General Discusssion (Religion)
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Why do many Christians refuse to acknowledge or be included in the New Covenant of Jesus Christ, and as a result will not partake in the Lord’s Supper/Communion, in remembrance of Him?
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25 October 2025Saturday of week 29 in Ordinary Time San Marcello al Corso - Interior after rebuilt. Pope Boniface I was consecrated hereReadings at MassLiturgical Colour: Green. Year: C(I).First readingRomans 8:1-11The Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead lives in youThe reason why those who are in Christ Jesus are not condemned is that the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death. God has done what the Law, because of our unspiritual nature, was unable to do. God dealt with sin by sending his...
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24 October 2025Friday of week 29 in Ordinary Time St Anthony Mary Claret Catholic Church, San AntonioReadings at MassLiturgical Colour: Green. Year: C(I).First readingRomans 7:18-25Every time I want to do good it is something evil that comes to handI know of nothing good living in me – living, that is, in my unspiritual self – for though the will to do what is good is in me, the performance is not, with the result that instead of doing the good things I want to do, I carry out the sinful things I do not want. When I act against...
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Southern Baptist professor Matthew Barrett has ignited a theological controversy across social media platforms following his announcement that he is leaving both Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and the Southern Baptist Convention to seek ordination in the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA). The Kansas City-based theologian made his intentions public on July 24, 2025, through a post on X (formerly Twitter) that linked to a 6,000-word Substack essay detailing his reasons for the denominational switch. Dr. Barrett, known for his work in systematic theology and “classical retrieval” scholarship, cited what he termed three “cracked pillars” in Southern Baptist life...
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Social media buzzed with reaction when Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary theology professor Matthew Barrett announced his departure from the SBC to become an Anglican. He cited the “beauty of Anglicanism” and claimed its practices better align with “how Christians have worshipped across history.” But a cadre of Baptist theologians who focus on connecting Southern Baptists with the broader Christian tradition disagree. They say Baptist churches are fertile ground to draw from the Christian church’s theological roots—including fourth- and fifth-century formulations of the doctrines of the Trinity and the person of Christ. Baptists must retrieve “the roots of our own...
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I have a niche hobby of looking at church websites. I consider myself a super sleuth, combing through church websites to figure out their theology and politics. Though I am not especially religious anymore, there is nothing I love more than uncovering secret, conservative evangelicals. Church Clarity. It was also born of necessity. I’ve lived in Boston for over a decade where you must be able to read between the lines on a church’s website or social media as more conservative churches try to fly under the radar in this notoriously secular city. As a scholar of religion, I’ve also...
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On the evening of September 4, an illuminated signboard lit up a predominantly Muslim neighbourhood in Kanpur, an industrial town in India’s northern state The signboard said: “I love Muhammad” – with a red heart. It was the first time the mainly working-class residents in Kanpur’s Syed Nagar had put up such a sign as part of the decorations as they joined millions of Muslims around the world to celebrate Prophet Muhammad’s birthday. The day, marked as Eid Milad-un-Nabi across South Asia, involves the faithful organising religious gatherings, Quran recitations, and sermons about the prophet’s life and teachings. At some...
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23 October 2025 Thursday of week 29 in Ordinary Time Serra Chapel at Mission San Juan Capistrano, CAReadings at MassLiturgical Colour: Green. Year: C(I).First readingRomans 6:19-23Now you are set free from sin, and slaves to GodIf I may use human terms to help your natural weakness: as once you put your bodies at the service of vice and immorality, so now you must put them at the service of righteousness for your sanctification. When you were slaves of sin, you felt no obligation to righteousness, and what did you get from this? Nothing but experiences that now make you...
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* The director of the Survey Center on American Life, Daniel Cox, notes that US birth rates have dropped alongside a sharp decline in religious participation—weekly church attendance has fallen to 30% from 42% two decades ago. * He studied the correlation, finding that Christians ages 40–59 average 2.2 children, compared with 1.8 for the unaffiliated. The fertility decline has been steeper among less religious Americans. * Young religious adults are nearly twice as likely as nonreligious peers to want children (62% vs. 32%). Cox said that upbringing that emphasized family and marriage is more likely to result in a...
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22 October 2025 Wednesday of week 29 in Ordinary Time St. John Paul II Church, K.Channasandra, Bangalore Readings at MassLiturgical Colour: Green. Year: C(I).First readingRomans 6:12-18Make every part of your body a weapon fighting on the side of GodYou must not let sin reign in your mortal bodies or command your obedience to bodily passions, you must not let any part of your body turn into an unholy weapon fighting on the side of sin; you should, instead, offer yourselves to God, and consider yourselves dead men brought back to life; you should make every part of your body into...
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First Archbishop of Canterbury, Apostle of the English; date of birth unknown; d. 26 May, 604. Symbols: cope, pallium, and mitre as Bishop of Canterbury, and pastoral staff and gospels as missionary. Nothing is known of his youth except that he was probably a Roman of the better class, and that early in life he become a monk in the famous monastery of St. Andrew erected by St. Gregory out of his own patrimony on the Cælian Hill. It was thus amid the religious intimacies of the Benedictine Rule and in the bracing atmosphere of a recent foundation that the...
