And Tribulations Of Life With Mental Illness
43. Hmm…Dreams…
44. Social Media and Democracy
45. Cyberwar
46. Cyberwar a ‘bigger threat than terrorism’
47. We’re at Cyberwar
48. Politicians Intermix Cyberwar, Information Warfare, And Fake News
49. Sounds of a CyberWar
50. Contribution to Cyberwar Attacks
51. Tomorrow when the Cyberwar began
52. Hacking and Cyberwar
53. Army strategizes for victory in cyberwar
54. End Of The World? Again?

Responses to Radical Muslims and Radical Christians

Some may think

The world is telling Christians that they must be blindly tolerant of all things or they are haters. {Churches response to Radical Muslims}

The Christians who are asking to be tolerant do not ask to be tolerant to violence. They ask do be concerned about those in need, and they ask to sincerely investigate all things and not to make conclusions too fast, putting everybody on the same line. Like after the Parisian attacks, so many people getting to shout to get all the refugees out and to stop them entering the European Union because they would be bringing Islam over our regions.

Русский: скромная одежда для muslims и non-muslims (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Most of the from violence fleeing people are not practising Muslims and they just want to be spared of any fundamentalist teaching reigning over their life. We should not straight ahead think those people would bring radical Muslim teaching to our regions. Even when lots of them may be Muslim it should not frighten us that they would convert people here. If they are able to convert people to Islam others should ask themselves

People may think they don’t have to tolerate everything that crosses their path or that we or others think they should tolerate. {Churches response to Radical Muslims} It is given to everybody in our democratic countries to utter their opinion. We always should make that clear to any body entering our regions and certainly to those who want to live in our regions. Those who come to live in our states should very well know that here there shall have to stay freedom of speech and freedom of religion. Such freedom of speech makes it also possible that there shall be people who take a stand against those teachings they consider false and against tolerances, that plague, divide and destroy the people of God.

Though what we see today is that certain Christians do think that those refugees would come in here in Europe or in other parts of the Northern hemisphere to

divide and destroy the people of God {Churches response to Radical Muslims}

But is that so?

No, it is an idea that many want to pose because they are afraid of their own identity being hurt. In case they would stand strong enough in their shoes they should not worry. Christians should even be joyful because this would give them more opportunities to preach their faith and convert others to their faith. Is it not because so many Christians do not preach any more and are themselves not active in the Witnessing process that they consider those who are preaching as a danger. As such we also find a lot of aversion and opposition against Jehovah Witnesses, Christadelphians, Mormons and other preaching believers.

Christians should know there is a Big Battle coming. They should prepare themselves and their children for it, but also should warn others around them for the dangers that shall come over our world. But they also should know that in the Holy Scriptures is written that one of the signs of the Last Days shall be that religion shall come to rise against religion. Those religious groups fighting against each other should not make us afraid but should make us even more prepared to go out in the world and to preach the Truth. In case our teachings are founded on the Truth, we should not have to worry. We also know that man can kill man but they shall not be able to take man away from God when that man is in God.

The Ethnic composition of Muslims in the United States, according to the United States Department of State based on the publication of Being Muslim in America as of March 2009 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

We do know many Americans do think they are the centre of the world and that Islamic leaders saw America as the central power of Christianity. We have no idea where they got that from, but for sure it is true that radical Muslims do consider Christendom (and not Christianity) as their arch-enemy. In case they should know better Christianity than they should be more moderate and recognise that not all Christians do worship a threeheaded god. They should know that there are also many Christians who worship only the One True God, Allah, The Elohim Hashem Jehovah. If they knew their history they should be able to see why Mohammed was the right person in its time on that place, but that throughout history there have always been true worshippers of the Only One True God, the God of Abraham (Ibrahim).

Tom Harkness is right in saying

Everything about the West they view as Christian, all that we find valuable they hate; democracy, transparency, the rule of law, human rights, the separation of religion from governments are all discredited in the eyes of the jihadis (Wayne Grudem; Politics according to the bible). {Churches response to Radical Muslims}

That is today’s biggest problem, that those fundamentalist Muslims are doing exactly the same thing as the fundamentalist Christians from some centuries ago but also from those today.

Certain Christians do want to believe there are some extra-terrestrial demons hovering around, which they call devils, under the leadership of their head-devil Satan who organise a world-war against Jesus. They forget that according to the Holy Scriptures a satan is any adversary, like Peter was called a satan. so they teach people

so that you have a sound response either in your own mind or when people are attempting to discredit the truth that this is a battle between satan and the Jews and satan and Christians. {Churches response to Radical Muslims}

They are right in the fact that it is a satan who goes into battle with the world of God. The adversary of will trample hard. He knows the end shall be coming near and it is high time to go into the counter-attack. Real believers of God have to see that and should recognise the dangers of getting pulled in the trap to act also against the Will of God.

People like Imam Sheikh Muhammad Ayed,  who has told Muslims to use the migrant crisis to breed with European citizens and

‘conquer their countries’.

are the ones who put oil on the fire and spread the lies which are fed with messages from negative reacting Christians and National Socialists.

‘Throughout Europe, all the hearts are enthused with hatred toward Muslims. They wish that we were dead, but they have lost their fertility, so they look for fertility in our midst,’ {Imam tells Muslim migrants to ‘breed children’ with Europeans to ‘conquer their countries’ and vows: ‘We will trample them underfoot, Allah willing’ }

God is a God of love and order. He wants us to feel respect for all creatures, including those who do not love God. We should not kill them but should present them a life full of hope and glory. With our strength of faith we should bring them over the line, getting them to see where the true expectations of God are.

The real reason radical Islamists attack America, may be born out of a want to create an Islamic State and to destroy Jews & Christians, but it is mainly also because they consider the West interfering with their politics and hindering their cause in their own regions, which do not belong to America nor Europe.

It’s important that we understand the background. These attacks are not caused by people experiencing poverty or oppression in poor nations. This was started and is maintained by well-educated upper class, largely college-educated mostly wealthy men. (Wayne Grudem: politics according to the bible) {Churches response to Radical Muslims}

We even should come to see who are really backing ISIS and providing them with the necessary funds to get all that weapon arsenal.

There are apparently as many Christians as Muslims in Lebanon (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Please let us always remember

“There are peaceful Muslims in the world that simply want to live their lives just like you and want their children to live peaceful and successful lives. The problem is not the peaceful Muslims but the radical Muslims. There are 1.2 billion Muslims, not all are radical. The radicals are 15-25% according to all intelligence reports around the world. That leaves 75% who are relatively peaceful people.” {Churches response to Radical Muslims}

We should concentrate much more on those peaceful Muslims as well on the peaceful Christians and should react to those Muslims and Christians who want to destabilise the world by their messages of hate and intolerance.

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Preceding articles:

Paris Attack and Ranting

Problematic Or Patriotic? Two Ways To Talk About Muslims

The World Wide Refugee and Migrant Crisis and a possible solution for it

Migration not something to fear

What we don’t say about the refugee crisis?

