Posted on 05/10/2019 5:37:05 AM PDT by Kaslin
American Christianity has a number of problems, many of which stem from shallow theology and churches focused on business operations instead of the Great Commission. But the last few weeks have highlighted something more disturbing and sinister.
In California, a well-educated young man from a good Christian family went into a synagogue to kill Jews. The murderer's father is an elder in an orthodox Bible-believing Presbyterian church that is willing to embrace deep theology. The murderer himself in his writings articulates a clear understanding of basic Christian orthodoxy. He believes he receives salvation not by his own works but by a saving faith in Jesus Christ.
He also believes the Jewish people at large are to blame for murdering Jesus on the cross and thinks he should have some hand in vengeance for that. He has interwoven into his faith a whiteness not actually reflected in scripture. If this were one isolated incident, we would take pause, wonder and probably move on. Christians in America should not move on.
In Hoschton, Georgia, 50 miles east of Atlanta, the mayor allegedly decided the mostly white residents were not ready to have a black city administrator. She rejected a potential hire because of his race. Oddly enough, she rejected him not because she herself opposed hiring a black person but because she thought the residents of the town were too bigoted to accept him. The town is outraged at the mayor.
Defending the mayor is one member of the Hoschton City Council who told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution: "I'm a Christian and my Christian beliefs are you don't do interracial marriage. That's the way I was brought up and that's the way I believe. ... I have black friends, I hired black people. But when it comes to all this stuff you see on TV, when you see blacks and whites together, it makes my blood boil because that's just not the way a Christian is supposed to live."
Here are two men of different generations both professing Christ as their Lord who both have woven into their faith a sinful notion of race. Scripture teaches clearly in Galatians 3:28 that "there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus." Despite this, the pernicious beliefs spun out by cross-burning racists persist and continue settling within elements of the Christian church.
We should be thankful this is not a common opinion, let alone a majority opinion. But we should be troubled that someone could go to as good a church as the murderer in California went to and still embrace these ideas. Part of the issue is the nature of sin and evil. We cannot stomp them out, and they will always try to perniciously creep into churches and people of faith.
Another issue, however, has to be doctrine and education. Pastors in the United States have, for a long time, had it easy. While there may have been troubles in the church or around the church, pastors have known the great cultural issues of the day are headed in the same direction, toward secularism. Pastors can designate a Sunday a year to remind congregants that all life is sacred and abortion is a sin. Now, they can also designate a Sunday a year to remind congregants God ordained marriage and the Supreme Court cannot change it for those in the church.
Unfortunately, as some Christians have tried to open the doors too far, others have tried to close the doors too much. Though progressive Christianity would open the gates of Heaven to everyone and deny there really is a hell, a reactionary presence in the church wants to respond in kind. Pastors in pulpits across America need to remember that as much as there are standards for the faith and they must preach the Word, their congregants must remember theirs is a global faith and those in the church are brothers and sisters transcending language, race, and ethnicity. American Christians must not war with truth
I despise this man’s every word.
Erick is a noted NeverTrumper moron.
While there is a problem here, his framing of it stinks 6 ways to Sunday.
Christianity, or even misinterpreted Christianity, doesn’t cause people to act out - insane people do what insane people do, no matter what church they might go to. Now, if the mosque regularly preaches that it glorifies Allah to blow themselves up for the glory of Islam, it only causes the insane to act quicker.
No one in their right mind believes that God is pleased with mass murder. It is likely all the inbreeding.
-—He also believes the Jewish people at large are to blame for murdering Jesus on the cross and thinks he should have some hand in vengeance for that.-—
As the Good Book says: “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge” Hosea 4:6.
This disturbed individual was ignorant that Jesus was born to die on the Cross to take away the sins of the world. It was God’s will for the final blood sacrifice be made and usher in the New Covenant.
1 Cor 2:8 - ““Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.”
The real purpose of the Crucifixion was kept secret (a mystery) so that satan would not stop it. For if satan knew about the Grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ, he never would have allowed Jesus to be condemned.
Erickson should be grateful he’s allowed to breathe.
This article makes no sense.
Matthew 7:13 Enter ye in at the narrow gate : for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat.
Matthew 7:14 How narrow is the gate, and strait is the way that leadeth to life : and few there are that find it !