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churches were bursting with visitors on September 14. Many people hauled themselves to church for the first time in a long time—or ever. In some places, there were lines just to get in the doors, and attendance exceeded that of Christmas or Easter. Why? Because four days earlier, Charlie Kirk had been murdered Americans saw a man murdered because he had spoken out for family, masculinity, femininity, responsibility and tradition—not merely as “conservative values” but as binding biblical principles. He stood up for what he believed, and people across America thought, I should be like that. Jesus Christ, whom all...
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Over Easter, the Catholic Church in France baptized nearly 18,000 people—the highest number ever recorded. The Catholic diocese in Westminster, at the heart of London, baptized 500. The Diocese of Lansing, Michigan, baptized 633, 30%more than the year before and the highest number in a decade. Stephen Foter, rector of the Anglican St. Aldates in Oxford, which caters to university students, had 1,000 show up for his Easter morning service—“more people in our building … than any time in the last thousand years,” "Among the young Christian converts I speak to, an overwhelming theme is a sense of disaffection with...
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Is the Catholic Church Growing or Shrinking in America?Back in March I wrote an article “Catholics Are Rapidly Losing Ground” in which I commented on a recent Pew Survey showing dire numbers about Catholicism, including the fact that for every person who becomes Catholic, over eight leave the Church. I didn’t try to sugar-coat the news and bluntly stated that this was very bad news for the Church, and that radical changes were necessary. The article went viral (it’s our most visited article in 2025 so far), and many other articles quoted it; in particular, many non-Catholics quoted me as...
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I watched the clip—again and again—Steven Furtick laughing, giving some guy a piggyback ride in what he calls a church. The people around him cheering, clapping, filming on their phones like the presence of God is some novelty sideshow act. Honestly, this stuff just makes me sick. It should grieve us when what is meant to be holy is dragged through the mud and turned into a circus. There was a time when men trembled to enter the sanctuary and especially when one took the pulpit. When the thought of the Most High, holy and righteous God stirred awe and...
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21 October 2025 Tuesday of week 29 in Ordinary TimeBridlington Priory Church, Bridlington, East YorkshireReadings at MassLiturgical Colour: Green. Year: C(I).First readingRomans 5:12,15,17-21Divine grace, coming through Jesus Christ, came as an abundant free giftSin entered the world through one man, and through sin death, and thus death has spread through the whole human race because everyone has sinned; but the gift itself considerably outweighed the fall. If it is certain that through one man’s fall so many died, it is even more certain that divine grace, coming through the one man, Jesus Christ, came to so many as an abundant...
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20 October 2025Monday of week 29 in Ordinary Time Santa Iria chapel, Tomar, PortugalReadings at MassLiturgical Colour: Green. Year: C(I).First readingRomans 4:20-25We must believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the deadSince God had made him a promise, Abraham refused either to deny it or even to doubt it, but drew strength from faith and gave glory to God, convinced that God had power to do what he had promised. This is the faith that was ‘considered as justifying him.’ Scripture however does not refer only to him but to us as well when it says that...
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Saturday 18 October 2025 Saint Luke, Evangelist FeastSt. Luke the Evangelist, Westborough, MAReadings at MassLiturgical Colour: Red. Year: C(I).First reading2 Timothy 4:10-17Only Luke is with meDemas has deserted me for love of this life and gone to Thessalonika, Crescens has gone to Galatia and Titus to Dalmatia; only Luke is with me. Get Mark to come and bring him with you; I find him a useful helper in my work. I have sent Tychicus to Ephesus. When you come, bring the cloak I left with Carpus in Troas, and the scrolls, especially the parchment ones. Alexander the coppersmith has...
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17 October 2025 Saint Ignatius of Antioch, Bishop, Martyr on Friday of week 28 in Ordinary TimeSaint Ignatius of Antioch Catholic Church, Tarpon Springs, FL Readings at MassLiturgical Colour: Red. Year: C(I).Readings for the feriaReadings for the memorialThese are the readings for the feriaFirst readingRomans 4:1-8Abraham was justified not by his actions but by faithWhat shall we say about Abraham, the ancestor from whom we are all descended? If Abraham was justified as a reward for doing something, he would really have had something to boast about, though not in God’s sight because scripture says: Abraham put his faith...
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16 October 2025 Thursday of week 28 in Ordinary TimeAlter of St. Hedwig of Silesia, Assumption church, Zagan, PolandReadings at MassLiturgical Colour: Green. Year: C(I).First readingRomans 3:21-30It is the same justice of God that comes to Jew and pagan alikeGod’s justice that was made known through the Law and the Prophets has now been revealed outside the Law, since it is the same justice of God that comes through faith to everyone, Jew and pagan alike, who believes in Jesus Christ. Both Jew and pagan sinned and forfeited God’s glory, and both are justified through the free gift of...
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