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angelapardie

The Importance of Coordination in Service | Eastern Lightning - 0 views

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started by angelapardie on 26 Jun 18 no follow-up yet
J. B.

God Is Still Holy and What You Learned in Sunday School Is Still True: A Review of "Lov... - 0 views

thegospelcoalition.org/...rob-bell-love-wins-review

Hell Universalism Rob Bell Love Wins

shared by J. B. on 14 Mar 11 - Cached
  • Bell asks a lot of questions (350 by one count), we should not write off the provocative theology as mere question-raising. Bell did not write an entire book because he was looking for some good resources on heaven and hell.
  • As Bell himself writes, “But this isn’t a book of questions. It’s a book of responses to these questions” (19).
  • Bad theology usually sneaks in under the guise of familiar language.
  • ...24 more annotations...
  • Judgmentalism is not the same as making judgments. The same Jesus who said “do not judge” in Matthew 7:1 calls his opponents dogs and pigs in Matthew 7:6. Paul pronounces an anathema on those who preach a false gospel (Gal. 1:8). Disagreement among professing Christians is not a plague on the church. In fact, it is sometimes necessary.
  • This is a book for people like Bell, people who grew up in an evangelical environment and don’t want to leave it completely, but want to change it, grow up out of it, and transcend it. The emerging church is not an evangelistic strategy. It is the last rung for evangelicals falling off the ladder into liberalism or unbelief. Over and over, Bell refers to the “staggering number” of people just like him, people who can’t believe the message they used to believe, people who want nothing to do with traditional Christianity, people who don’t want to leave the faith but can’t live in the faith they once embraced.
  • Others—and they are in the worse position—will opt for liberalism, which has always seen itself as a halfway house between conservative orthodoxy and secular disbelief.
  • This is misguided, toxic, and ultimately subverts
    • J. B.
      J. B. on 14 Mar 11
       
