Free Republic

A U.S. Islamic advocacy group says that Vice- President Joe Biden, addressing a White House summit on “countering violent extremism (CVE)” on Tuesday, referred to right-wing extremists and supremacists committing violence “in the name of the Bible.” The comments did not feature in Biden’s 19 minute-long opening remarks, televised by C-SPAN, in which the vice-president focused on America as a nation of immigrants, the need for different communities to “see” each other, and for countries to engage with “marginalized” communities. “Biden just talked about the right wing militias & supremacist groups that are violent in the name of the Bible,”...

This question has been bubbling and I don't know enough to resolve it myself. Asking you Smart People to help me flesh this out- or decide if it's a worthless navel gazing exercise. Realizing I'm setting myself for ridicule... here goes.... Re: The quran calling Christians and Jews "People of The Book": The quran was put together before 700 BC. The first Bible was printed in 1450, the Torah 1482. Before that there were papyrus, scrolls, writings - but no "Book". Is the quran actually referring to the "book of life" from both the old and new testament? ..... is...

A recent piece in the Huffington Post suggests that women were given short shrift in the Bible, citing statistics that show women relegated to silence and anonymity. The piece was exploring a book called Bible Women: All Their Words and Why They Matter, which was published in September 2014 by Rev. Lindsay Hardin Freeman, a female episcopal priest.

>Do you know how to answer a non Catholic Christian who challenges you about the Bible?Knowing how everybody loves lists, here are ten things every Catholic should know about Sola Scriptura:1. Sola Scriptura means “only Scripture”. It is the Protestant belief that the Bible is the only source for teaching on doctrine and morality.2. Sola Scriptura was one of three “solos” the other two being Sola Fide (Faith Alone) and Sola Gratia (Grace Alone)3. Sola Scriptura which means “Scripture Alone” cannot be found in the Bible. The closest proof text is 2 Timothy 3:16-17 “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training...

A Florida school board has made a controversial decision to ban the distribution of religious and political material in its schools. The Orange County School Board previously allowed copies of the Bible in their schools, but they decided to reconsider the policy after receiving a request from the Satanic Temple to hand out Satanic coloring books. The board decided that to avoid legal action, it had to ban Bibles and any other religious material from being passed out to students. …

I’m a Southern girl. Born in the South, raised in the South, and have rarely lived anywhere BUT the South. I actually love the South. I’ll die in the South. Being a Southern girl, I have more than my share of right-wing friends, neighbors, and family members — and some of you have in recent years crossed the line into nut-jobbery. The fact is — I love you guys and that will never change. I’ll admit that I’m disappointed and disturbed to see intelligent and/or educated people who are willfully ignorant. But while it does change my opinion about you...

Ezra Taft Benson, the only Mormon apostle ever to serve in a U.S. Cabinet, was known as a forceful foe of communism and a dedicated disciple of conservatism. Benson's most enduring religious legacy...may be his dramatic reordering of LDS scriptural priorities. In a word, Benson — during his 50-plus years as an LDS authority, including 8½ as president — elevated the faith's signature scripture, the Book of Mormon, to its pre-eminence in the LDS canon, so that leaders and members alike now quote and read it more often than the Bible. This year, as members of the 15 million-member Church...

No, and yes. The Bible does not have specific text that suggests that the Bible alone is our final authority in all matters of faith and practice. Those who delight to point this out, however, typically Roman Catholics and the eastern Orthodox, typically miss the point. First, their energies more often than not are aimed at the Anabaptist error that we call solo Scriptura. Here the person affirms that all he needs is himself and his Bible. The wisdom of the church in history, the community of believers, are all deemed irrelevant to understanding the things of God. Solo scriptura...

I had lunch with a young man yesterday. He is a math and science teacher, and a very intense and focused Christian. He came to lunch with an agenda. First, he wanted to confess to being very angry with me when he first started reading my books and hearing me preach. This young man said, laughing, that I would be shocked by some of the things he wrote in the margins of my books. Second, now that he was no longer angry, he wanted to ask some clarifying biblical and theological questions. I’m often asked, “Okay, I get this grace...

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who's expected to run for president in 2016, says gay marriage isn't a political issue, but a biblical issue. "This is not a political issue," Huckabee said on CNN's "State of the Union." "It is a biblical issue. And as a biblical issue — unless I get a new version of the Scriptures, it's really not my place to say, OK, I'm just going to evolve. It's like asking someone who's Jewish to start serving bacon-wrapped shrimp in their deli. We don't want to do that — I mean, we're not going to do that....

“Have you been born again, my friend?” Thousands of Catholics have been asked this question by well-meaning Fundamentalists or Evangelicals. Of course, by “born again” the Protestant usually means: “Have you accepted Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior through the recitation of ‘the sinner’s prayer?”” How is a Catholic to respond? The simple Catholic response is: “Yes, I have been born again—when I was baptized.” In fact, Jesus’ famous “born again” discourse of John 3:3-5, which is where we find the words “born again” in Scripture, teaches us about the essential nature of baptism: Jesus answered him, "Truly,...