Social media and asylum seekers

Human tragedy need to be addressed at source

Real progress leaves nobody behind

Spike In Anti-Muslim Attacks Casts Spotlight On Government Policies

Don’t be Muslim

Children of Men

Tolerance Ends When There Is No Tolerance Shown Towards Us

My two cents on the refugee crisis

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Find also to read:

1. Meaning of life
2. Our relationship with God, Jesus and eachother
3. Suffering through the apparent silence of God
4. If you have integrity
5. Integrity of the fellowship
6. More Muslim children than Christian children growing up in our cities
7. Being Charlie 10
8. 2014 Religion: with a.o. Global war against Christians
9. Syrian but also Belgian connection to French attacks
10. Brussels-born Salah Abdeslam key suspect Paris terrorist attacks
11. Paris attacks darkening the world
12. Refugee crisis, terrorist attacks and created fear
13. Massive police operation in northern Paris suburb of Saint-Denis
14. French Muslims under attack
15. Americans wrongly informed about situation in Europe
16. Trump brand of migrant demonization #1
17. Trump brand of migrant demonization #2
18. Are people willing to take the responsibility for others
19. Daring to speak in multicultural environment
20. Sharing a common security and a common set of values
21. Faith related boycotts
22. Mocking, Agitation and Religious Persecution
23. If Europe fails on the question of refugees, then it won’t be the Europe we wished for
24. Schengen area and Freedom for Europeans being put to the test as never before
25. Europe’s refugees just follow the ancient routes for the peopling of Europe in the Neolithic
26. American atheists most religiously literate Americans
27. Is Turkey attempting to resurrect the Ottoman Empire
28. To freeze the fighting in Aleppo
29. Is ISIS a product of American in-action or a product of direct action
30. Islamic State forcing the West to provide means for Kurdistan
31. Funding of ISIS
32. ISIL will find no safe haven
33. Wrong choices made to get rid of Assad
34. Cities not under fear but monuments feared
35. Rampaging, demolishing sacred sites and cultural heritage
36. Sharing a common security and a common set of values
37. If you want to go far in life
38. God let my compassionate affection be tolerant and kind

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Further related reading

1. Syrian Tourists
2. Syrian refugees: Nothing “Christian” about Fearing Muslims?
3. Op-Ed: There is no “radical Islam” and there is also no “moderate Islam”
4. The acts of war
5. I.S.? We Haven’t Seen Anything Yet!
6. Radical Muslims and Americans
7. Remembering 9/11…14 Years Later: A United States President Stands Poised to Give Radical Islamists Nuclear Capability
8. The Crusader Rifle
9. Brits in Costa Del Sol, Costa Brava and Costa Blanca now ‘top targets for ISIS attack’
10. ESPN Liberal Logic
11. Muslim Takeover Of Bendigo Must be Halted
12. Egypt by Ramblin’Randy
13. The UN Needs A Boot Up The Backside
14. Violent extremists up to interpretation by homeland security chairman Mike McCaul
15. “Extremists…have given Islam a bad name, but…have no connection with the religion” Really?
16. Does Minnesota House ISIS’ “Farm Team”?
17. ISIS or Daesh
18. Will Bangladesh propaganda help Rohingya Muslims?
19. The Time is Now to Stop Radical Muslims
20. The Third Jihad
21. Glenn Greenwald: Greatest threat to free speech comes not from terrorism, but from those claiming to fight it
22. The argument for deluded losers
23. Oops! Nemtsov killed by radical Muslims, not Putin fans
24. Congress Defies Obama. Warns Iran.
25. The Hidden Menace
26. On Aggression
27. Extremists and Terrorists Miss the Mark
28. Oh Dear God: Copenhagen Shootings
29. Still freedom of speech on Danish TV
30. A special kind of hate
31. A no–go zone For truth
32. Why Would I Distrust Muslims Baroness Warsi?
33. The RCT Talk Show
34. to our 21 Christian Egyptians who fought for their Faith up to their last breath
35. Are Christianity and Capitalism Compatible?
36. Day Six: Hell House

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Related articles

• BOOM: German Town Shows Surefire Way to Keep Muslims Out… This Is BRUTAL
• Muslim Migrants Set Up Camp – Trash Christian Cemetery in Croatia (VIDEO)
• Mandatory Muslim Immigration in the EU
• Statement from the European Union Ambassador on the occasion of Eid Al Ahda.
• Imam In Jerusalem To Europe: Muslim Migrants Will Conquer Your Countries
• Girl In Denmark Watches ISIS Videos, She Then Picks Up A Knife And Stabs Her Mother To Death
• The Church Lady vs. The American Church: Which is more ridiculous?
• Shocking! Muslims March in Denmark, Demand Islamic Rule (VIDEO)
• Mandatory Muslim Immigration in the EU
• VIDEO: Dalai Lama: Don’t reject Muslim refugees

On the Affirmation of Scripture

On the tenth of October 2015 in the United Kingdom there took place a debate on the dwindling numbers of community members.

“Small” and “big” may be relative, but for certain faith groups in Christendom they can not ignore that they are a tiny group. The groups of Christianity who keep to the teachings of Jesus and who believe what he and his Father say are also “small” compared to the mainline churches of Christendom.

The Christadelphians, who are a very small group in Christianity its non-trinitarian groups had all the reason to come together at Dudley college to look at their society.

The Christadelphians were once an outspoken, vibrant, edgy “Christian” group who spread their urgent end-times message far and wide. They grew exponentially in the latter half of the nineteenth century, but their heyday is long past. For several decades now they resemble a heavy rusty old steam locomotive that is running out of speed as it lumbers along ill-kept tracks, but still tries to muster the motion needed to take on steep mountain slopes.

recognised Arne Roberts who looked at the community of Dr. John Thomas who inspired many Bible Students from which later came such today better know and much bigger groups like the International Bible Students and Jehovah’s Witnesses.

Al over the world we may find big churches and in the United States of America we even can find mega churches. What we can see and hear at those churches and institutions that often they have gone far away from the Biblical Truth.

Many people may think the big churches and those who have the classical church building are the real good churches. On what do they base themselves for making that judgement? Is it really the looks outside that make the Church of God. are those places with shining gold and many pictures and statues the right temples god wanted to have build for Him? And in those huge places is there done a worship of the right god and in the right way, according to God’s Wishes?

Often it is better to be a small church, with people so loving the Word of God that they really spent enough time studying it and living according to it. The only danger with a small church is that with being small there can be a small mindset or that people do not feel enough encouragement and start loosing interest.

A small group (12-15 people) is the perfect environment for people to share needs of being able to talk to people, to share ideas, to feel common ground and to find an intimate environment.  In fact, this is the size of group Jesus himself also used for discipleship and his disciples also came together in small groups at each-others houses. they did not have especially build worship places outside the synagogue. For their bible study and worship of God those who were not a Jew, but followed the teachings of Jesus, gathered regularly in public and private places. They were not looking for big numbers but were happy to meet with like minded followers of Christ.

Let believers always assure that they go hand in hand with each other, looking for the biblical knowledge and wisdom entrusting the elder-ship, leadership or guidance of their church by people who are really founded in the truth, continuing to study that Word of God and putting it in the first place plus knowing where and how to go to.

In that small church may be a strong feeling of togetherness where the leader of the group does not as a dictator but is willing to share his vision and hopes that can inspire and affirm what God is stirring in the hearts of that small community.

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Additional readings

1. a little church
2. Is your church small?
3. The Big Conversation
4. The Big Conversation follow up
5. The Big conversation – Antagonists
6. The Big conversation – Recognition and refocus
7. Having a small church mentality
8. Reasons why you may not miss the opportunity to go to a Small Church
9. Follower of Jesus part of a cult or a Christian
10. To remove the whitewash of the Jehovah Witnesses as being the only true Bible Students and Bible Researchers
11. Vision blurred by cumulative burden of divisions
12. Not words of any organisation should bind you, but the Word of God
13. Why we do not have our worship-services in a church building
14. Four Pressing Needs in Rural Communities, and How the Church Should Respond

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Further reading

1. What is God’s Will For Your Life?
2. On the Affirmation of Scripture
3. Walking in Total Dependence Upon God
4. Walking With Intentionality
5. Deacon Selection In the Small Church
6. If It’s All About Relationship…
7. Advice to Pastors from Nanny McPhee
8. Just Try a Few Things
9. Seven Critical Factors in Bringing About Change
10. For the Bookshelf: The Apathetic and Bored Church Member
11. A Snapshot of the Church in America
12. Jesus and the Church Growth Gurus
13. What’s in It for Me?
14. What’s my line?
15. A major problem in the church.
16. Overcome division with core values
17. Why Churches Must Plant Churches That Plant Churches (Part II)
18. How do you eat an elephant?
19. “When Faith Goes, All Good Things Go”

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Related articles

• Old Testament Christians
• Pope Francis, American churches, and Palestinian rights
• Local Priest and Pope Share Unique Connection
• Salon: Ann Coulter unleashes her nativist fury on Pope Francis and Catholics: “This is why our founders distrusted Catholics”

The Wittenberg Door

With respect to the authority of Scripture, the greatest challenge facing Bible-believing churches today is not the disbelief aimed at the Bible from outside the faith; nor is it the attack against it from unbelieving theologians cloaked with Christian terminology.