      Clearly Bell thinks this must be a very important issue. If Bell is right, then the vast majority of Christians throughout Christian history have been teaching a misguided, toxic, and subverting gospel.... in effect, it looks like we are teaching a different gospel altogether.
  • It’s a cheap view of the world because it’s a cheap view of God. It’s a shriveled imagination
  • This bold claim flies in the face of Richard Bauckham’s historical survey: Until the nineteenth century almost all Christian theologians taught the reality of eternal torment in hell. Here and there, outside the theological mainstream, were some who believed that the wicked would be finally annihilated. . . . Even fewer were the advocates of universal salvation, though these few included some major theologians of the early church. Eternal punishment was firmly asserted in official creeds and confessions of the churches. It must have seemed as indispensable a part of the universal Christian belief as the doctrines of the Trinity and the incarnation. (“Universalism: A Historical Survey,” Themelios 4.2 [September 1978]: 47–54)
  • Universalism has been around a long time. But so has every other heresy. Arius rejected the full deity of Christ and many people followed him. This hardly makes Arianism part of the wide, diverse stream of Christian orthodoxy. Every point of Christian doctrine has been contested, but some have been deemed heterodox. Universalism, traditionally, was considered one of those points. True, many recent liberal theologians have argued for versions of universalism—and this is where Bell stands, not in the center of the historic Christian tradition.
  • Universalism (though in a different form than Bell’s and for different reasons) has been present in the church since Origen, but it was never in the center of the tradition.
  • some of these are promises to God’s people, some are general promises about the nations coming to God, and others are about the universal acknowledgement (not to be equated with saving faith) on the last day that Jesus Christ is Lord. Not one of his texts supports his conclusion.
  • Even a cursory glance at John 14 shows that the through in verse 16 refers to faith. The chapter begins by saying, “Believe in God; believe also in me.” Verse seven talks about knowing the Father. Verse nine and ten explain that we see and know the Father by believing that Jesus is in the Father and the Father in him. Verses 11 and 12 touch on belief yet again. Coming to the Father through Christ means through faith in Christ. This is in keeping with the overall purpose of John’s gospel (John 20:31).
  • Bell cites Jesus’ words in John 3:17 that he “did not come to judge the world but to save it” (160). This Jesus, Bell says, is a “vast, expansive, generous mystery” leading us to conclude hopefully that “Heaven is, after all, full of surprises.” Bell’s lean into universalism here would be significantly muted had he gone on to Jesus’ words in verse 18: “Whoever believes in him [i.e., the Son] is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.” Likewise, according to John 3:36, “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.”
  • The Greek word for “unite” is a long one: anakephalaiōsasthai. It means to sum up, to bring together to a main point, to gather together. It is like an author finishing the last chapter of his book or a conductor bringing the symphony from cacophony to harmony. It’s a glorious promise, already begun in some ways by the word of Christ.
  • The uniting of all things does not entail the salvation of all people. It means that everything in the universe, heaven and earth, the spiritual world and the physical world, will finally submit to the lordship of Christ, some in joyful worship of their beloved Savior and others in just punishment for their wretched treason. In the end, God wins.
  • If you don’t accept God’s story about the world and resist his love, heaven will be hell for you, a hell you create for yourself. We are supposed to see this in Luke 15 where both brothers are invited to the same feast but one can’t enjoy it. Heaven and hell at the same party (176).
  • The result is a simplistic formula: “God wants all people to be saved. God gets what he wants. Therefore, all people will eventually be saved.” This is a case of poor theologizing beholden to mistaken logic. If it is “the will of God” that Christians “abstain from sexual immorality” (1 Thess. 4:3), does that mean God’s greatness is diminished by our impurity?
  • If he’s right, most of church history has been wrong. If he’s wrong, a staggering number of people are hearing “peace, peace” where there is no peace.
  • Bell figures God won’t say “sorry, too late” to those in hell who are humble and broken for their sins. But where does the Bible teach the damned are truly humble or penitent? For that matter, where does the Bible talk about growing and maturing in the afterlife or getting a second chance after death? Why does the Bible make such a big deal about repenting “today” (Heb. 3:13), about being found blameless on the day of Christ (2 Pet. 3:14), about not neglecting such a great salvation (Heb. 2:3) if we have all sorts of time to figure things out in the next life? Why warn about not inheriting the kingdom (1 Cor. 6:9–10), about what a fearful thing it is to fall into the hands of the living God (Heb. 10:31), or about the vengeance of our coming King (2 Thess. 1:5–12) if hell is just what we make of heaven? Bell does nothing to answer these questions, or even ask them in the first place.
  • Some Jesuses should be rejected, Bell says, like the ones that are “anti-science” and “anti-gay” and use bullhorns on the street (8). But wherever we find “grace, peace, love, acceptance, healing, forgiveness” we’ve found the creative life source that we call Jesus (156, 159).
  • At the very heart of this controversy, and one of the reasons the blogosphere exploded over this book, is that we really do have two different Gods. The stakes are that high. If Bell is right, then historic orthodoxy is toxic and terrible. But if the traditional view of heaven and hell are right, Bell is blaspheming. I do not use the word lightly, just like Bell probably chose “toxic” quite deliberately. Both sides cannot be right. As much as some voices in evangelicalism will suggest that we should all get along and learn from each other and listen for the Spirit speaking in our midst, the fact is we have two irreconcilable views of God.
  • Bell’s god may be all love, but it is a love rooted in our modern Western sensibilities more than careful biblical reflection. It is a love that threatens to swallow up God’s glory and holiness. But, you may reply, the Bible says God is love (1 John 4:16). True, but if you want to weigh divine attributes by sentence construction, you have to mention God is spirit (John 4:24), God is light (1 John 1:5), and God is a consuming fire (Heb. 12:29). The verb “is” does not establish a priority of attributes. If anything, one might mention that the only thrice-repeated attribute is “holy, holy, holy.” And yet this is the one thing Bell’s god is not.
  • What’s missing is not only a full-orbed view of sins, but a deeper understanding of sin itself. In Bell’s telling of the story, there is no sense of the vertical dimension of our evil. Yes, Bell admits several times that we can resist or reject God’s love. But there’s never any discussion of the way we’ve offended God, no suggestion that ultimately all our failings are a failure to worship God as we should. God is not simply disappointed with our choices or angry for the way we judge others. He is angry at the way we judge him. He cannot stand to look upon our uncleanness. His nostrils flare at iniquity. He hates our ingratitude, our impurity, our God-complexes, our self-centeredness, our disobedience, our despising of his holy law. Only when we see God’s eye-covering holiness will we grasp the magnitude of our traitorous rebellion, and only then will we marvel at the incomprehensible love that purchased our deliverance on the cross.
  • The pain of hell is our fault. But it’s also God’s doing. Hell is not what we make for ourselves or gladly choose. It’s what a holy God justly gives to those who exchange the truth of God for a lie. The bowls of wrath in Revelation are poured out by God; they are not swum in by sinners. The ten plagues were sent by God, they were not the product of some Egyptian spell gone wrong. God’s wrath burns against the impenitent and unbelieving; they do not walk into the fire by themselves. Bell’s god is wholly passive toward sin. He hates some of it and says no to it in the next life, but he does not actively judge it. There’s no way to make sense of Nadab and Abihu or Perrez-Uzzah or Gehazi or Achan’s or Korah’s rebellion or the flood or the exodus or the Babylonian captivity or the preaching of John the Baptist or the visions of Revelation or the admonitions of Paul or the warnings of Hebrews or Calvary’s cross apart from a God who hates sin, judges sin, and pour out his wrath—sometimes now, always later—on the accursed things and peoples of this world.
  • Love Wins assures people that everyone’s eternity ends up as heaven eventually. The second chances are good not just for this life, but for the next. And what if they aren’t? What if Jesus says on the day of judgment, “Depart from me, I never knew you” (Matt. 7:23)? What if at the end of the age the wicked and unbelieving cry out, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb” (Rev. 6:16)? What if outside the walls of the New Jerusalem “are the dogs and sorcerers and the sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood” (Rev. 22:15)? What if there really is only one name “under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12)? And what if the wrath of God really remains on those who do not believe in the Son (John 3:18, 36)?
  • Bad theology hurts real people.
  • J. B. on 14 Mar 11
     
