This time I am going to go over a short list of things that are somewhat widely accepted by some twenty-first century Christian denominations but of which I basically disagree. Most of these topic titles are from texts of discussions I have had with Christians on various topics. I put them in a special category here because they were so deeply felt by others. All … Continue reading About the Bible –Part 3.. Other Views
This is a continuation of the last post to finish up some of my fundamental beliefs about the Bible. I have not come to these beliefs on a whim. They are the result of many years of thoughtful prayer and study. I am also not trying to prove anyone wrong. Everyone should come to God in their own ways. So let’s get on with the final four … Continue reading About the Bible— Part 2 .. What I believe (con’t)
It has been a while since I have done any “deep” posts so this post will start a series on how I view the Bible and how that might differ from some mainline denominations today. The first two post are about how I personally view the Bible and other related Christian text. The third post is about how some of these belief are contrary to how others, … Continue reading About The Bible — Part 1… What I believe
I have been getting more questions lately from some in our old church asking why we haven’t been there for such a long time. I got a very heartfelt note in the snail mail today from one of those friends. She said that she really misses my wife and me on Sundays especially in the Bible classes. She mentioned that when I had a disagreement … Continue reading Where Have You Gone??
The title question came to me from a fellow blogger of the Quaker persuasion. The premise around the question is at the end time will there be more people in heaven or hell? If you answer hell then it appears like satan wins. From an evangelical Christian perspective I’m sure the answer is satan will win. By their very nature evangelicals believe that if you … Continue reading Is God a Winner or a Loser??
Remember being a Christian is all about Jesus Christ. Everything else is small stuff. Continue reading Happy Easter Everyone
We Christians seem to like to take ownership of others actions. If a missionary is killed in South American we say that proves that we are suffering and dying for Jesus Christ. Somehow or another that death gets attached to our individual selves as if we were the ones who died. We just can’t live vicariously through other. We are each responsible for our own actions. The … Continue reading Taking Ownership of Others Actions….
Why did God go to all the trouble to create the universe? By any standards that was a massive undertaking. I am one who believes in the day age interpretation of the Bible. In the last century or so God has given us the scientific understanding to know that the creation of the universe took millions if not billions of years to complete. Why did … Continue reading Earth As A Proving Ground???
Sundays continue to be a strange time for me. Up until last November I could always be found in a church pew on Sunday morning. At that time I was told by my church of eight years that my views of God no longer aligned with what their denomination expected of members. Instead of going through an inquisition I choose to separate my self from … Continue reading Sundays???
At the bottom of this post is a link to a heartfelt post by a convinced Quaker. A convinced Quaker is one who has come from outside the sect. In this person’s case it evidently was from Catholicism. This post struck me deeply as I saw myself in much of Laura’s writing. For those not going to the original post here are a couple of quotes that … Continue reading Should this be harder? – Thoughts from a Convinced Quaker
What a sad day when one religious organization burns a copy of another’s holy documents. This supposedly Christian Reverend did a huge disservice to all of Christiandom. Where is the outrage among the mainline Christian denominations? Do we really want to start a round of totally “dissing” each others views of God? Sad, sad, sad. Quran burned at Rev. Terry Jones’ tiny church – Faith & Reason. Continue reading Quran burned at Rev. Terry Jones’ tiny church – Faith & Reason
As I have mentioned in the recent past I have disassociated myself with the Christian church that I was part of for over nine years. I have always tried to not mention what my religious affiliations were on this blog but now that they are severed I will say it was with a LCMS Lutheran church. The pastor of the church was a regular viewer of this … Continue reading Intrepreting the Bible….
(Here is a post from the past and on another of my blogs. Find the original here http://waiting4god.net/2010/10/04/10410/ ) I heard an interesting sermon this Sunday. It was about waiting for God. As you know this is a topic dear to my heart. Some examples given in the sermon were all the prayers to stop the BP oil leak and the many amber alerts that … Continue reading Waiting For God…
I am having trouble with my project of comparing what Jesus said to what Paul said. There are several reasons for this difficulty. They, for the most part, didn’t appear to address very many of the same issues. There is so much baggage associated with this topic it is hard to not be prejudged by it all It seems I must extrapolate the two men’s … Continue reading Jesus and Paul Comparisons – Harder than it looks..