The greatest challenge facing Christians are pulpits where the inerrant Word is wholeheartedly affirmed but routinely side-stepped and ignored. If your preacher is not preaching the text, he is not preaching the Bible, and functionally denies its authority. It does little for the church to affirm the authority of the Scriptures, if the church’s preachers are not shaped by it. If the preachers and elders of the church are not fed on the Word of God, with what do they feed the sheep entrusted to them?

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Religions and Mainliners

In this world we have many sorts of religions and in each religion many subdivisions may be found. In Christendom there are groups which for good reason would prefer to speak of Christendom and Christianity and would prefer to say the world we are living in has also a Mainline Christendom instead of a Mainline Christianity.

Map of the distribution of Christians of the world (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Christendom is full of “Tradition” and has embraced the world whilst Christianity would prefer to stay disconnected from traditional worldly matters and though living in this world would not like to be “of this world”. In Christianity you also may find different groups or churches, which all want to honour God the Divine Creator. They would consider the main churches like the Catholic Church (Roman Catholics, Orthodox Catholics, Charismatic Catholics, Latin Catholic Church, etc.) Anglican Church, Church of England, Reformed Church, Calvinist Church, Lutheran Church, Baptist Church, Episcopalian Church,  and Methodist Church, with the various Presbyterian groups.

English: Major branches within Protestantism (excludes Restoration movements): Diagram of Protestant denominations and movements; see also Image:ChristianityBranches.svg (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Some might have been in a certain time of history bigger groups or not been considered out of mainstream, like the smaller denominations, such as the Amish, Mennonites, Quakers. Others like the Mormons, Seventh-day Adventists, Christian Scientists, and Pentecostals may have been at first very small groups, but have gained a firm place in certain countries and have even become the main church in a country.

The Charismatic protestant churches and certain Evangelical churches could be seen as separated from Mainline. Some people, like Joel L. Watts who is building up a (sorta) response to Thom Rainer’s 20 Influential Evangelicals list. Unsettled Christianity company wants to  include mainline Christians, but in asking the question on Facebook, the administrator was equally struck by the conversation about who and what is a mainliner.

Calvinist church (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Conspicuous is that many many consider ‘Mainline Protestants’ having a different perspective. By many they are considered to have a more modernist theology. So, for instance, they would read the Bible, not as the inerrant word of God, according to Joel L. Watts, but as a historical document, which has God’s word in it and a lot of very important truths, but that needs to be interpreted in every age by individuals of that time and that place.

We would consider “mainstream religions” those which adheres to the orthodox standard teachings of the five major religions of the world. Those being the groups in Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Buddhism and Hinduism which follow their biggest groups their core teachings. In those groups can be groups which do not want to belong or to take their mainstream teachings. In Christianity we can find the groups who stayed in the line of the Jewish thinking Jeshua, better known today as Jesus Christ. They believe like most Jews that there is only One God of gods Who is the Divine Creator of everything. Though the difference with the Jews, except with the Messianic (non-trinitarian) Jews is that they accept the Master Teacher Jeshua to be the son of God who has brought not only the Good News of the coming Kingdom of God, but who also by the Grace of God brought Salvation for all humankind. In those groups or churches who want to distantiate themselves from mainstream church are the non-trinitarian Baptist which became nearly extinct by the strong hold of the Baptist Unions who pressured the trinitarian teaching on their members. In the 1980-90ies most non-trinitarian Baptist went over to other non-trinitarian churches, like the Bible Students, the Jehovah’s Witnesses, the Church of God, The Church of Abrahamic Faith, Assemblies of God, the Nazarene Friends, the Restoration Church or to the Christadelphians.

Those non-trinitarian believers worship the God of the Hebrews, Whom they consider to be an Eternal Spirit Who is universal and indivisible. This God Who can not be seen by man, or they would die, also ordered not to make any image of Him. Like Jews and Muslims they would never create image of God because it is in His Law and because the infinite cannot be expressed in a mere image. They, like the Jehovah’s Witnesses, all exhibit practices and/or teachings that are not among the more “traditional” practices and teachings of the mainstream churches.

The majority of mainstream Jews do believe a Messiah will one day come. In the contemporary movement we can find Jews who do believe that Jeshua is the send one of God who is going to bring salvation and going to break all human ruling. By those messianic Jews to groups can be found; the ones who believe Jesus is the son of God and an ordinary person, not a divinity like the Christian trinitarian Jesus; and a group who strangely enough take Jesus also to be God, and do not consider it braking with the rules and regulations nor in contradiction with all the words said to the prophets, like Abraham, Isaac and Isaiah.
Those non-stream Jews and Christians, like the Muslims have a similar belief concerning the unity and infinity of God. They do believe in Jesus, and even believe he will return in the end times, but once again he is considered a mere mortal, just like any other prophet, brought back entirely through the Will of God, not through any power wielded by Jesus himself.

Lots of Christians take offence of those who do not believe in a trinitarian god. Several of them are as fundamental as we can find fundamentalists by the Muslims, who hate those who do not think and follow the rules they are following.

It is this hate between believers in a god or in the God, that made non-believers in a divine creature or Supreme Being, make to consider religion the base of all the violence in this world. But we do think in case God would not have been there as Divine Creator and several people following him, people anyhow would have created religions, because all those things they could not understand or explain were transposed unto gods, like the god of light, the god of thunder etc..

The thinking of man, philosophies, system of ethics, cultural norms, etc.would have in any case created the syncretism or the formation of new religious ideas from multiple distinct sources, often-contradictory sources.

Some neopagan religions are also strongly syncretic. Look for example at Wicca which consciously draws from a variety of different pagan religious sources as well as Western ceremonial magic and occult thought, which is traditionally very Judeo-Christian in context. However, neopagan reconstructionists such as Asatruar are not particularly syncretic, as they attempt to understand the recreate Norse beliefs and practices to the best of their ability.

Many mainstream religions created smaller groups of which some became quite big. From Islam came the Baha’i faith which recognizes Krishna and Zoroaster as prophets, though it really doesn’t teach much of Hinduism or Zoroastrianism as being Baha’i beliefs.

English: A colour-coded world map showing the state religions of applicable nations. Buddhism Islam Shi’a Islam Sunni Islam Orthodox Christianity Protestantism (in England: Anglicanism) Catholicism (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Believers and non-believers should come to see that in a way all religions possess some degree of syncretism. It’s how humans work. Even if you believe God (or gods) delivered a particular idea, if that idea was completely alien to the listeners, they would not accept it. Moreover, once they receive said idea, that belief can be expressed in a variety of ways, and that expression will be coloured by other prevailing cultural ideas of the time.

Those who stand strong in their shoes, should not have to fear of others and should be able to go to others to give them their hand offering them peace. It are those who are afraid of their own believes that they or others around them could loose it that bring fear to themselves and others. They create a fertile ground for problems and more than once also of hate and negative attitude to others.

Non-believers may accuse the God or the gods as responsible for all trouble in this world. Because many Christians advocate their God is behind all that is good in the world, they think God should also be responsible for all the badness there is in the world. What they do not seem to understand that when God allows human beings to be free and to make their own choices, people themselves can make good or bad choices which will have their consequences for others in their environment as well.

It is not because in the Bible God gives His Word and tells us that He creates light but also creates darkness and that He makes peace, and creates evil, that it is God Who makes that badness or war in the world. It means that God allows it to be there because man has chosen to go his own way (in the Garden of Eden).  The God and the bad are in this world, created by God, but what can be bad for some one or something can be good for someone or something else. Certain plants are poisons for certain animals and people but for others they are necessary to survive. God claims not responsibility for wars, diseases, smallpox, bacteria, etc.; but He claims to be the One Who allows it to exist, and that is a big difference.

Those who want to call themselves “Children of God” do have to follow God His rules. He has given humankind His Laws which would make the best of the world and which would bring peace all over the world. In case much more people would follow the Laws of the Divine Creator there would be much more peace in the world.

Christianity Today (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Those who call themselves Christian should have the Spirit of God in them which imparts love,inspires hope, and gives liberty. All Christians should in a way have the same aim to bring others to the narrow gate of the Kingdom of God and to show others the peace we all can have because Jesus nailed the agony, pains and troubles on the wooden stake (‘the cross‘). They all should Love and cultivate that which is pure. they should not be afraid to show Tenderness and kindness because they are not signs of weakness and despair. They should try to Work together with joy and pray with love, and Guard well within themselves that treasure, kindness.