    A thorough critical review of Rob Bell's book "Love Wins" by Kevin Deyoung. MUST READ.
IN Too

The Believer's New Clothes « Reflections in the WORD - 0 views

reflectionsintheword.org/...believer%e2%80%99s-new-clothes

Christianity CLOTHES HUMBLENESS HUMILITY KINDNESS LONGSUFFERING MEEKNESS NEW-CLOTHES RIGHTEOUSNESS Transformation Bible-Study Bible-Teaching Blog Inspiration Religion Mercy love Salvation Grace new Ministries

shared by IN Too on 12 Apr 11 - No Cached
  • IN Too on 12 Apr 11
     
    Our clothing consists of hearts that are tender and filled with compassion displaying mercy; human-kindness that overflows to meet the needs of others; a humble preference to put others first; a meek, spirit-controlled temperament; and the willingness to go the distance with others without complaint-these are the new clothes.
angelapardie

Disclosing: Is the Lord Jesus the Son of God, or God Himself? - 2 views

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Lord Jesus

started by angelapardie on 23 Jun 18 no follow-up yet
Brian Jones

Your Forgiveness Is NOT Dependent Upon Forgiving Others - 0 views

brianjones.com/...ependent-upon-forgiving-others

forgiveness unforgiving heart

shared by Brian Jones on 08 May 13 - No Cached
  • Brian Jones on 08 May 13
     
    Your Forgiveness Is NOT Dependent Upon Forgiving Others
J. B.

