Thanks for your insight. I appreciate the link. I will look it up. I have friends that are of differing faiths. I don’t know if I feel the “love”, but knowledge is power. I remember history. Didn’t JFK face huge anti Catholocism before becoming President? If my non revisionist history is right, by joe, I am correct.
The worst thing about these threads is they never end. I don’t think many of the posters are employed. Being here is mostly boring and that’s why I stay away. I rarely come away with any new insights.
I was just listening to Moody Radio today or it might have been another Christian station as we have several. The speaker was lamenting the fact that so many churches are lead by committees or councils and not the pastor/bishop. He stated that churches run by the members are the worst as they shop for a pastor that validates them. I thought that was interesting.
I also enjoy talking to the Greek Orthodox FReepers. They’re not so threatened and hysterical. They believe in theosis which makes sense given the NT story of Jesus and his relationship to God the Father. If you run into those threads they are very informative.
One insight I got was that the Greek Orthodox believe that marriage is a Sacrament and that a husband and wife are expected to work out their salvation together. What exactly is their relationship post death is considered a mystery.
A book you might also enjoy is this one:
http://www.amazon.com/Lost-History-Christianity-Thousand-Year-Asia/dp/0061472808
It is an excellent history covering the Church in the East (ME, Africa and Asia). At one point the largest churches on earth were the ‘heretical’ Jacobites and Nestorians. It’s a fascinating read and you see that Christianity spread farther and wider than is commonly known. I highly recommend it.