Americans support women in the pulpit and in senior leadership positions within the church. But they are more hesitant when it comes to supporting openly gay and lesbian religious leaders. A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 60% of American Adults favor women in the pulpit, while just 16% are opposed. Twenty-five percent (25%) are undecided. (To see survey question wording, click here.) Even more (74%) support women in leadership positions in their respective faiths. Just nine percent (9%) are opposed, with 17% undecided. Just 43% of Americans favor openly gay and lesbian individuals in the pulpit. Thirty-eight...

Matthew 25 includes a call for more entitlement spending and provides biblical justification for Obamacare, or so says Ohio Gov. John Kasich. Promoting Obamacare in South Dakota, Montana and several national interviews last week, Kasich touted the Bible chapter’s depiction of judgment based on individual charity as a sweeping endorsement of government programs for the poor. Kasich, a Republican, campaigned against Obamacare in 2010, saying the law’s Medicaid expansion would “stick states with large and unsustainable costs.” He unilaterally implemented the Obamacare Medicaid expansion in 2013. The Obamacare expansion puts able-bodied, working-age adults with no dependent children on Medicaid at...

Neal and Danette Childs knew they were in danger.From their compound in Niger’s capital city they could see three churches burning. The smoke was filling their home.“We immediately started packing a trunk, putting in our valuables, our documents, and we loaded up the car,” Neal told me. “There were concerns our family would be targeted.”“Our immediate response — there is that little bit of panic,” he said during a telephone conversation from the West African nation of Niger. “We were ready. We were on guard.”It was Jan. 16 and by the week’s end Muslims had set fire to at least...

Presbyterian Church and Palestinian Liberal Christians Rewriting the Bible to Remove References to Israel By Julio Severo Sabeel (Palestinian Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center) has partnered with the Presbyterian Church (USA) to produce a new Bible version that changes God’s Word. The new version has no mention of Israel as Jewish and no mention of Jesus as a Jew. In fact, Jesus (Yeshua) is changed from being Jewish to being a Palestinian Arab, according to Geri Ungurean in NowTheEndBegins. Sabeel (Arabic ‘the way’ and also ‘a channel’ or ‘spring’) is a Christian liberation theology organization based in Jerusalem. It was founded...

As I write this article, the ancient city of Sodom is being excavated on the northeast tip of the Dead Sea in Jordan. The Site is called the Tell el-Hammam Excavation Project, led by Dr. Steven Collins of Trinity Southwest University, College of Archaeology. Dr Steven Collins presents the results of his excavation of Sodom (Tell El Hammam) The excavation project has uncovered evidence of an advanced society with Greek architecture, art, and an advanced economy. There is also evidence of a cataclysmic event, similar to a nuclear type explosion, that leveled the city at one point in its history....

Encore Presentation of Patterns of Evidence: Exodus by Jake Hebert, Ph.D. * The Exodus is one of the best-known narratives in the Bible. It details the Israelites' escape from Egypt after centuries of slavery, Moses' rise to leadership, the devastating plagues on Egypt, and the miraculous Red Sea crossing. Yet many, maybe even the majority, of archaeologists and historians insist there is no evidence that the biblical Exodus ever occurred. This debate is the subject of the award-winning documentary Patterns of Evidence: Exodus that has an encore presentation this Thursday.1 "Absence of evidence," however, does not necessarily indicate "evidence of...

The mummy masks of ancient commoners are a treasure trove of classical and religious documents — Christian scripture, Phoenician histories, Greek poetry. While the rich and royal members of ancient Egyptian society were buried in mummy masks of flaked gold and other precious metals, common people were forced to construct theirs with recycled pieces of paper. Recently, archaeologists found what they believe to be the world’s oldest piece of scripture in the mask of mummy from the first century. Researchers say the new scrap of spiritual papyrus is a portion of the the Gospel of Mark, the second chapter of...

In the Gospel of John, we read a story where a group of Jewish Torah teachers and Pharisees (members of a legalistic sect of Judaism) bring to Jesus a woman whom they caught in adultery, asking Him what punishment He thinks the woman deserves. Masterfully — as He always did — Jesus answers the scholars with a simple, yet profound statement: “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her” (John 8:7, NIV).Recently, Newsweek featured a cover article on the Bible in which author Kurt Eichenwald — not a Biblical scholar...

Newsweek’s recent cover story on the Bible, as we expected, proved quite controversial, particularly among the evangelical community... Is it true that prominent Christian leaders in America are misusing the Bible to suit their own purposes?... Has the text of the Bible undergone such dramatic changes over the centuries that it bears little resemblance to the original teachings of Moses, Jesus, and Paul?.. ..does Newsweek paint an accurate picture of conservative evangelicals? Certainly not. More importantly, does Newsweek paint an accurate picture of the reliability of the Scriptures? Emphatically not...