Why do Americans claim to be more religious than they are? - By Shankar Vedantam - Slat... - 0 views

www.slate.com/2278923

Religion Religiosity Christianity and Society Religion and Society

shared by J. B. on 28 Dec 10 - Cached
  • Americans are hardly more religious than people living in other industrialized countries. Yet they consistently—and more or less uniquely—want others to believe they are more religious than they really are.
  • When you ask Americans about their religious beliefs, it's like asking them whether they are good people, or asking whether they are patriots. They'll say yes, even if they cheated on their taxes, bilked Medicare for unnecessary services, and evaded the draft. Asking people how often they attend church elicits answers about their identity—who people think they are or feel they ought to be, rather than what they actually believe and do.
  • self-reported church attendance has been held up as proof that America has somehow resisted the secularizing trends that have swept other industrialized nations. What if those numbers are spectacularly wrong?
  • ...4 more annotations...
  • actual "church attendance rates for Protestants and Catholics are approximately one half" of what people reported.
  • nearly 50 percent more people claimed they attended services when asked the type of question that pollsters ask: "Did you attend religious services in the last week?"
  • in reality about 21 percent of Americans attended religious services weekly—exactly half the number who told pollsters they did.
  • Brenner found that the United States and Canada were outliers—not in religious attendance, but in overreporting religious attendance. Americans attended services about as often as Italians and Slovenians and slightly more than Brits and Germans. The significant difference between the two North American countries and other industrialized nations was the enormous gap between poll responses and time-use studies in those two countries.
sonamp

ISO-27001:2005 - 0 views

iso9000india.blogspot.com/...iso-270012005.html

iso-9000 ISO-27001

shared by sonamp on 08 Jun 11 - No Cached
  • sonamp on 08 Jun 11
     
    The Family of ISO 9000 standards relate to quality management systems and are designed to help organizations ensure they meet the needs of customers and other stakeholders…on other hand ISO 27001, part of the growing ISO 27000 family of standards, is an Information Security Management System (ISMS) standard published in October 2005 by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO).
IN Too

…and They'll Know We are Christians by Our Love « Reflections in the WORD - 0 views

reflectionsintheword.org/...-we-are-christians-by-our-love

Christianity Church Giving Help Legalism Love Ritual Sharing Unity Brotherhood Mosaic-Law Fellowship Bible-Study Bible-Teaching Devotional

shared by IN Too on 21 Nov 11 - No Cached
  • IN Too on 21 Nov 11
     
    It is the love we share (by our actions, not just words!) that makes people believe we are sincere. It is how much we sacrifice for each other that opens the door for the gospel message. It is by bearing each other's burdens that we fulfill the Law of Christ.
anonymous

Heaven - 0 views

freebiblestudiesonline.wordpress.com/...heaven

blog articles christian christianity bible jesus love faith god prayer god's word

shared by anonymous on 09 Feb 12 - No Cached
  • anonymous on 09 Feb 12
     
    GOD HIMSELF TOOK THE APOSTLE JOHN ON A SPIRIT TRIP & REVEALED THIS WONDROUS CRYSTAL-GOLD PYRAMID TO HIM! You can read a fascinating & detailed description of it in the last two chapters of the Bible, Revelation 21 & 22! For this marvellous structure is none other than God's Own Heavenly City! HEAVEN IS NOT SOME IMAGINARY DREAMLAND OR MERELY A STATE OF BEING OR CONSCIOUSNESS!-The God who created this wonderful Earth & the beautiful universe in which we live is a real, down-to-earth God who has also created a real down-to-earth Place for all His children to live with Him forever!-Heaven!
anonymous

Discouragement! - How To Fight It! - 0 views

freebiblestudiesonline.wordpress.com/discouragement-how-to-fight-it

blog articles christian christianity bible jesus love faith god prayer god's word

shared by anonymous on 09 Feb 12 - No Cached
  • anonymous on 09 Feb 12
     
    One of the Devil's favourite "devices", or tools that he uses with Christians, is DISCOURAGEMENT! If he can't keep you from getting SAVED and giving your life to Jesus, then he will do his best to try to DISCOURAGE you so you give up and QUIT serving the Lord or telling others about Him!-And his favourite way of trying to discourage most of us is by getting us to look at our own mistakes, sins, weakness and failures, looking at OURSELVES instead of the LORD!
IN Too