First on the agenda of a Christian should be Observing the commandments and becoming doers of the Word. They all should consider themselves as part of the Body of Christ, all being as part of the same family of God. United people under Christ. We all, believers and non-believers or different believers, should try to Sow and harvests in the garden of our heart.

Some years ago you could find everywhere running on the streets people “speaking”, “running”, and coming up for Christ? Perhaps it is high time we could see again such runners or Bloggers for Christ and Bloggers for Peace.

Trying to bring peace, there has to be peace at first in the own heart. Also the person has to have respect for others their beliefs. No matter what they might believe they should be fully recognised as worthy humans deserving full attention and love. Every human being should come to the understanding that it has to respect any other human being, animal and plant. We should treat others as we would like to be treated ourselves. In case a person wants to have a religion to feel himself good or to be at ease, he should be able to do so, whatever religion that person may choose. We never may impose our beliefs on others. We should leave everybody the freedom to choose which way they want to go, what to believe, and how to build up their own life. Any religious matter should be an option for private belief, without any pressure from others, be it by reason, science or rational argument. But it would not have to mean we may not discuss it. Any argument should be made in a peaceful manner and with respect for the other person his way of thinking.

Be it adherents of main religions, smaller religious groups or no religion at all, all people should come to strive for the same peace, being able to live one next to the other, in peace and tranquillity.

+

Please do find additional reading:

1. The business of this life
2. Did the Inspirator exist
3. “Who is The Most High” ? Who is thee Eternal? Who is Yehovah? Who is God?
4. Only one God
5. God is One
6. God of gods
7. A god between many gods
8. Sayings around God
9. Attributes of God
10. God is Spirit
11. The Divine name of the Creator
12. God about His name “יהוה“
13. Jehovah Yahweh Gods Name
14. One God the Father, a compendium of essays
15. The Trinity: paganism or Christianity?
16. Christianity without the Trinity
17. People Seeking for God 1 Looking for answers
18. People Seeking for God 2 Human interpretations
19. People Seeking for God 3 Laws and directions
20. People Seeking for God 7 The Lord and lords
21. Finding God amid all the religious externals
22. Seeing or not seeing and willingness to find God
23. יהוה , YHWH and Love: Four-letter words
24. The radiance of God’s glory and the counsellor
25. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love
26. Experiencing God
27. Cosmos creator and human destiny
28. Of the many books Only the Bible can transform
29. Faith
30. Do not forget the important sign of belief
31. Christian values and voting not just a game
32. Lord or Yahuwah, Yeshua or Yahushua
33. Yahushua, Yehoshua, Yeshua, Jehoshua of Jeshua
34. God’s Salvation
35. A fact of History or just a fancy Story
36. He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.
37. Jesus begotten Son of God #12 Son of God
38. Christ begotten through the power of the Holy Spirit
39. Who was Jesus?
40. Jesus spitting image of his father
41. Jesus and his God
42. Is Jesus God?Jesus and His God
43. Reasons that Jesus was not God
44. Jesus is the Son of God but Not God the Son
45. How much was Jesus man, and how much was he God?
46. On the Nature of Christ
47. Yeshua a man with a special personality
48. Jesus Messiah
49. A man with an outstanding personality
50. One Mediator between God and man
51. One mediator
52. Salvation, trust and action in Jesus #3 as a Christian
53. The wrong hero
54. The Immeasurable Grace bestowed on humanity
55. Patriarch Abraham, Muslims, Christians and the son of God
56. The Law of Christ: Law of Love
57. Christ’s ethical teaching
58. Christianity is a love affair
59. The Law of Christ: Law of Love
60. The task given to us to love each other
61. Agape, a love to share with others from the Fruit of the Spirit
62. Church sent into the world
63. Proclaiming shalom, bringing good news of good things, announcing salvation
64. Our relationship with God, Jesus and each other
65. Are Christians prepared to Rejoice in the Lord
66. American atheists most religiously literate Americans
67. Men of faith
68. Built on or Belonging to Jewish tradition #1 Christian Reform
69. Built on or Belonging to Jewish tradition #2 Roots of Jewishness
70. Built on or Belonging to Jewish tradition #3 Of the earth or of God
71. Built on or Belonging to Jewish tradition #4 Mozaic and Noachide laws
72. The builder of the Kingdom
73. Kingdom of God what will it be like
74. The hands of God’s wrath
75. Science, belief, denial and visibility 1
76. Science, belief, denial and visibility 2
77. Faith related boycotts
78. Right to be in the surroundings
79. Many churches
80. Breathing and growing with no heir
81. A Society pleading poverty
82. Casual Christians
83. Quakertime
84. Anti-Semitic incidents in Australia in 2012 highest ever on record
85. Manifests for believers #3 Catholic versus Protestant
86. Roman Catholic Church at war
87. Christian clergyman defiling book which did not belong to him
88. Consequences of Breivik’s mass murder
89. Representatives of the “Slave Class” or the Real “faithful and discreet slave”
90. Mormons again gaining some attention
91. Mormons, just an other faith
92. Myanmar imposing population control on Muslim minority
93. How long to wait before bringing religiousness and spirituality in practice
94. Follower of Jesus part of a cult or a Christian
95. Looking for True Spirituality 1 Intro
96. Looking for True Spirituality 2 Not restricted to an elite
97. Looking for True Spirituality 3 Mind of Christ
98. Looking for True Spirituality 4 Getting to Know the Mind of Christ
99. Looking for True Spirituality 5 Fruitage of the Spirit
100. Looking for True Spirituality 6 Spirituality and Prayer
101. Looking for True Spirituality 7 Preaching of the Good News
102. Looking for True Spirituality 8 Measuring Up
103. Being Religious and Spiritual 1 Immateriality and Spiritual experience
104. Fruits of the spirit will prevent you from being either inactive or unfruitful
105. Those who make peace should plant peace like a seed
106. Let me saw beliefseeds
107. Bringing Good News into the world
108. The Involvement of true discipleship
109. Testify of the things heard
110. Proclaiming shalom, bringing good news of good things, announcing salvation
111. Trusting, Faith, Calling and Ascribing to Jehovah #5 Prayer #2 Witnessing
112. Obstacles to effective evangelism
113. A Voice to be heard
114. Creator and Blogger God 4 Expounding voice
115. Blogging for Jesus…
116. Preaching to an unbelieving world
117. Words to push and pull
118. Good or bad preacher
119. Learn how to go out into the world and proclaim the Good News of the coming Kingdom
120. How should we preach?
121. Breathing to teach
122. Bringing Good News into the world
123. Jehovah’s Witnesses not only group that preach the good news
124. Holland Week of billing
125. Trying to get the youth inspired
126. When discouraged facing opposition
127. Messengers of Jesus will be hated to the end of time
128. Who are you going to reach out to today
129. Praise the God with His Name
130. Agape, a love to share with others from the Fruit of the Spirit
131. The Spirit of God brings love, hope and freedom
132. Holiness and expression of worship coming from inside
133. Belonging to or being judged by
134. Not all will inherit the Kingdom
135. Preparedness to change
136. Knowing where to go to
137. United people under Christ
138. Fellowship
139. Discipleship way of life on the narrow way to everlasting life
140. Pastorpreneur Warren
141. Catholicism, Anabaptism and Crisis of Christianity
142. Anti-Semitism ‘on the rise’ in Europe
143. Which Christians Actually Evangelize
144. Clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience
145. We have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace
146. Choose you this day whom ye will serveIt is a free will choice
147. The Spirit of God imparts love,inspires hope, and gives liberty
148. Philosophy hand in hand with spirituality

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Further reading:

1. What Evidence is There That God Exists?
2. What is faith and is it the only thing required
3. We Have the Best Home
4. Understanding faith for our salvation
5. Atheist Purpose and Meaning :: Book Review of Julian Baggini’s book Atheism: A Very Short Introduction
6. Against Religion? :: Book Review of Julian Baggini’s book Atheism: A Very Short Introduction
7. Can A Theist Appreciate Baggini’s Atheism? :: Book Review of Julian Baggini’s book Atheism: A Very Short Introduction
8. Can Genuine Christians Be Trinitarian or Non-Trinitarian?
9. Trinity Doctrine vs Oneness Pentecostalism Doctrine – Berean Perspective Podcast
10. The Trinity: A Fundamental of the Faith or a Fable?
11. The Unitarian Universalist Church: A Personal Encounter
12. Unitarianism and the Bible of the Holy Trinity
13. The Doctrine Of The Trinity
14. The Unholy Trinity
15. God, the Trinity
16. Trinity And Pagan Influence
17. Trinity: A False Doctrine of a False Church
18. The Trinity – A Doctrine Overdue for Extinction
19. Historical Jesus vs the Jesus of Faith vs the Mythical Jesus
20. Jesus Christ and God – Some Basic Considerations
21. Defining Christianity (reneland.wordpress.com)
    Simply put a Christian is someone who believes in Jesus Christ.
22. Cult or True Religion
23. The Whore of Babylon? (inpursuitofhappiness.wordpress.com)
    Baal-vs-The “Catholic” God
24. The Top Ten Most Important Church Councils
25. Cult or True Religion (wordsonsergebenhayon.wordpress.com)
    “…if you believe in it, it is a religion or perhaps ‘the’ religion; and if you do not care one way or another about it, it is a sect; but if you fear and hate it, it is a cult.” Leo Pfeffer.
    +The Roman Catholic Church for example has been around ever since Constantine. He was a Roman emperor who used Christianity, which was a small cult at the time, as a means to impose his belief systems on the bishops; so he promulgated the council of Nicaea and thereby gained control of the populus. Now, over 1500 years later, people in Catholic churches today still recite the creed set down by Constantine.
    Many people question the Catholic Church and other religions, seeing them as some of the biggest cults in the World today: they are viewed by many as man-made constructs which have the potential to lead millions of people astray. Religion in its current form has become divisive due to it’s many man-made and dualistic doctrines which continue to divide, separate and cause wars.
26. Billy Graham: Mormonism No Cult
27. Mormons off Graham’s ‘cult’ list
28. Is the Mormon “god” of Mitt Romney and Glenn Beck, the True God or a False “god”? Is Jesus the brother of Lucifer?
29. Can A Cult Member Be President Without Cult Influence?
30. Billy Graham Offers To Help Mormon Mitt Romney And Then Removes Section From Website Calling Mormonism A Cult! (soulrefuge.org)
    The scriptures make it very clear that true believers in Jesus Christ should not be “yoked” together with unbelievers. Why would any true Christian want to help and support a Mormon who teaches that Jesus Christ is the spirit brother of Lucifer?
31. Billy Graham’s group removes Mormon cult reference from website after Romney meeting (religion.blogs.cnn.com)
    Shortly after Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney enjoyed cookies and soft drinks with the Rev.  Billy Graham and his son Franklin Graham on Thursday at the elder Graham’s mountaintop retreat, a reference to Mormonism as a cult was scrubbed from the website of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association.

    

    Billy Graham site removes Mormon ‘cult’ reference after Romney meeting

    +
    The removal of the post from the Graham group’s website was first noted by the New Civil Rights Movement website and then later by the Asheville Citizen-Times, which reported that the information on cults was accessed as recently as Thursday afternoon.
    +
    When asked about Graham’s beliefs about Mormonism, Graham spokesman A. Larry Ross said in a statement that “Through an inclusive evangelistic ministry spanning more than 60 years, Mr. Graham was called to preach the transformative message of the Gospel to the whole world, regardless of one’s religious background, affiliation or none. As such, he never proselytized, targeted or labeled specific people, groups, faiths or denominations.

32. Billy Graham’s Truce with Mormonism; Scrubs Cult Reference (crooksandliars.com)
    The Christian right has cried uncle and issued a truce on Mormons to try and help elect Mitt Romney.
    +
    During the Values Voter Summit in October, sponsored in part by the influential Family Research Council and the American Family Association, it caused quite a stir when Pastor Robert Jeffress, after introducing Rick Perry as a genuine Christian, called Mormonism a cult.
    +
    Christian political operatives are willing to throw away any trace of their contempt for Mormonism during the election cycle. This shows how much hatred they have for the left. They’d rather help elect a ‘cultist’ to the highest office in the land rather than stick to their alleged principles. Typically sickening.
    +
    To distinguish between a cult and a religion is to distinguish between influence and impotence. Both are, in fact, spawns of a smarmy fakery.
33. ‘Mormonism’ Taken off Site’s Cult List (abcnews.go.com)
    The prominent Christian evangelist Billy Graham has taken public steps to embrace Mitt Romney for president this week, removing Romney’s Mormon religion from a list of cults on his website and taking out an advertisement that appears to urge people to vote for Romney.
34. Jehovah’s Witnesses (calltoprayerministries.wordpress.com) {the writer of this article does not seem to see what it really means to be a ‘Christian’ and wants to take hold only on a sort-sighted vision.}
    Jehovah’s Witnesses come up in conversation more times than one might think. I guess that it’s because there are many people who know JW’s and there don’t seem to be many obvious differences between their faith and ours. Many JW’s are nice people, talk about Jesus, share their faith, and care about their families… just like Christians. So what are the differences? Are they just a different kind of Christian?

+++

Related articles

• Who is God? (richlewis3.wordpress.com)
  El Shaddai means God Almighty, God of the mountains.
• “The God of Of Salvation, The Lord Of Death” (settledinheaven.wordpress.com)
  The God that we can call our own, is “the God of salvation” or, in other words, He is “the Mighty One that controls the deliverance of His people.”  Here, once again we can see a physical and spiritual aspect to this text…
• Bush Era to Blame for Renewed Interest in Mainline? (religiondispatches.org)
  Jennifer Schuessler, who covers the academic beat for the New York Times, discusses the resurgence of scholarship on people long since thought to have been dead and passed from the scene: dead, (mostly) white, mainstream/liberal/mainline/ecumenical Protestants.In assessing the roots of a surge of work on 20^th-century liberal Protestantism, including works such as Matt Hedstrom’s The Rise of Liberal Religion, Jill Gill’s Embattled Ecumenism, David Burns’ The Life and Death of the Radical Historical Jesus, and Elesha Coffman’s The Christian Century and the Rise of the Mainline, the article notes:The surge of interest in liberal religion, many say, reflects the renewed vitality of religious history more generally, which has spread beyond its traditional redoubts in divinity schools to become one of the most popular specializations among academic historians, according to the American Historical Association.Some scholars say that frustration with the perceived cultural and political dominance of evangelicals in the Bush era gave the subject extra urgency.
• How America’s Endless Civil War Between Protestant Sects Is at the Heart of American Identity (alternet.org)
  Jennifer Schuessler, who covers the academic beat for the New York Times, discusses the resurgence of scholarship on people long since thought to have been dead and passed from the scene: dead, (mostly) white, mainstream/liberal/mainline/ecumenical Protestants.In assessing the roots of a surge of work on 20^th-century liberal Protestantism, including works such as Matt Hedstrom’s The Rise of Liberal Religion, Jill Gill’s Embattled Ecumenism, David Burns’ The Life and Death of the Radical Historical Jesus, and Elesha Coffman’s The Christian Century and the Rise of the Mainline, the article notes:The surge of interest in liberal religion, many say, reflects the renewed vitality of religious history more generally, which has spread beyond its traditional redoubts in divinity schools to become one of the most popular specializations among academic historians, according to the American Historical Association.Some scholars say that frustration with the perceived cultural and political dominance of evangelicals in the Bush era gave the subject extra urgency.
  +

  Jennifer Schuessler, who covers the academic beat for the New York Times, discusses the resurgence of scholarship on people long since thought to have been dead and passed from the scene: dead, (mostly) white, mainstream/liberal/mainline/ecumenical Protestants.

