Posted on 07/26/2014 4:41:46 AM PDT by michaelwlf3
I am coming up on my first year as an ordained minister in a continuing Anglican church, and I have noticed that participating on political forums (even when the topic is religious) I find that my opinions and postings more often than not generate more hatred than anything else. Among the things I often hear are that the laity are the real priests and that I am a Pharisee, that my vocation disqualifies me from offering an opinion on anything Christian because I am too narrow minded, and (my personal favorite) because I look too Catholic I must be a child molester.
Are these people really Christians?
I was wondering when you would bring that falsehood forward. It’s about time you prove the existence of the original Hebrew texts.
Habakkuk 3:1-18 (NIV)
16 I heard and my heart pounded,
my lips quivered at the sound;
decay crept into my bones,
and my legs trembled.
Yet I will wait patiently for the day of calamity
to come on the nation invading us.
17 Though the fig tree does not bud
and there are no grapes on the vines,
though the olive crop fails
and the fields produce no food,
though there are no sheep in the pen
and no cattle in the stalls,
18 yet I will rejoice in the Lord,
I will be joyful in God my Savior.
Oh of course. How could I have forgotten. Which, I suppose is how the word faith replaced charity in Ephesians 3:17
That Christ may dwell by faith in your hearts; that being rooted and founded in charity.
Sometimes I kind of think I know what Job went through. In January, 2004, our daughter died. Then in May, 2006, my brother was found dead, in July, 2006, my husband died, 2 weeks later my sister’s husband died and then in January,, 2007, my mom died. Then all my health problems started. I need to get out of town! But, God still reigns. He is great all the time.
“But the real manipulation was when the NT writings were translated from Hebrew, to Aramaic, and then centuries later, to Greek.”
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
How about let’s look at a literal translation from the original Greek.
Ephesians 3:17 that the Christ may dwell through the faith (pistis - faith, belief, trust) in your hearts, in love (agapé - love, benevolence, good will, esteem) having been rooted and founded,
Faith did NOT replace charity in Ephesians 3:17. Nor is agapé ever translated charity. So it would appear that it’s you who has changed the wording of that verse.
Your story sounds a lot like mine.
My husband died from lung cancer leaving me with five children from 9-19.
The next year his mother died.
The following year I had to go identify my father in law in a neighboring town with the country sheriff....not a pleasant experience at all.
Two years later, my brother who was a priest died from AIDS so I had to deal not only with his death but the way he chose to die.
And the two years later my mom died while she was just sitting watching her favorite soap opera.
It is such a difficult time in one’s life, but I haven’t had a child die. I think that would be the most difficult of all.
I recommend a grief recovery weekend — there is probably one in your area. The link is on my FR homepage. Just click on my name.
God bless you as you work through these deaths.
Here are the locations for the Beginning Experience grief recovery weekends.
http://www.beginningexperience.org/locations2b.php?country=1
You know? You're right. I totally misunderstood and didn't fully comprehended what was being said.
Sola scriptura can be scary sometimes.
Thanks. Losing our daughter was the very worst thing parents can go through. I remember a few weeks after she died, my late husband had gone to play golf. I don’t remember what set me off but I started crying and could not stop. My dr prescribed Xanax or something like that. I was ok until drs told us my husband had terminal liver cancer. He gave him 6 months but he died 2 months later. I will always treasure the memories we shared. The terrible thing about his death was he was seeing an oncologist for something else and kept telling him that something was very wrong but the dumbo said nope he was fine. My other daughter and I took him to B’ham. Th drs there ordered a ct scan and found a tumor on his liver that was 5x5x5 and nothing could be done. God never gives us more than we can handle. I was telling a friend of my granddaughter that and he said God lets people hit rock bottom before getting better. God is there no matter what happens.
**God is there no matter what happens.**
It sounds like you have gone through the dark valley of grief just as I have.
I was a team member on the Beginning Experience team and it helped me greatly.
Everyone always says that they think they have dealt with it all and then when they get to the BE weekend they find out they are still hurting.
And remember feelings are OK, it’s what we do with them that matters.
God bless.
Millions of individual interpretations sounds like grains of sand to me, not solid rock.
You and Rood spinning your cylinders til' you get the loaded one and see.
Jesus was telling Nicodemus about a SPIRITUAL birth, He couldn't have been clearer:
Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.” (John 3:5-8)
The Lord God spoke of it to the Jews as in Ezekiel 36:26,
I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.
And as Paul said in Titus 3:5, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit.
Add to these verses and others such as Ephesians 1:13, Ephesians 4:20 and 2 Corinthians 1:22 that tell us we are sealed with the Holy Spirit right here and now through faith, and you can understand that we certainly ARE given assurance of our salvation and the indwelling Holy Spirit IS our guarantee.
Don’t be hypocritical and accept *doctrinal development8 for some thing snot mentioned by name in Scripture and not others.
If it works for the eucharist, the papacy, the Trinity, and a whole host of other doctrines, then it’s inconsistent and hypocritical to disallow doctrines y’all don’t like, just because you don’t like them.
Not scary at all if you don’t fear Scripture and not a fraction as scary as depending on tradition and a church to tell you what it means instead of looking it up yourself.
(your sarcasm was duly noted)
Dontcha' just hate it when that happens? 8^')
Actually, I wasn't being sarcastic at all. Not my style. Meant every word I said. I read what I wanted to read and I was wrong. Hence the indictment of sola scriptura . Sarcasm is for weak-minded individuals looking to intellectually pleasure themselves at the expense of others.
I'll tell you what my fear is. My fear is that so many people are led astray by others' interpretations. If FR is any indication what we have is a mish mash of individual points of emphasis and preference whereby a whole belief structure is erected.
It certainly runs the gamut. Whether one's point of emphasis is to quarterback the end times or their hung up at the intersection of faith/reason/logic and they don't know which way to turn but they've built up in their mind what is the end all, be all of Christian understanding. Essentially a spiritual cul de sac. Whatever the particular hang up is its all based on the "what speaks to me" phenomenon. An error which is further compounded by cloaking it in the mantle of, "indwelling of the Holy Spirit."
How many times have we heard protestants say, "I like so-and-so because they speak to me and they address my particular bent that I find personally satisfying." Their favorite pastor/preacher/personality scratches an itch of theirs. Of course, what happens when this particular individual no longer does that? The protestant moves on. Or, to be more in line with this thread topic, they fire their pastor. Their understanding of Truth is conditional. Whatever the construct at its foundation is a preference for what is personally pleasing and that is where the sola comes in. Ultimately its disingenuous, especially when one claims, "It's all about Christ."
Not scary at all if you don’t fear Scripture and not a fraction as scary as depending on tradition and a church to tell you what it means instead of looking it up yourself.
I don't know about you, but I don't have that kind of faith in my own ability. And I'm certainly not going to play Wheel of Fortune with Scripture which is what protestants do. Let's spin the wheel and see what connections we can come up with today. I mean, really, what's the difference between a protestant and a bible code nutjob? Christ instituted a Church that comprises Scripture and Tradition so that we were not left to our own devices. That was His promise. If that means that I've forsaken the post-enlightenment ideal of radical individualism then so be it. I'll put my faith in Christ.
“We HATE that guy!!!”
No, sorry, just can’t muster up a give-a-heck.
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