I am going to keep this post simple and just put out some verses about doing good deeds. This time I am going to also pull up some words from Peter and Paul. Matthew 5:14-16. You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put … Continue reading Doing Good Deeds
Recently I seem to be asking questions that I was previously very reluctant to consider. I know I am not supposed to test God but I just can’t understand why he has not shown himself more directly in more than 2,000 years? Even according to biblical standards this is probably the longest period of time without a direct and powerful intervention from God. Why are … Continue reading Why, God??
With this post I am starting a new category. It is called the Best of the Past. I will be pulling up some of the previous two years posts to look at them again. This one is from October 1, 2009 <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< Is it possible to know too much about Christian theology. I didn’t used to think so but I am tending to come to that … Continue reading Best of the Past – Like Little Children
Happy New Year’s everyone! God has given us another year to show the Lord’s love in our lives. Let’s not waste it! This will just be a short post from something I have been reading this afternoon. It is an article in the January 2011 issue of Friends Journal – Quaker Thoughts and Life Today. The article is entitled The Meaning of Universalism by Phil … Continue reading Why Did You Tell Us?…
For a number of weeks now I have been looking for stories about Christians doing good in the world. When I brought up the new category entitled Let’s Show the World I thought finding Christians reaching out to the world would be an easy thing. It is sad for me to say but I found the opposite to be the case. After hours of searching … Continue reading It’s Sad…. But Joyful…
WARNING I am going to get on my soapbox here. I try not to do it very often but sometimes things just grate on me too much! I want to get this off my mind so I can start fresh in 2011 I am sorry to say that I have evidenced a strong link between what is probably the majority of Christians who call … Continue reading The Link between Evangelicals and Radical Right Politics..
Sometimes a burst of questions comes into my mind. They usually come and go before I have time to even put them on a Post-It for further study. This time I was at my keyboard. Here is what I have been thinking of this afternoon. In the past I have been a member of different Christian denominations who say we must go out and save … Continue reading The Rambling Questions of a Past Jesus Freak
Speaking up in church is something that varies widely in the Christian world. When my wife and I joined a small startup church eight years ago everyone there felt welcomed to speak up after the service. Since the church was a liturgical one speaking up during the service was a limited to chanting the required verses as they came up in the service text. But … Continue reading Speaking up in church..
With this post I am reviewing a book named Genesis One – A Scientific Perspective by Hugh Ross. Hugh Ross is a noted astronomer and the founder of Reasons to Believe which is a foundation dedicated to reconciling the Bible with scientific findings. This short 34 page book goes line by line through Genesis 1 – 17 and shows how each passage is backed up by scientific … Continue reading Genesis One – A book review
After the flurry of posts around my leaving my church of eight years this two week respite has been refreshing. I will probably start up again soon. Via this post I just wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas. May we all spend a few extra minutes in the next days contemplating some of the red letters. After all that is what this day is … Continue reading Merry Christmas…
Why must some versions of Christianity pit scientific discovery against religious doctrine? It seems from my personal experiences that to some if you believe in God then you cannot believe in scientific discovery. Of course much of this goes back to the literal interpretation of Bible. Since those holding that view must believe that the earth is only 6,000 years old how do they reconcile … Continue reading Science & Religion…
I don’t believe that the collection of documents put together in the fourth century by Emperor Constantine’s council which is known today as the Bible was one hundred percent dictated by God. Because I believe there is a human element to it some say that I surely must therefore deem it all worthless. No! No! No! I really tire of saying this but I must … Continue reading What about the Bible???
This post will close out my current thoughts on institutional purity. I have made it a point that institutional purity has done some grievous harm to the Body of Christ. I am therefore saying that we cannot insist that there are certain things you must believe in order to call yourself a Christian? In my mind yes there are some things that are fundamental but … Continue reading The Musts of Institutional Purity
The idea of institutional purity is noble in purpose but very faulty in delivery. The idea goes something like this: “Since we are the only ones to really understand the true nature of God we must protect our ideas from getting polluted by the rest of the world and in particular other Christians who think differently but are wrong. In other words we must fight … Continue reading Institutional Purity (Part 2)
I know some of you might be confused by the title of this post. Let me assure you up front that it is not about how you make your body pure by eating worms 🙂 . This topic is much too heavy to settle well in your stomach even if it were steak. The theme of the next three posts is really about is that … Continue reading Institutional Purity & the Diet of Worms
Some people probably think that the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy applies only in the military. In reality it applies in several places in our lives. One of those is our local church. That is if you are a member of one of the churches that demand a high level of compliance to their beliefs. I was up until recently a member of one of … Continue reading Don’t Ask; Don’t Tell
RedLetterLiving 