Sunday, June 12, 2011

The State of Christianity Today

"Out of my study of the Bible, I have come to conclude that God does not know the future free actions of human beings. I understand that most Christians have not thought this, but it makes sense of the Bible and preserves God's love and character."

"Wow. Good stuff. While I disagree, I commend you for your bravery and honesty and sincere desire to honor God."

"My study of the Bible has caused me to conclude that the God of the Bible is identical to the Father, and no other personage. I realize this may earn me some backlash, but I am willing to take it because I cannot but serve God and submit to what I take his revelation to tell us.

"I respect you very much. This was bold and brave, refreshing and honest. While I definitely disagree with you, and think you are in error, I can respect where you're coming from and would not want you to sin against your conscience."

"I must announce that due to my sincere and lengthy study of the Scriptures, I am now a universalist. A God of love would never torment his children in hell forever. I understand this view is a minority in Church history, with hardly any spirit-lead Christians seeing it, but here I stand I can do no other."

"Right on! I'm not there (at least not yet), but I definitely appreciate your boldness and willingness to share this with us. Even though you are probably wrong, we are Christians brothers and I respect where you're at."

"Out of my study of the Bible and what we know from history and science (the second of God's books), I must announce that I believe that the Bible is not inerrant. It gives us a false picture of the world, one borne out of ANE or otherwise scientifically naive views of the cosmos. I know this will not win me many friends, but I believe this is the most rational and God honoring position to take."

"Good sir! I do not agree with you on this, but I do respect your willingness to stand for what you believe is true. I am sure other 'Christians' will kick you out of the faith and treat you in less than loving ways, but I respect your decision and stand with you on the gospel."

"I understand this may receive some backlash, but I am now a theistic evolutionist and do not believe in a literal Adam. I believe I can reconcile this with the Bible. I struggled to come to this position, but to be intellectually honest, I must affirm it. I still love Jesus.

"Whew! This is a breath of fresh air. Such honesty. Such courage. Such strength. I disagree with you, but I can understand your position and am thankful that we stand together on the gospel."

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"I must announce a theological change I have undergone. Out of study of the Scriptures, I am now a Calvinist. I also see that Calvinism is well-represented in Church history, being held to by both very wise and very godly men. I realize some may not agree with my decision, but I must submit to God rather than men."

"What? Tell me this isn't so! You must be morally depraved to hold this view. Your God is no better than the devil. He's a moral monster. He's the author of sin, and he takes pleasure in the death of the wicked. If your God exists I would rather be in hell than live forever with that reprehensible being. You make man into a puppet. I do not support you in this change. We have nothing in common anymore. Can two walk together lest they be agreed? I will pray that God will bring you to see the error of your ways and that you will repent of your grave and sinful error."

12 comments:

  1. Pretty much sums it up.

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  2. "And you know the Church says there is a Trinity, but we have come to see that this is way false, and proclaim Jesus as the one God, and there is not really a father and holy spirit."-Philips, Craig, & Dean
    ps "And we appreciate all those Triune believers who buy our CD's, and listen to our songs on Christian radio stations."

    Thanks for the well thoughtout post.

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  3. I LOLed... Then forwarded it.

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  4. Post-modernism is quite agreeable, tolerant, open-minded, and charitably generous so long as no one commits utterly disagreeable, intolerant, close-minded and uncharitably exclusive offense of making objective, propositional truth claims from Scripture.

    That's downright hateful.

    In Christ,
    CD

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  5. Heresy is a sign of a morally corrupt heart.

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  6. "Heresy is a sign of a morally corrupt heart."

    Rubbish. Heresy is a theological thought crime. It has nothing to do with morality at all. But it has everything to do with being either with the 'in crowd' or the opposition.

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  7. Interesting. It's a thought-provoking position which is represented here, but honestly I haven't come across this viewpoint in any christian churches or groups I've yet been in contact with.

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  8. Try visiting Scot Mcknight's blog.

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  9. I used to be able to comment on Scot's blog, but he banned me. I was too dogmatic: Adam was a literal man, etc.

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  10. "I used to be able to comment on Scot's blog, but he banned me. I was too dogmatic: Adam was a literal man, etc."

    It's understandable why Scot McKnight banned you. I've been reading your comments over the years and you're way, way "too dogmatic" as you yourself admit. It would certainly help if you were more irenic, gentle, and peace-loving in your comments.

    ;-)

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  11. I stopped taking CT perhaps 10 years ago because I saw this sort of thing coming. When I read this I couldn't tell whether it was serious or a spoof because I could imagine them being this way by now except you would have referenced the quotes if it were true.

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