Matthew 7:14 How narrow is the gate, and strait is the way that leadeth to life : and few there are that find it !
Matthew 7:15 Beware of false prophets, who come to you in the clothing of sheep, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.
Matthew 7:16 By their fruits you shall know them. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles ?
Matthew 7:17 Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, and the evil tree bringeth forth evil fruit.
Matthew 7:18 A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can an evil tree bring forth good fruit.
Matthew 7:19 Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit, shall be cut down, and shall be cast into the fire.
See verse 15 above for a description of the author of this article.
Hmmmm... One Sunday a year to press upon the congregation the two most damning sins plaguing humanity today.. No wonder our country is so fouled up...
As should we all. When my kids complain about something not being fair, I tell them "fair" is God punishing us for our sins by striking us dead immediately and casting us into Hell instead of allowing His Son's death on the cross to cover our sins. We don't want "fair."
If he really believed that, he would keep His commandments. (It sure seems like THOU SHALT NOT KILL is in there somewhere.)
He also believes the Jewish people at large are to blame for murdering Jesus on the cross and thinks he should have some hand in vengeance for that.
Anyone who has ever sinned is to blame for Jesus' death on the cross. God has exclusively reserved the right to vengeance (for anything) for Himself. We are not permitted to repay evil for evil.
"I'm a Christian and my Christian beliefs are you don't do interracial marriage. That's the way I was brought up and that's the way I believe.
From one blood He created all the nations. There is one race. We are all the same color, just with different concentration levels of that color. He can have his stupid beliefs, but don't call them Christian.
You know, I have never understood this reasoning.
Let’s, for the sake of argument, accept that “the Jews” killed Christ, forgetting all about the Romans, and God’s plan for salvation, and all other considerations.
Great, those particular Jews died 2000 years or so ago. What have today’s Jews got to do with it?
What the author writes is disturbing for several reasons. As a strong supporter of the 2nd Amendment for very rational reasons I was very careful in my decision to become a Christian at the age of 50. I read the Bible cover to cover every year for three years before carefully concluding there was really no verse in the Bible that required I become a victim. That realization allowed me to commit fully and be baptized in 2000. The question becomes in a given situation, “Why am I being persecuted?” If I am being persecuted in His name then I am no victim but being blessed. If I am being persecuted for my wallet or simply being in somebody’s way that is very different.
If you read the writings of Theologians at the time of WWI they conclude very similar things. As a soldier you are saving the lives of your companions and citizens by killing enemies. In this instance killing is not considered murder by any (or very few) Theologians. As a concealed carry citizen you are voluntarily becoming a “citizen soldier”. Violence to save lives, to stop crimes is not sinful, quite the opposite. A Christian duty.
It’s just my opinion but seems to me if I can sort all this out anyone can.
Eric the Fat LOVES to call everyone else a racist. He loves to wrap himself in a warm blanket of Virtue Signaling and disinvite people willing to get dirty. He, is a complete piece of garbage.
“He also believes the Jewish people at large are to blame for murdering Jesus on the cross and thinks he should have some hand in vengeance for that.”
Ummm... Any person who feels the need for vengeance has NO understanding of Christianity.
It’s ALL about the cross and Jesus’s shed blood. Otherwise, there’s no point.
John 10:18
No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This command I have received from My Father.”
folks need to know that the national, the global problem is not guns nor Christianity, it is mental health - the failure of mental health professionals to deal with this growing crisis. Psychopaths among us doing what they do.
It was the “never-Jesus” crowd, the JINO’s (Jews in Name Only) who condemned and killed Jesus on the Cross.
When a church forgets the foundation God built, e.g., the OT where every possible relationship and outcome of such relationships are recorded, Man and God are intertwined as each a human is held up to both consequences of the himself or the ruler. Each man is thus responsible for his own actions, as is each ruler. The NT offers the word of Jesus who is taken as God, but without the reference of the OT much is lost in translation or the “misrepresentation” of the word. You cannot only cite the word of Jesus, but you have to be grounded in that faith in God and the OT experience as a living Bible shining light in your life. When the OT is imprinted upon your psych and social life you will make the correct decisions and you can then fully understand the misrepresentations by Man of the Word of Jesus and God.
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