For the last hundred years, "believing on" has been a dispensational insider word for, "It ain't enough to believe IN Jesus. You gots to believe ON Jesus."
At the risk of being ex-communicated, scriptural covenants are accumulative, not substitutionary. The Noahic Covenant is applicable to all humans. The Abrahamic and Mosaic Covenants only apply to Jews - the people who came out of Egypt with Moses.
In Acts, the Jerusalem Synod observed the 613 commandments and didn't know what to make of Paul. They told him to teach gentiles to observe the Noahic Covenant and hoped he would stay far from Jerusalem. There is sarcasm and irony in Acts.
Neo-Christianity is the religion of Paul and Constantine. We have to work with what we have. Rev. Punt is correct in his interpretation (as far as he went), was cleared and then totally ignored.
To paraphrase a 1st century Saint, "I've been "believing in Jesus for 70 years, Jesus has always taken good care of me, and I will not now turn on him now". As for the theological details, 80% is circular, assumes hard facts not in evidence, simply logical opinion. I have no dog in that fight. Another 25 years or less I will know which theology is correct or I will know nothing.
It was a different world when Christianity was considered a Jewish sect by the Roman government. After 70 AD (?) "being" Jewish and/or Christian became a suicide pact. Then things calmed down for awhile until Constantine made Christianity the ruling religion and Judaism, again, became a suicide pact. It took the Jews 1500 years (?) to catch on. Is Christianity becoming a suicide pact?
Before the Boy Scouts were ruined by political correctness, I don't think anyone worried about Cub Scouts transitioning to Boy Scouts or Boy Scouts to Explorers. Maybe the Church's problem is also political correctness.
"The Christian tradition has always considered suicide a grievous sin"
But is suicide the "unforgivable sin?"
Suicide has a terrible copycat effect, writes Katelyn Beaty in Christianity Today, citing atheist Jennifer Hecht, and is therefore a threat to any community.
Was seppuku a threat to Japanese society?
Might not an outsider describe Jesus' death as "suicide by cop?"
We avoid "vibrant" worship and prefer "high Church" Lutheran, Episcopal, or Catholic liturgical worship. We attend First Everett (WA) for the sermons and fellowship, not the music selections.
This is the other reason I prefer a liturgical worship service - the prayers have been vetted and I know what the sentences
mean. Sometimes I disagree with the theology of the readings that come out of Grand Rapids so I keep my mouth shut. Some of the things I hear/read are more dispensational than Reformed.
There is very little reporting in the press these days. Most of the stories are gossip. Public TV is as bad as the rest. Their "Nightly Business News" is still tolerable. We read the Wall Street Journal for national and international news. I don't think anyone reads our local newspapers before the edition is put to bed. We are seriously planning to drop the cable and watch old movies on the net.
Why are 25% of young girls sexually molested? The power of advertising? is there a large sub rosa US population which approves of this custom? Some claim that circumcision of boys is child abuse. Then there is our growing religious population which may approve of the same sort of female mutilation. The problems of "law and custom" are even goofier than "law and justice." No one seems to complain about "custom and justice." Logically, in those three phrases, "and" should be replaced by "or."
There is also the problem of putting people into harm's way aka temptation. I one talked to a person who said he would not object to having a repentant thief as his church treasurer. Why would a person who knows he is tempted to steal want to be a church treasurer? Neither would I want a "reformed" porn addict working with children.
As far as I can determine, the CRC has no opinion as to the origin and/or timing of the human soul. If we have an official opinion or discussion, I would very much like to read it. The topic is important to discussing this essay.
See http://www.biblestudytools.com/classics/delitzsch-system-of-biblical-psychology/the-creation/traducianism-and-creationism.html
" . . . Within the range of heathenism, creationism was the old Italian view. Contrary to what one might have expected, the ancient Latin Church abandoned it. . . ."
I confess this article is at or beyond my limit of understanding. Considering present knowledge of DNA and that over half of all conceptions are spontaneously aborted . . . I have concluded that God creates the soul when the fetus is technically/medically able to live outside the womb. Why would God create a soul that God knows that God would abort? What constitutes the "personality" of a collection of undifferentiated cells? if "only God knows" then arguing about birth control pills and such is silly.
If I thought we were to have an "abuse awareness" church service I would sleep in.
I have read that the human memory converts negative thoughts into positive thoughts so "stop beating your wife" is remembered as "the wife needs to be corrected, again." Maybe better to have "Be a good neighbor" Sunday.
22 For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.
Hyperbole and nothing to do with ecology, astronomy, physics . . . I don't see in anything in Romans 8 which refers to anything but our sin nature. And Col 1? Nothing about climate change. What am I supposed to see?
Posted in: Voluntary and Temporary Community
For the last hundred years, "believing on" has been a dispensational insider word for, "It ain't enough to believe IN Jesus. You gots to believe ON Jesus."
