Posted on 03/24/2014 7:38:15 AM PDT by thetallguy24
A few weeks ago, I wrote about how the sweeping acceptance of gay marriage in recent years is owed in large part to Christianity. Rejecting the rigidly hierarchical and stratified societies of the ancient world, Jesus Christ taught the equal dignity of all persons, proclaimed that the meek shall inherit the earth, and declared that the last shall be first and the first shall be last. The Western world has been working out the logic of these subversive teachings ever since, with the institutional transformation of marriage being the latest, though surely not the last, example of its social, moral, and political consequences.
But what if the next institutions to be leveled by the Christian ideal of equality are the churches themselves?
I'm not talking about all of the churches. I mean those that have resisted reforming themselves in light of women's equality — and specifically those that resist this reform from the top down, with ecclesiastical authorities enforcing male-centered dogma and doctrine. That's mainly the Roman Catholic Church and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the Mormons).
A contrast with Protestantism and Judaism is instructive. There are, of course, many gender traditionalists in both faiths — evangelical Protestants and Orthodox Jews. But there is no overarching authority in either religion stipulating that traditionalism is the only valid form of belief. That means there are other options besides apostasy for dissenters. Don't like the traditionalism of your congregation? If you're a Protestant, you can find a more liberal, mainline alternative. If you're a Jew, look for a Conservative, Reform, or Reconstructionist synagogue.
But in both Catholicism and Mormonism, there's often nowhere else to go. It's either love it or leave it.
(Excerpt) Read more at theweek.com ...
"He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters abroad." Matthew 12:30
Yeah, Jesus was never rigid. Oh wait...
“He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters abroad.” Matthew 12:30
Luke 19:50
But Jesus said to him, “Do not hinder him; for he who is not against you is for you.”
This article is a bunch of lies from the father of lies.
“No man comes to the Father except by Me.”
So this writer is yet another false teacher, one of a million others who thinks he’s had some sort of revelation that rigid Christians need to “lighten up and get with the program”.
I believe He also said something about the truth being a very narrow path trod by few.
Mankind in and of ourselves are created equal but that has nothing to do with man’s choices being of equal VALUE!!
These pukes always try to conflate one’s inherent God Given Value with Ones Choices.
To Jesus, the world is binary - either you are with Him or you are not. There is no middle ground. So it does not matter which way you say it. Either, “if you are not for me you are against me”, or, “if you are not against me you are for me”. To Jesus, they both mean the same thing.
I think that the eye of the needle will be getting smaller and smaller as those exiting the teachings of Christ increase.
Seems to me that it’s the liberal “church of what’s happenin’ now” that is bleeding membership. The United Church of Christ, once a “mainstream” church, went socialist and has lost membership ever since.
On the other hand, those churches which follow a generally socially conservative message have grown significantly, and at the expense of the liberal churches.
The author is engaging in some serious wishful thinking.
“For a man shall leave his father and mother, and cleave unto his wife, and the two shall become as one flesh.”
The doper progressive who wrote this article predicts an exodus from “the more conservative churches, anyway”.
I observe the opposite: liberal permissive denominations that allow faggies to “marry” are hemorhaging traditional minded Christians who are joining Bible-based congregations. The latter are proliferating rapidly.
Lies mixed with ignorance and regurgitated talking points. It would’ve been better off not being written.
Context is everything. A man was casting out demons. There was no “offense” against Jesus in this verse but the Apostles thought their rights and privileges were being usurped by the man and He corrected them. Matt 12:30 is speaking to offenses against Jesus.
Christianity is being falsely ground away by interpreting ‘God is Love’ to mean ‘you can do no wrong’, ‘there is no sin’, ‘nothing can offend God’.
More emphasis should be placed on evil exists and God Forgives.
Yep. You said it much better than I. :-)
Jesus Christ taught that to seek holiness through belief in Him is the first, last and complete duty of the Christian. And then 'go and sin no more' (John 8:11).
Odd how that doesn't seem to encompass the idea of homosexual 'marriage'.
Yes the two most growing religious denominations in the World are the ones that will disappear, not the COE or the other progressive churches in the Protestant arena that can’t pay their light bills.
Sure. Way too orthodox to stay relevant Sounds like Progressive Liberal hope and change to me.
Yes. And so many are buying it.
“Jesus Christ taught the equal dignity of all persons”
Except for people who divorce and remarry. He was pretty hard on them.
And there is the whole Hell thing.
Those are two different scenarios so no reconciliation is needed. Luke 19:50 is talking about somebody doing things in Jesus’ name and Matthew 12:30 is for that who actively oppose or reject Jesus Himself.
http://biblia.com/bible/nkjv/Mt19.4-5
And He [Jesus] answered and said to them, “Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning made them male and female,’ and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and ethe two shall become one flesh’?
RE: Why churches should brace for a mass exodus of the faithful
So, why use the word ‘faithful’ ?
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