The Parable of the Sheep and the Goats: "Do I value others enough to put thei... - 0 views

reflectionsintheword.org/...-to-put-their-needs-above-mine

Faith Giving Judgment Love Sacrifice Salvation Servant Service Value-System Work Works World-View Religion Blog Inspiration Bible-Study Jesus Poor Sheep Goats Bible-Teaching Spirituality parable bible Ministries christianity

shared by IN Too on 12 Jul 10 - Cached
  • IN Too on 12 Jul 10
     
    Love is neither theoretical nor abstract. The lover pays a price to love the loved. Jesus gave His life and thereby proved His love for us. He didn't, and indeed couldn't, just stay in Heaven and wish us into salvation; a price had to be paid. We too must be willing to pay any price to love our brethren; because each person has value and that value is the Blood of Christ, for that is the price He paid for each man, each woman.
IN Too

Today: A Day to Rejoice in the Lord: Today « Reflections in the WORD - 0 views

reflectionsintheword.org/...y-to-rejoice-in-the-lord-today

Joy Praise Rejoice Trials Christianity Blog Inspirational Spirituality Bible-Teaching Bible-Study Devotional today day Bible Ministries Religion

shared by IN Too on 22 Sep 10 - No Cached
  • IN Too on 22 Sep 10
     
    If you are facing loneliness or pain as once again you pick up your burden, you can draw on the Lord's resources and be a living testimony of His all-sufficiency. If you're filled with thanksgiving and praise, you can tell others of God's goodness.
IN Too

Branch Treatment: Turning Water from Bitter to Sweet « Reflections in the WORD - 0 views

reflectionsintheword.org/...ing-water-from-bitter-to-sweet

Bitter Exodus Growth Guidance Health Hebrews Insight Jehovah-Rapha Love Marah Maturity Mercy Patience Sanctification Search Spiritual-Growth Sweet The-Branch Water Wilderness Wisdom branch treatment turning Christianity Ministries Religion Bible Spiritual

shared by IN Too on 17 Oct 10 - No Cached
  • IN Too on 17 Oct 10
     
    As we seek to make daily life decisions the key question is NOT, "Is this solution good for me?" The key question is, "Is Jesus in it?" In other words, instead of seeking "a solution", we seek Jesus for He alone has the RIGHT solution.
IN Too

The Lord is my Shepherd, BUT. . . « Reflections in the WORD - 0 views

reflectionsintheword.org/...the-lord-is-my-shepherd-but

restoration family mental-health spirituality Endurance Love Mercy Perspective Sheep Shepherd Struggles Trials Tribulation Blog Inspiration Religion Bible-Study bible-teaching Bible Christianity Ministries

shared by IN Too on 09 Nov 10 - No Cached
  • IN Too on 09 Nov 10
     
    One way the Lord makes us lie down is to use health problems, marriage problems, problems with our children, financial problems, career and professional problems and any other kind of problems we can imagine to teach us about the relationship which is the key to all the blessings…
Julie Radachy

ChristianBlog.Com - 0 views

www.christianblog.com

christianblog

shared by Julie Radachy on 04 Apr 08 - Cached
  • Julie Radachy on 04 Apr 08
     
    This website allows you to create your own blog, and you can also read many other blogs that have already been started! :-)
Ebey Soman

The Deaths of the Twelve Apostles - 0 views

www.relijournal.com/...-of-the-Twelve-Apostles.332305

Tacitus historians church christianity christian apostles death matyr deaths twelve disciples jesus christ gospel emperor nero persecution early times crucified crucification crucifix

shared by Ebey Soman on 14 Sep 09 - Cached
  • Ebey Soman on 14 Sep 09
     
    Historians such as Tacitus, Tertullian, Suetonius and many others recorded how Christianity faced unprecedented persecution after the death of Christ and the rise of Emperor Nero to power. All of the original apostles of Christ faced trials and were put to death either by the Roman Empire or local authority figures - but they all died for their faith.
Dan J

