Posted on 01/14/2016 8:34:05 AM PST by SeekAndFind
An organizer for the PC(USA)'s annual Montreat College Conference in North Carolina has claimed that the Bible verse John 3:16 has been "used for hate, intimidation and fear."
Montreat Director of Programs, the Rev. Katie Cashwell, told Presbyterian News Service in an interview last week that the theme for the four-day event, "Reclaim John 3:16," focused on her belief that the verse has been misused in the recent past.
"Our focus was to reclaim the well-known Bible verse in John 3:16 as a message of love and welcome," said Cashwell, according to the Presbyterian News Service. "Too often it's been used for hate, intimidation and fear."
When The Christian Post contacted PC(USA) and Montreat for clarification about the John 3:16 declaration and information regarding incidents in which the verse had been used for hate, PC(USA) directed this reporter to Montreat, which declined to comment.
Similarly, in a promotional video posted to YouTube months before the conference was held last week, organizers did not specify incidents in which the verse was used for hateful purposes.
Instead, the 67-second ad for the youth event showed specific examples of how ubiquoutious the verse is in popular culture, including a brief showing of the verse citation painted under Tim Tebow's eyes.
"It seems to be the verse that is quoted a lot. We see it everywhere --T-shirts, billboards, homemade roadside signs, jewelry, tattoos. … It's also a verse that has been used in damaging ways and ways of exclusion," according to the conference website, which states the purpose of centering the event around John 3:16 was to look at efforts to evangelize in a diverse religious environment, such as a college campus. But again, no examples were povided to show hateful use of the verse.
"So how can we take it back?" the site continues. "Or start thinking about what it means for our lives? What did Jesus really mean when he said that? It is actually a text about a God that loves and gives. It is a text that invites us to life."
Ginna Bairby, managing editor of Unbound and associate for Young Adult Social Witness at PC(USA), was a featured speaker at one of the event's workshops, titled: "A Gospel of Dirt," and asked the question: "What if we really acted like we believed that God loves the world? That God became flesh and dwelt among us? What might we approach -- differently?"
The conference has been held annually since 2007, and this year's event at the Montreat Conference Center broke an attendance record with approximately 1,100 attendees.
Don Trump’s denomination, right?
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
John 3:16
Get over it and yourself, Cashwell.
I am beginning to understand more and more why Jesus said he was going to vomit these lukewarm folks out of his mouth.
They are completely correct. John 3:16 is very exclusive.
“whosoever believeth” pretty much excludes anyone who does not believe and/or chooses not to.
And it always will.
RE: For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son,
So, how did Love become Hate in the above statement?
People can really use twisted logic to turn something into its opposite....
PCUSA is the lifeless husk of mainline Presbyterianism in the United States. Pay this “church” no mind. The believers have formed their own denominations.
Oh yeah, that’s hateful alright.
“So, how did Love become Hate in the above statement?”
Exactly.
I assume PC(USA) is Presbyterian Church USA.
It’s been going on for decades, but it’s fully happened that unbelievers have taken over the lucrative positions in mainstream denominations.
At first glance, I thought PCUSA meant Politically Correct USA
I’ve always wondered why that quote was stopped there and not continue on to John3:17 that begins with “For”. You don’t start a statement with a preposition. To me it should have been all one inclusive verse. IMHO.
And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.
John 3:14-21
Matthew 10:34-36
“Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to turn
‘a man against his father,
a daughter against her mother,
a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law-
a man’s enemies will be the members of his
own household.’”[a]
Footnotes:
a.Matthew 10:36 Micah 7:6
New International Version (NIV)
Well, in the Greek, what is now designated the 17th verse doesn't begin with a preposition. Rather, it begins with "ou", a negative particle meaning "no" or "not."
And that’s why women should not be ordained to the ministry/priesthood.
“Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection.
But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence. “ 1 Timothy 2:11-12 KJV
OPC, PCA, and PCUSA are the same denomination, right?
There it is, two sentences in: Woman preacher.
Sorry ladies, women preachers work as well as a butter knife cutting wood.
OPC, PCA, and PCUSA are the same denomination, right?
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Not only “no”, but “HELL NO”. PCA is a bible believe denomination, PCUSA long since has stopped following biblical teachings or believing in them..IMHO.
OPC, PCA, and PCUSA are the same denomination, right?
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Not only “no”, but “HELL NO”. PCA is a bible believe denomination, PCUSA long since has stopped following biblical teachings or believing in them..IMHO.
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