  In assessing the roots of a surge of work on 20^th-century liberal Protestantism, including works such as Matt Hedstrom’s The Rise of Liberal Religion, Jill Gill’s Embattled Ecumenism, David Burns’ The Life and Death of the Radical Historical Jesus, and Elesha Coffman’s The Christian Century and the Rise of the Mainline, the article notes:

  The surge of interest in liberal religion, many say, reflects the renewed vitality of religious history more generally, which has spread beyond its traditional redoubts in divinity schools to become one of the most popular specializations among academic historians, according to the American Historical Association.

  Some scholars say that frustration with the perceived cultural and political dominance of evangelicals in the Bush era gave the subject extra urgency.
  +

  Jennifer Schuessler, who covers the academic beat for the New York Times, discusses the resurgence of scholarship on people long since thought to have been dead and passed from the scene: dead, (mostly) white, mainstream/liberal/mainline/ecumenical Protestants.

  In assessing the roots of a surge of work on 20^th-century liberal Protestantism, including works such as Matt Hedstrom’s The Rise of Liberal Religion, Jill Gill’s Embattled Ecumenism, David Burns’ The Life and Death of the Radical Historical Jesus, and Elesha Coffman’s The Christian Century and the Rise of the Mainline, the article notes:

  The surge of interest in liberal religion, many say, reflects the renewed vitality of religious history more generally, which has spread beyond its traditional redoubts in divinity schools to become one of the most popular specializations among academic historians, according to the American Historical Association.

  Some scholars say that frustration with the perceived cultural and political dominance of evangelicals in the Bush era gave the subject extra urgency.