Oil spill at Texas port dumps 450,000 gallons - CNN.com - 0 views

www.cnn.com/...index.html

gallons dumps Oil Spill Houston. Texas

shared by Dan J on 24 Jan 10 - Cached
  • Dan J on 24 Jan 10
     
    "(CNN) -- A tanker ship loaded with oil in the Port of Port Arthur, Texas, collided with two barges being towed by a tug boat, resulting in a spill of about 450,000 gallons of crude, according to the U.S. Coast Guard. No injuries were reported, but a 50-block area around the port was evacuated out of caution, as the tanker was carrying a type of oil containing sulfide. The portion of the port where the collision occurred will remain closed until it is deemed safe for workers and other vessels to return, Petty Officer Richard Brahm said. The Coast Guard has deployed 4,000 feet of boom, which helps corral the oil, with 10,000 more feet available for cleanup. Also on the scene are oil skimmers, three boom vessels, four 25-foot Coast Guard boats, the Coast Guard cutter Manowar and authorities from the local police and fire departments. There is almost no water flow in the area, so the oil isn't spreading out. --Coast Guard Petty Officer Richard Brahm RELATED TOPICS * Port Arthur * U.S. Coast Guard * Oil Prices The spill is in a "very still" area of the waterway, which is helping contain it, Brahm said. "There is almost no water flow in the area, so the oil isn't spreading out," he said. The port is primarily for industrial use, but Coast Guard Capt. John J. Plunkett said there are environmental concerns to marsh areas both up- and downstream of the spill. He said the spill hadn't reached those areas. The Coast Guard did not indicate how long cleanup will take. The investigation into the cause of the collision is ongoing. Port Arthur is about 100 miles east of Houston, near the Louisiana border. The biggest oil spill in U.S. history occurred in 1989 when the Exxon Valdez ran aground on a reef in the Gulf of Alaska, resulting in the spill of 11 million gallons of crude."
peter link

Inspirational Music Album: Brooke Fraser | Albertine - 0 views

www.squidoo.com/BrookeFraserAlbertine

Brooke Fraser albertine Watchfire Music Inspirational Music Inspirational Sheet Music Inspirational Music Downloads Digital Sheet Music Sheet Music Inspirational Christian Music Inspirational Composer "Inspirational Music Artist"

shared by peter link on 06 May 10 - Cached
  • peter link on 06 May 10
     
    24 year old Brooke Fraser is a pop phenomenon in New Zealand and Australia where sales of her latest album, 'Albertine' and debut 'What To Do With Daylight' have together sold over 225,000 units. Now WatchfireMusic.com welcomes Brooke to the Watchfire Family of Inspirational Artists music.Albertine is the 2007 sophomore album from Brooke Fraser, one of New Zealand's great young singer/songwriter's. Recorded in LA with producer Marshall Altman, engineer Joe Zook and a stellar line-up of the world's finest musicians, Albertine delivers 12 gorgeous gems stamped with an air of new found maturity and worldliness.Much of the inspiration for the album came after a 2005 trip to Rwanda when she met Albertine, a young orphan girl who was heroically saved from genocide by a fellow Rwandan. Brooke stated, 'Albertine is alive today because of the selfless, sacrificial love of another. Funny thing is, so am I [referring to Jesus]. And I know I want to know what it's like to love other people like that, so have decided to spend my whole life on the experiment.'Her solo album songs appeal just as much to fans of mainstream artists like Sarah McLachlan, Ingrid Michaelson and KT Tunstall. Featuring the singles 'Shadowfeet', 'Deciphering Me', 'Albertine' and 'C.S. Lewis Song' , this is immaculately crafted pop that will stand the test of time for all the right reasons.
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