At the risk of being ex-communicated, scriptural covenants are accumulative, not substitutionary. The Noahic Covenant is applicable to all humans. The Abrahamic and Mosaic Covenants only apply to Jews - the people who came out of Egypt with Moses.
In Acts, the Jerusalem Synod observed the 613 commandments and didn't know what to make of Paul. They told him to teach gentiles to observe the Noahic Covenant and hoped he would stay far from Jerusalem. There is sarcasm and irony in Acts.
Neo-Christianity is the religion of Paul and Constantine. We have to work with what we have. Rev. Punt is correct in his interpretation (as far as he went), was cleared and then totally ignored.
To paraphrase a 1st century Saint, "I've been "believing in Jesus for 70 years, Jesus has always taken good care of me, and I will not now turn on him now". As for the theological details, 80% is circular, assumes hard facts not in evidence, simply logical opinion. I have no dog in that fight. Another 25 years or less I will know which theology is correct or I will know nothing.
Posted in: Living Well Amongst Religious Diversity
It was a different world when Christianity was considered a Jewish sect by the Roman government. After 70 AD (?) "being" Jewish and/or Christian became a suicide pact. Then things calmed down for awhile until Constantine made Christianity the ruling religion and Judaism, again, became a suicide pact. It took the Jews 1500 years (?) to catch on. Is Christianity becoming a suicide pact?
Posted in: Transitions
Before the Boy Scouts were ruined by political correctness, I don't think anyone worried about Cub Scouts transitioning to Boy Scouts or Boy Scouts to Explorers. Maybe the Church's problem is also political correctness.
Posted in: My Life? My Choice?
"The Christian tradition has always considered suicide a grievous sin"
But is suicide the "unforgivable sin?"
Suicide has a terrible copycat effect, writes Katelyn Beaty in Christianity Today, citing atheist Jennifer Hecht, and is therefore a threat to any community.
Was seppuku a threat to Japanese society?
Might not an outsider describe Jesus' death as "suicide by cop?"
Posted in: What Do We Mean by "Vibrant" Worship?
We avoid "vibrant" worship and prefer "high Church" Lutheran, Episcopal, or Catholic liturgical worship. We attend First Everett (WA) for the sermons and fellowship, not the music selections.
Posted in: Winging Our Prayers
This is the other reason I prefer a liturgical worship service - the prayers have been vetted and I know what the sentences
mean. Sometimes I disagree with the theology of the readings that come out of Grand Rapids so I keep my mouth shut. Some of the things I hear/read are more dispensational than Reformed.
Posted in: Crying Rape
There is very little reporting in the press these days. Most of the stories are gossip. Public TV is as bad as the rest. Their "Nightly Business News" is still tolerable. We read the Wall Street Journal for national and international news. I don't think anyone reads our local newspapers before the edition is put to bed. We are seriously planning to drop the cable and watch old movies on the net.
Posted in: Crying Rape
Why are 25% of young girls sexually molested? The power of advertising? is there a large sub rosa US population which approves of this custom? Some claim that circumcision of boys is child abuse. Then there is our growing religious population which may approve of the same sort of female mutilation. The problems of "law and custom" are even goofier than "law and justice." No one seems to complain about "custom and justice." Logically, in those three phrases, "and" should be replaced by "or."
Posted in: What’s in a Name?
There is also the problem of putting people into harm's way aka temptation. I one talked to a person who said he would not object to having a repentant thief as his church treasurer. Why would a person who knows he is tempted to steal want to be a church treasurer? Neither would I want a "reformed" porn addict working with children.
Posted in: There's Still Hope for Your Marriage
As far as I can determine, the CRC has no opinion as to the origin and/or timing of the human soul. If we have an official opinion or discussion, I would very much like to read it. The topic is important to discussing this essay.
See http://www.biblestudytools.com/classics/delitzsch-system-of-biblical-psychology/the-creation/traducianism-and-creationism.html
" . . . Within the range of heathenism, creationism was the old Italian view. Contrary to what one might have expected, the ancient Latin Church abandoned it. . . ."
I confess this article is at or beyond my limit of understanding. Considering present knowledge of DNA and that over half of all conceptions are spontaneously aborted . . . I have concluded that God creates the soul when the fetus is technically/medically able to live outside the womb. Why would God create a soul that God knows that God would abort? What constitutes the "personality" of a collection of undifferentiated cells? if "only God knows" then arguing about birth control pills and such is silly.
Posted in: Abuse Awareness: It’s Up to You
If I thought we were to have an "abuse awareness" church service I would sleep in.
I have read that the human memory converts negative thoughts into positive thoughts so "stop beating your wife" is remembered as "the wife needs to be corrected, again." Maybe better to have "Be a good neighbor" Sunday.
Posted in: Sovereignty Matters
22 For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.
Hyperbole and nothing to do with ecology, astronomy, physics . . . I don't see in anything in Romans 8 which refers to anything but our sin nature. And Col 1? Nothing about climate change. What am I supposed to see?