• Make your pick: Do Mainline Protestants need a new name? (religionnews.com)
  Mainline Protestants  made up 18 percent of U.S. adults in 2008. Fifty years ago, its members were the church of the Establishment.
  +
  Forget labels: Everyone and his brother, left or right, calls himself an evangelical. No one will admit to being a fundamentalist since its original religious meaning was overtaken by crazies like David Koresh. It takes Pew Research experts 20 minutes to delineate who is a Jew and they still offer a definition matrix. So let the branding go.
• Are there dividing lines between Mainline and Evangelical? (unsettledchristianity.com)
  There is a great move towards social justice in many Evangelical (sub)groups and for that, I thank God. Do you think the view on Scripture and Tradition (Scripture is infallible in all things, Tradition is near to worthless) is a good start for a line?
  +
  But the dividing line between Mainline (which seems not to be something negative) and Evangelical (some people use this correctly, others not) is not so easy to grasp. I’m guessing because “Mainline” means, for a lot of people, a dying breed of Christianity. Evangelical means… well, it seems for Mainliners it means those who go and witness/serve for the Gospel. For Evangelicals, this term helps to codify something different.
• MainlineDecline, Decline-Talk, and Decline-ism — Sightings (Martin Marty) (bobcornwall.com)
  You have heard it many times Mainline Protestant churches are in decline, but then so are most other forms of religion.  Attendance has not kept up with growth in population, etc.
  +
  Why point out decline among the religions when Sightings’ role is to spot and explore religion in outstanding events? What goes on here with “decline?” A fad? Maybe “decline” is not occurring. This claim is hard to support. Maybe headline writers are concentrating on the wrong aspects of religion. Maybe they are exhibiting the old “be-the-first-kid-on-your-block” syndrome, seeking to be a jump ahead, to get a scoop. Maybe enemies of religious institutions of all sorts are enjoying mass Schadenfreude, enjoying the misfortunes of others. Whatever else is going on, noticing this phenomenon should be liberating: we are henceforth allowed to yawn when one more headline-writer tries to play catch-up.
• When the Christian Global South Heads West (juicyecumenism.com)
  Between 1910 and 2010, the global center of Christianity shifted from Spain to Timbuktu. As far back as 1980, there have been more Christians living in the Global South than in the first world. On any given Sunday, there are more Christians attending church in China than in the United States or Europe.
  +
  Hanciles also noted, with some disappointment with how the financial and political power in US mainline denominations remains in West, even when Africans outnumber them. “We might have to challenge the term “Anglican”, which of course means English,” he said. Hanciles spoke approvingly of African churches in the United States, which he claimed were very little-e evangelistic in their outlook.
  +
  Professor Virginia Garrard-Burnett of the University of Texas-Austin spoke at length about the religious tendencies of Latino migrants, including the often overlooked Protestant Latinos. Roughly 1/4 of Latino immigrants are Protestant, most of which are Pentecostal. Catholic Churches in the US that cater to these immigrants often take on charismatic forms of worship, she noted, often causing friction with existing native Americans. Latin-American Protestant churches take part in almost “reverse missionary” work, where churches in the Global South send people to minister to those in America. She cited the example of the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God, the third-largest denomination in Brazil, whose presence in the US is mostly mission work to Latin-American migrants.
• Inoculated Against Christianity? (thelittleredblog.typepad.com)
  “The post-Christian world has been inoculated against Christianity because, over 1500 years, we never managed to give it true Christianity. ‘Found difficult and left untried,’ indeed. And this is to our demerit. There are also many, many things over these 1500 years to be proud about, and Christendom, for all its flaws, was probably better than the alternatives. But now we’re reaping what we’re sowing. We created this generation of post-Christians whom we vaccinated against Christianity. Thankfully, viruses mutate and occasionally beat vaccines.  In the meantime, if our aim is a fantasy of Christendom rather than Christ and His Cross, we are being idolaters.”I’m not sure that “probably better than the alternatives” is much of an endorsement.  Mr. Gobry’s point, however, is to distinguish between Christendom, Christianity, and following Jesus: a dilemma yet to be resolved for some 2000 years.  I await Gobry’s further insights with genuine interest.
• The Coming Schism (wmbriggs.com)
  Maybe it’s not a schism but apostasy which I mean. Doesn’t matter. Continuing in our Curmudgeon Series, here are my guesses of the course of Christianity in the West over the next twenty years. Each point below deserves its own essay: these are rough points.
  +
  Since elites of secular institutions only truly care about elites at other institutions, the leadership of these churches won’t want to fall behind the CofE. They’ll issue cheerful press releases boasting love and then arm wrestle for who gets to perform the first homosexual ceremony. Most denominations already allow homosexual clergy.Theologically, since going to a service at a mainline Protestant church will increasingly be no different than reading the New York Times or Guardian op-ed section, which is more convenient and saves on gas, those willing to make the trek will dwindle and die off. If you’re in the market for an old church (aren’t they quaint?), look to the Methodists and Presbyterians. Besides, members are tired of being called stupid and irrational by the culture.
• Stuart Murray on Christendom (abnormalanabaptist.wordpress.com)
  Anabaptists identify the “Christendom shift” in the 4th century as the time when Jesus began to be marginalized.
  +
  Anabaptist are convinced that, whatever its undoubtful benefits, the Christendom system seriously distorted Christian faith: the price the church paid for coming in from the margins was allowing Jesus to be pushed out from the center to the margins – Stuart Murray, The Naked Anabaptist, Herald Press, 2010, p 52
• Unitarianism and the Bible of the Holy Trinity (afkimel.wordpress.com)
  I do not know if it’s happening throughout worldwide evangelicalism or is restricted to the more intellectually inclined; but I have noticed a curious phenomenon on the internet—a movement amongst evangelicals from trinitarian to unitarian faith. This movement does not necessarily entail the rejection of the teaching of Jesus nor even rejection of the confession of Jesus as Lord and Savior. It is a unitarianism that can accommodate the kind of subordinationism characteristic of some of the second and third century Church Fathers: Jesus and the Spirit are “divine” (in some sense), but only the Father is the one God. Consider, for example, a recent blog article by Kermit Zarley: “Can Genuine Christians Be Trinitarian or Non-Trinitarian?“
• Why converting Muslims is taboo in the Catholic Church (catholicherald.co.uk)
  What are they talking about at the Synod for Evangelisation? This article by Sandro Magister tells us that the Bishops have broached the taboo subject of conversions from Islam to Christianity. It makes interesting reading, despite the rather ponderous translation, (read the original here ) and I was particularly struck by this section of it, which I beg readers to consider carefully:“The Muslims do not see the difference between Christians and Westerners, because they do not distinguish, themselves, between what is religious and what is political and social. What precedes the Westerners is perceived by the Muslims as preceding the Christians. Now, Western behaviour, especially on the cultural and political level and in a general way, harms the religious and national sensitivity of the Muslims, their values, their ethics and their culture. Consequentially, this forms an obstacle to their openness to Christianity and to their possible evangelisation.”
• Billy Graham: Mormonism No Cult (orthodoxyandheterodoxy.org)
  Sociologists of religion use cult to refer to a religious group that does not regard itself as exclusively true yet has negative relations with the surrounding society. Those two factors—exclusivity and societal relations—form the basis for sociological definition of religions into four kinds of groups: church (exclusive with good relations), denomination (inclusive with good relations), sect (exclusive with bad relations) and cult (inclusive with bad relations). Yet almost no one uses these terms in the way sociologists of religion use them.
  +I think what is really meant by cult in most modern Evangelical parlance is “bad/weird religious group.” And of course perhaps such a definition is right in its own way.
• Grahams tighten Romney ties (newsobserver.com)
  The election-year embrace of Mitt Romney by some evangelical Christians now borders on a bear hug, given a series of moves by Billy Graham and his family that appear to say it’s OK to vote for a Mormon.
• Billy Graham website admits scrubbing ‘Mormons’ from ‘cult’ list after endorsing Romney (rawstory.com)
  The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association confirmed on Tuesday that it had removed all references to Mormonism as a “cult” from its website after their founder announced his support of Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney.
• Why I Am a Christian. (crawfordgarrett.wordpress.com)
  I have to admit that it’s not always the most simple and straightforward answer to give, because there are many reasons that have led to my faith in Christ.  However, I guess the first place to start is with my parents.  I am a Christian because of my parents.  There may be nothing remarkable about that, and often times I, or many other Christians, would not like to admit that truth.  I am a Christian because my parents are Christians, and that’s what they raised me to believe, just like Jesus was a Jew because His parents were Jews.
• Christ didn’t come to help us, He came to Include us (melwild.wordpress.com)
  a surprising few resonate so much to the more important fact that the Father’s plan was to substitute Christ for us and place us in Him. I think this is unfortunate.
• Jesus Christ was an Anarchist (blacksupremacylovenunity.wordpress.com) > Jesus Christ was an Anarchist
  Jesus came along to lead his followers out of this ungodly Roman system, preaching an alternative form of government. He spoke of a jurisdiction outside of the Roman state, based on the perfect law of freedom, outside the tyranny of men who would rule over their brothers and neighbors. He unified the early Christian church in a system of charity, hope and respect for the rights of each other, requiring that each person love thy neighbor as thy self in a system of mutual, not governmental support.
  +
  Jesus was showing a way to untangle people from the captivity of the social contracts they had made with the state of Rome and Judea, and the tribute and obligations they had become snared by. He proclaimed to call no man “Father”, as they called their Roman benefactors, but stated that “thou Father art in heaven.” The perfect law of freedom indicated that man’s unalienable rights stemmed from God and nature, and not governments of men. This was a system of anarchy, by strict definition, without the complex system of tribute that led to the decadence and decline of society, and the corruptible force of the state to back it up.The early Christian church was not persecuted for their belief in a different God or a Kingdom in Heaven, but for their opting out of the mutual taxation system and seeking to live apart from the kings and overlords, the gods many, who demanded their tribute.
  +Today, most of us find ourselves under slothful tribute to an emperor and a system that is not for our benefit. We have coveted our neighbor’s goods in a vain pursuit of “free” health care, education, welfare, unemployment benefits, social security and government protection. We have traded our inalienable God-given rights through social contracts both implied and explicit. Our churches are not ordained by God, but are 501(c)(3) corporations granted status by the state.As we head into what is certainly going to be a volatile 2014, we are going to need to dig down deep and find that anarchist in all of us, with a little more loving thy neighbor as thy self to boot.
• Fanatic hindu who hated christians is an evidence of Jesus (pciniraj.wordpress.com)
  I never liked Christian missionaries. I used to speak against Christianity and was organising people near the temples against the evangelism activites.“But Lord Jesus mightly fighting for His children, if anybody persecuting Christians, for which I am a clear evidence”, now I am witnessing this every corner to corner by holding the Holy Bible in one hand and showing my terrific stomach to the public. “I was an enemy of Christians, but Jesus Christ loved me, made me alive and saved me from sin and death. Now I am His servant”. This is my testimony.
• Pouring Into Others (comeawake.org)
  If you are a Christian, you are a disciple of Christ. You know Him, but what have you done to make Him known to others? And I’m not just talking about evangelism. I’m talking about how you can use your time, your energy and most importantly, your knowledge about who Christ is to help out a fellow brother or sister.The purpose of our lives is simply this: To know Christ, and to make Him known.
• A Bad Reason for Thinking that Atheism is not a Religion (maverickphilosopher.typepad.com)
