Posted on 12/04/2002 7:26:52 AM PST by Lyford
Turn on the light and the roaches will run. There is a roach motel, and its spelled with "D" and ends in a "Y" and that my friends spells Documenary.. PBS is a lost cause though. PBS is way too PC about anything, no courage for the public good. ABC <- nah!....CBS <-... never happen... NBC <- Slap!..Slap!, sorry ... Hmmm How about Cable? <- maybe...
Many (most?) of the passtors and priests leading churches in the US today fall into that category. Most of them are caught up in the works salvation trap. It comes from a tiny fraction of Christians actually knowing their Bible.
It has always been my belief that that appeal of the Nation Of Islam to African Americans has more to do with the rejection of the "white man's religion" than it does with the truth or eternal security.
I understand most Muslims consider the beliefs of Nation of Islam disqualifies them as true Muslims.
Don't doubt that Western 'Christians' have lost their faith. Proof is everywhere. Most 'mainstream' Protestant, non evangelical denominations are fully pluralistic and teaching that the individual is G-d. Nothing is damned because, well, 'who is to say what is wrong'. Responsibility is abdicated. Morals are completely abandoned. Lip service to values and morality rule as they continue to perform the rituals and 'churchplay' that endows them with their newfound powers of 'self-deity'. It is comfortable - show up at the Methodist, Presbyterian, Episcopal, Lutheran, etc. church building, schmooze with all the other self-declared omnipotent 'gods', and live your life under lip service to real values. You get to continuosly live for yourself and take on missions such as supporting the welfare state mentality imprisoning and enslaving generations at a time. Or support important modern institutions such as abortionist escort duties, since abortion is fully acceptable and even supported by such 'Christian' communities.
Mainstream western protestantism is rotten to the core and truth be known, its results over the past several decades is likely a major reason for the perhaps accurate view of Westerners as decadent and immoral. Whats the answer? Maybe a new morality based revival? But how will that play at the Wednesday night potluck schmooze session dinners? My guess is that it is going to take a lot of time to remove the festered blemish on Christianity. It always has in the past...
And yes, I realize my naivetes and intellectual shortcomings. Don't discount the core of the issues I raise however...
This is an absolutely true description of what is happening around the world. For more than a generation missionaries, primarily American, having been not only preaching the Gospel but training indigenous leaders for ministry.
When you plant that much seed---water it and tend it---some of it is bound to come to fruition...which is what is happening now.
Of course, these new evangelists are paying a very high price for their love for God and for lost souls...probably higher than alot of American Christians would be willing to pay. Too many here aren't even willing to open their mouths against the evils in our own country, simply because they are afraid of what someone might say about them or think of them.
Think if the price was life or death for our faith, like the situation faced by millions of third-world Christians today. They put us to shame.
"An enormous rift seems inevitable" between North and South, possibly leading to a split in the Christian church, similar to what happened centuries ago between the Catholic Church and the Protestant movements.
The rift is massive between North and South and could easily turn into as monumental a separation.
There will always be a market for religious beliefs as long as people wonder what is going to happen to them afer they die. - Tom
It can't be done, but if we "could" take religion out of the equation - many of these problems would easily go away.
It is the ignorant underclass that is most influenced by the extremists view that the Koran requires moslim sacrafices in the killing of infidels (us). Other posts have indicated that these ignorant are a source of new fighters and that they have a strong arguement unless one wishes to "interpret" the prophet's words. We need to see a reformation within Islam that opens the door for the moderate interpretation and it may take a while to extinguish the fires of the radicals.
Hmmm.... there's a Black Rock that fell from space and is now enshrined in Mecca, that behaves this way already. Coincidence?
Yeah, kinda like that wonderful experiment called 'the Soviet Union', right?
/sarcasm
Go read 'the Gulag Archipelago', and then come back and we'll talk about your misunderstanding of the way the world really works.
Hundreds of millions of people in the 20th century paid the ultimate price for following leaders who believed that man can survive or thrive apart from the Creator.
Once reverence for the true and living God departs, respect for human life and liberty go out the door quickly along with it.
EV
You are correct. The current turbulance within Islam results from precisely this possibility. There are intense forces opposing change resulting in moderation. Just as America has within the last 50 years moderated the fire and brimstone Protestantism, Islam is facing similar sociatal change.
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