This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? Dear children, let us not love with … Continue reading The Love of God….
This is a cross post from one of my other blogs at RJ’s Corner. I thought it appropriate for RLL also. It is terrible to think what the churches do to men. But if one imagines oneself in the position of the men who constitute the Church, we see they could not act differently. The churches are placed in a dilemma: the Sermon on the … Continue reading God Is Not Dead But the Church Is On Life Support…
Time Period: 573BC I am about three weeks into my study of the parallels between Christian church history and the history of the Roman empire. I was hoping to find a “people’s history” of Rome for a source but have been unsuccessful in that regard. I now have about five sources of info but there really is little documented evidence of how the common man … Continue reading The Beginnings…..
This is another aside post that is somewhat linked to the previous one. In that post I discussed how I replied to some fellow Christians Facebook comments about how it was not the government’s job to take care of the poor. These Christians admitted, but it seems not many of them do, that it is the church’s job to do that. I then went on … Continue reading Nudges….
It looks like it is going to take a few weeks before I can adequately start my parallel study of the Roman Empire and the beginnings of the Christian Church. I want to at least know enough about the Roman Empire that I can make some worthy analogies. So, in the mean time I am going to be doing some “Asides”. These are posts that … Continue reading Aside — About Responsibilities…..
I know in the introduction to this study I said I would not be following a timeline but instead be giving you a mosaic. But after thinking about it for a while now I have decided to do the timeline approach. In addition to a time line I have decided to try to interweave it with the history of the Roman Empire. I know this … Continue reading A Change of Heart…..
Just a quick aside to give you some words from a Sojourners email I recently received. We must all take to heart the words of Jesus in this matter. It shames me that this discussion is even necessary in our country: We have a genuine hope for a long term bipartisan solution and, in particular, a moral non-partisan commitment to protect the poor and vulnerable … Continue reading Aside – An Immoral Document…
As I have said many times on this blog I am perfectly attuned to the Quaker concept of the “light of God in each of us”. Everyone, including the most evil in history, has a glimmer of God in them. Some have covered it with a very dark and dreadful blanket but it is there none the less. Even those who absolutely deny the existence … Continue reading Aside — A Glimmer of God….
Next time I will be starting to relay stories of the early church. Up front I want to make sure you understand that this journey into the history of the church and how we got here will be a mosaic rather than a timeline approach. It will also likely be a “people’s history type account. That is it will where possible be based on accounts … Continue reading A Mosaic….
In this post I will try to give you a very high level view of what I believe is the critical history of the church. Of course, as this study progresses there might be some things I change likely my mind about. As with most everything else I am open to different views and one of them may change my overall concepts (but I kind … Continue reading A High Level View….
I proclaimed when I started posting this study a couple of weeks ago that I would be giving you a history of the church. In studying this topic I was quick to learn that there are literally hundreds, if not thousands, of different versions of the history of the church. If you are a Calvinist your history is quite different than if you are a … Continue reading A History of the Church (but whose history??)
Source:Ashamed Not to be a Heretic: Harry Emerson Fosdick – QuakerQuaker. “If the day ever comes when men care so little for the basic Christian experiences and revelations of truth that they cease trying to rethink them in more adequate terms, see them in the light of freshly acquired knowledge, and interpret them anew for new days, then Christianity will be finished.” Here is an … Continue reading Ashamed Not to be a Heretic…
This post is about some of my sources of info for the study I am presently undertaking on church history and how we got to where we are today. I have read scores of books on church history the last few years and continue reading them for this study. I have mentioned already there is one that influenced me greatly and it is one of … Continue reading About My Sources…
1 Timothy 2:11-12 A woman should learn in quietness and full submission. I do not permit a woman to teach or to assume authority over a man; she must be quiet. I have always been troubled by these verses from Paul. I just don’t believe that God intended, especially for all eternity, that women to be quiet and not have any authority over men. … Continue reading Women Be Quiet!!!