  a mere lack of belief in something cannot be a religion.  But atheism is not a mere lack of belief in something.  If atheism is just the lack of god-belief, then tables and chairs are atheists.  For they lack god-belief. Am I being uncharitable?  Suppose someone defines atheism more carefully as lack of god-belief in beings capable of having  beliefs.  That is still unacceptable.  Consider a child who lacks both god-belief and god-disbelief.  If lacking god-belief makes him an atheist, then lacking god-disbelief makes him a theist.  So he is both, which is absurd.Obviously,  atheism is is not a mere lack of belief, but a definite belief, namely, the belief that the world is godless.  Atheism is a claim about the way things are: there is no such thing as the God of Judaism, or the God of Christianity, or the God of Islam, or the gods of the Greek pantheon, or . . . etc.  The atheist has a definite belief about the ontological inventory: it does not include God or gods or any reasonable facsimile thereof such as the Plotinian One, etc.  Note also that if you deny that any god exists, then you are denying that the universe is created by God: you are saying something quite positive about the ontological status of the universe, namely, that it does not depend for its existence on a being transcendent of it.  And if it does not so depend, then that implies that it exists on its own as a brute fact or that it necessarily exists or that it causes itself to exist.  Without getting into all the details here, the point is that if you deny that God exists, this is not just a denial  of the existence of a certain being, but implies a positive claim about the ontological status of the universe.  What’s more, if  there is no creator God, then the apparent order of the universe, its apparent designedness, is merely apparent.  This is a positive thesis about the nature of the physical universe.Atheism, then, is not a mere lack of god-belief.  For it implies definite positive beliefs about reality as a whole and  about the nature and mode of existence of the physical universe.
• Atheism Was the First to Show Me Compassion (jessedooley.wordpress.com)
  what is the issue with the idea of God that pushes most atheists to reject religion and to see it as the supreme evil?
  +
  When the tribal deity is the supreme king, and that deity is interpreted from a fundamentalist, all-or-nothing approach, then nothing can penetrate or alter that worldview, regardless of the reasonableness of the argument.
• Are Liberals Too “Special” to Go to Church? (religiondispatches.org)
  New research from psychologists from the New York University suggests that the desire to feel unique can undermine consensus, cohesion, and mobilization—at least in political contexts.
  +
  Stern, et al found that “liberals underestimated their similarity to other liberals, whereas moderates and conservatives overestimated their similarity to other moderates and conservatives.”Further, the researchers found that liberals “possess a greater dispositional desire to be unique,” which, they suggest, “likely undermines their ability to capitalize on the consensus that actually exists within their ranks and hinders successful group mobilization.” The “desire to conform” among moderates and, to a greater extent, conservatives, likewise, “allows them to perceive consensus that does not actually exist and, in turn, rally their base.”Liberals, that is, emphasize in their beliefs, actions, and self-understanding uniqueness, creativity, and non-conformity even in the face of sameness. Moderates and conservatives, by contrast, focus on similarity and commonality even when little may in fact exist.
• Are Esoteric Teachings Missing from Christianity? (jesusweddingthebook.wordpress.com)
  In my opinion, Christianity is the only tradition that openly celebrates both spiritual paths. I can agree that there is no secret teaching, because both spiritual paths are out in the open for everyone to see. However, by definition, the esoteric teaching is the second leg of the spiritual journey. The esoteric teaching does not have to be “secret” in order to maintain its mystery. The mystery of the esoteric path can only be revealed when the exoteric path or first leg of the spiritual journey is fully completed.
• Discovering the Truth (cosmicmacduff.wordpress.com)
  for me it has been and is the walking that is important, not any place that I might arrive at or achievement I might accomplish.  I think that I have discovered  a lot since I started, but do not consider myself “enlightened”,  just aware of who  I am.  For me this primary truth, a recognition that there was/is something  more to me (my soul)  than my physical body, is what allowed me and still allows me, to find meaning and purpose in life.
• Am I A Religious Person? (elephantjournal.com) + But is it my religion?
  I’ve heard it said that religion is having someone else’s spiritual experience and spirituality is having your own. It’s certainly true that some Buddhists venerate the Buddha or other teachers to such a high degree that they are just having the Buddha’s experience and not their own. I don’t do that. The Buddha warned us against doing that. He said, “Don’t worship me,” and right after his death, people started doing it.
• Religion and Young People: The Lost Generation? (collectionofclancy.wordpress.com)
  I know of many relatives, friends and people I’ve met in general who are either agnostic or atheist and I don’t judge them for it. However what kills me is that their status gives me the feeling that they are the smarter and more enlightened people. But on the other side, the church gives me the feeling that because I have more liberal beliefs means I cannot truly be as good as the devout. A rock/hard place moment.
• Does Religion Shape a Person? (meesh14102.wordpress.com)
  Atheism is my own personal belief and I understand and respect everyone else’s religious beliefs. I simply want to talk about the idea of religion shaping a person.
  +
  I don’t need a God to influence a good and honest behavior. My mom told me to never speak of my new belief (or lack  there of) ever again and to Never tell my father. I respected these wishes and continue to keep my thoughts about God and religion to myself. I believe a persons’ inner self shapes their character. I do not believe religion is what influences a good or bad character.Everyone is entitled to their own beliefs and should live so accordingly!
• Haunting the chapel: my thoughts on heavy metal and religion. (seanmunger.com)
  Is heavy metal inherently anti-religious? Having been virtually a lifelong metalhead, I can say from experience that many people, both within and without the scene, believe that it is, or should be. Critique of organized religion or aspects of it has been a common lyrical and thematic element in metal for decades.
• Ask an Atheist: The Usual Questions (csgroome.wordpress.com)
  Atheism differs from religion, because we are not certain and would change our views if given evidence, but we are convinced by the lack of evidence and by all rational argument, that appealing to myths from intellectually dark parts of human history can not even begin to give us answers to any questions, even moral or epistemological ones.
  +
  Religion lies outside science and evidence, so you can’t prove it wrong. Why can’t you just accept this and that people want to live with a belief in a greater being?
  +
  I could believe whatever I want if it made me happy. But in all other ways, except for a religious conviction, the believer of a claim unprovable by science immediately pays a social price.
  +
  The absence of a belief is never a motivation, and while Communism may be a secular ideology, this does not mean that all atheists or secularists are communists and it certainly does not mean that we would wish to kill or destroy religious people or religious infrastructure.
• All BEings are Divine (amuseinharmony.wordpress.com)
  all beings, including human beings are divine manifestations of Creator Source on the physical earth plane materialized in various forms for the purpose of expansion. the earth is mother to us all. we are organisms formed from her womb. as she ascends, so shall we. the mother loves her humans as she does all creatures or our existence would no longer be. our love and unity with her and all her inhabitants is our duty as earth walkers.
• Dalai Lama speaks on harmony to religious followers at Tokyo temple (japandailypress.com)
  The famous leader went on to explain that most of the problems humans encounter are of their own making, and thinking that they are all different from one another. This kind of thinking has a tendency to separate people instead of uniting them. His speech centered on the essential “oneness” of all people and emphasized on the divisiveness that comes with focusing on the “them” and “us,” rather than on the “we”, as a whole. Religious harmony is one thing that His Holiness has committed himself to, and hopes that it is something that Japan can contribute to as well.
• what is the happiest person in the world saying? (hunt4truth.wordpress.com)
  A friend wants to know if I’m still Christian. Yes, I am. Everything that I’m referring to from science and new age and Buddhist teachers is complimentary with Jesus’s teachings. I posted a couple of the most important Christian practices–in my opinion, 1 John (NIV) and the Our Father prayer are essential in Christian belief.
• How to Argue for the Existence of God (omigassplus.wordpress.com)
  Anyone who feels God, can see and feel God inside them. They live inside God. God lives inside them. They see God as an energy that penetrates them and fills them up inside. They feel God as an energy around them and within them. They feel God touch them in their special places. They realize that God is a higher faith, a greater presence. They crave Him. They want to feel his love fill them up inside. Without God, they feel empty, unloved, lonely. Only with God inside them can they feel whole again.
• Nineteenth Century Protestant Doctrines of the Trinity (redeemingthetext.wordpress.com)
  The discussion in chapter nineteen of The Oxford Handbook of the Trinity is, in brief form, one of how Enlightenment philosopher-theologians developed innovative ways to discuss the Trinity and their effectiveness leading into the twentieth century.
• Hans Kung on Trinity Part 2 (presenttruthmn.org)
  This is continued from the previous post on the Trinity. It is taken directly from Hans Kung’s book ‘Christianity: Essence, History and Future’
• A Theology Big Enough for the Gospel: Reviewing Mike Bird’s Evangelical Theology (marccortez.com)
  despite the fact that Bird mentions the image of God throughout, clearly viewing it as an important topic that has bearing on a range of other issues, he devotes only five pages to it, one of which is just a recitation of the relevant biblical verses. His excursus on infra- vs. supralapsarianism is almost as long! And union with Christ hardly gets any attention at all. In a systematic theology, pages are like currency; what you invest in shows what you value. And I was surprised at a few of the investments.
  +
  Bird affirms a social trinitarian approach, defining the divine persons as “self-aware” beings who are “capable of consciousness” (p. 615), and he even refers to separate consciousnesses in the Trinity (p. 118). Regardless of whether you think social trinitarianism is viable, Bird’s discussion simply fails to deal with the historical and theological objections that can (and have!) been raised. And unfortunately, these aren’t isolated incidents.
• What’s Old is New Again: The Return of “Biblical Unitarianism” (southernreformation.wordpress.com)
  While I’m used to defending the deity of Christ against the Jehovah’s Witnesses, or fending off Mormon misunderstandings of the doctrine of the Trinity, I never thought I would see professing “conservative evangelicals” who were willing to jettison the central dogma that makes Christianity…Christianity.But it’s happening.
• “Should You Believe in the Trinity?” (1peter58.wordpress.com)
  “The Bible says…” The real issue here is that these individuals, and also those that belong to very young churches/institutes, claim for themselves the authority to teach new doctrine, claim for themselves the authority to reject unchanged ancient doctrine. How do you decide when to trust that a doctrine is truly of God? How do you decide what is a false doctrine not of God?
• Because the Bible Tells Me So (mackerelsnapperblog.wordpress.com)
  Whenever a Catholic debates the Faith with a non-Catholic — Christian or atheist — the very first argument that often gets brought up is that Catholic teaching contradicts the Scriptures.
• Sola Scriptura? (preacheroftruth.com) + > Sola Scriptura?
  Pythagoras is said to have been the earliest outside of Scripture (Isa. 40:22) to contend that the earth is round. He did not make the earth round with his assertions, but identified what already was.  Sir Isaac Newton certainly did not create gravity, but he is credited for our modern understanding of it.  Likewise, the term “sola scriptura” is not found in scripture (similar to terms like “trinity” and “omniscience”), but it was coined during the “Reformation Movement” as part of Martin Luther’s protests against perceived corruptions of the Catholic Church.  It was a “Latin phrase (literally ‘by Scripture alone’) describing the Protestant theological principle that Scripture is the final norm in all judgments of faith and practice.
• (1) The Two Pillars of the Reformation (altruistico.wordpress.com)
  The Protestant Reformation saw the advancement of the Gospel and an understanding of right doctrine that hadn’t been seen since the time of Christ and the Apostles. It drew Christianity out of the dark ages of the faith; a time when the Scripture was forbidden to be read in the language of the people, when superstition reigned, where abominations within the church leadership was a norm, and when a knowledge of the Truth was virtually unknown.