I know most of us get just about all our knowledge about church history from our church run bible studies. It seems that most of the professional clergy, meaning those who earn money from their participation in church, only seem to want to give us the good side of history. The old saying that “history belongs to the victors” is also true in the Christian … Continue reading Some Messy Stuff….
Many people say they have faith in Jesus but I’m not sure they really know what they mean by that. The word itself has been so modified by man over the years. Among other things I think faith means illumination.. When you have faith it sheds light on the meaning of your life and puts everything into clearer perspective…. It means loving God and loving … Continue reading Aside…. What does Faith in Jesus Mean??
I am bringing up a new category here at RLL called an “Aside”. Anyone who has been on my other blog at RJsCorner.net knows that things frequently pop into my head that just must be released 🙂 The same goes for topics of this site. Asides will fill some of the voids between my twice weekly posts on church history. When I have an aside … Continue reading Aside…..
I want to state up front that I most likely don’t have a complete picture of church history and I’m sure some of my conclusions will go contrary to many of today’s theologians. Especially those with very narrow agendas. I also want to tell you that since there are now 39,000+ different versions of the church of Christ I believe that the church is severely … Continue reading About Me and This Study…
Have you ever wondered about how we got to where we are in Christianity in the U.S. ? I started this blog in 2008 to study of how well current Christian denominations follow Jesus Christ’s words. As reported here (see the About This Blog button above) I found that hardly any of them pay much attention to Jesus’ words especially putting them into action. Instead … Continue reading How Did We Get Here??
After an almost one year hiatus I will soon be posting again on this blog with this new format and a new direction. Where I Have Been: The first three years this blog examined how current day churches are doing in following Jesus’ words as found in the red letters of most Christian bibles. That study was concluded in August of 2011 and is still … Continue reading Welcome to the Re-Purposed Red Letter Living Blog
I just went another short round with my radical right gun totting evangelical friend on helping those less fortunate than us. Here are some of his words replying to a post I made on FaceBook. The root cause of most of our deficit problems is still those that work and produce must pay for the existence of all those that do not work or produce … Continue reading My Evangelical Friend…
Source: http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/05/19/6677671-is-the-bible-full-of-forgeries Just a short note to refer you to the article above. It is about the Bible and how it was written. For those who think the Bible is 100% from God this article will probably be somewhat disturbing. The article reports that through the ages many believe that most of the books of the Bible were probably not actually written by those whose … Continue reading About the Bible
To me the title of this post is the perfect blend of words. We must acknowledge that Jesus is our Lord and we must also acknowledge that he is our Savior. Those two conditions are very different so lets study them some here. Jesus Christ is my Savior — Jesus was very clear that one of the reasons he came was to die for our … Continue reading Jesus Christ – Lord and Savior
I have spent some time with my comparisons between Jesus’ words and Paul’s. I will be posting my first comparisons in the next week or so. But I wanted to talk a little about what I have found so far. As Sam, who commented on the last post, indicated I have found that a big part of the differences between Jesus and Paul lay around … Continue reading Jesus and Paul – Some Initial Thoughts
I am going to start yet a new category on this blog called “Jesus and Paul”. I will try to pull out words from Jesus and then corresponding words from Paul to see how the words and their corresponding meanings might differ. From my initial look at this topic I was somewhat surprised to find what I have. This will be an interesting place to … Continue reading Jesus and Paul…
Some say I am too negative on this site and there is probably some truth to that. So with this post I am starting a new category called “Let’s show the world”. These posts will be about positive things we can do to make Jesus Christ more visible in the world today. They will also include stories about churches and other Christian organizations who are … Continue reading Let’s Show the World….
I just wanted to make a quick post in honor of Senator Ted Kennedy. It’s a shame that his life long passionate goal of making healthcare a right instead of a privledge for ALL Americans did not become a reality while he was with us. I know he was an honorable Christian and a good Catholic. Here’s to you Ted I hope your dream becomes a … Continue reading Being Your Brother’s Keeper – Kennedy Style….
RedLetterLiving 