The Upper Room

12:05 AM

I also got a rather unsatisfying answer from my pastor, who agreed it was hard to find the policy online. He pointed me to the EFCA Credentialing FAQ you quoted and especially the word "complementarian". I think you are on the right track with your answer.

Anonymous

2:19 AM

I am not sure how reliable this source is. To me, it looks very ill-sourced, because I don't know who the "most Bible scholars" are, and I need to confirm the validity of its claims. christianity.about.com/od/faqhelpdesk/a/whatisrapture.htm

wax eagle

@Anonymous it gets the basics right. but there are a lot of different theories and interpreations wrt the rapture. A great many folks reject the concept entirely

Anonymous

It is written by a woman named Mary Fairchild. Apparently, she cites in the references to gotquestions.org. That site does not portray the facts for all denominations of Christianity! It's too Protestant.

wax eagle

@Anonymous the rapture is almost entirely a protestant concept.

(and a great many protestants reject it)

Anonymous

@waxeagle Do the folks reject it because it involves denying basic physical laws?

wax eagle

@Anonymous no

defying basic physical laws isn't an issue for us in general

Anonymous

2:26 AM

@waxeagle One more reason to become Catholic.

@waxeagle Maybe it's because a Christian believes that Jesus can "walk on water"?

wax eagle

@Anonymous or heal the sick, or turn water into wine. Generally Christians don't have any issues with God defying physical laws to get his work done.

Anonymous

@waxeagle God is above the law?

wax eagle

@Anonymous he made it, so yeah

Anonymous

@waxeagle even though the King/Queen of England is not above the law, despite being anointed by God.

wax eagle

@Anonymous lol

yeah...about that

Anonymous

2:33 AM

@waxeagle Wow. This commitment to the idea that Jesus is God or divine is pretty strong, eh?

wax eagle

@Anonymous uh yeah, it's kind of the basis for the entire religion

Anonymous

Maybe all of these are perceived to be the foundations or fundamentals of Christianity: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/…

It seems to me that some Christians recognize the Jewishness in the New Testament, and other Christians seem to reject the Jewishness, namely Jehovah's witnesses. Jehovah's witnesses seem to have a penchant of rejecting anything perceived to be having pagan or non-Christian origins.

@waxeagle Can you summarize the rapture?

wax eagle

2:52 AM

@Anonymous my understanding (and it's not a part of my theology so I haven't studied it fully), is that at a specific point in the end times (either before, during or after the tribulation) God will assume all current Christians into heaven. Depending on your eschatology and other theology the remaining folks on earth are either given an additional chance to repent (the classic left behind scenario) or are simply destined to be cast into hell

Anonymous

@waxeagle Man, you really need to get the right theology, huh?

I am beginning to dislike orthodoxy very much. I think orthopraxy may be more easier to deal with than orthodoxy.

wax eagle

@Anonymous eh, I'm eschatologically uninterested. I tend to take an amellennial view if pressed, but generally try to avoid the specifics of eschatology, too much of it is pure conjecture

@Anonymous well, the entire crux of Christianity isn't actually orthodoxy or orthopraxy. It's acknowledging Jesus as your savior and having faith in him that he's forgiven your sins. Everything after that is up to him.

Anonymous

@waxeagle Is it because you can't predict the future? Maybe it's best to do what the Catholics do. While Catholics pray for the lost souls in limbo state, other Christians may pray for lost souls who are not yet in heaven and not yet in hell.

wax eagle

@Anonymous nah, it's because it's really hard to tell what in revelation is actually symbolism and what's prophecy and what's symbolic prophecy

Anonymous

@waxeagle or maybe it's a personal reflection or creative writing.

wax eagle

3:01 AM

@Anonymous I don't buy that.

Anonymous

@waxeagle It may as well be up to personal interpretation.

@waxeagle In Jane Eyre, Jane tells Mr. Brocklehurst that her favorite part of the Bible is Revelations, not Psalms.

Little is known about Jane's religious beliefs. She may be Anglican, Roman Catholic, or Quaker. It's unclear and irrelevant, anyways.

However, Jane does observe different types of Christians around her - the angelic martyr Helen Burns, the cruel and hypocritical Mr. Brocklehurst, the spiritually inclined St. John Eyre Rivers.

@waxeagle Do you think there is a difference between people who get inspired by the Bible and people who become Christians?

wax eagle

@Anonymous yes

Anonymous

3:20 AM

@waxeagle I was hoping that you would say that. I do not think that some people know the difference.

Caleb

11:25 AM

@JonEricson I actually got quite a bit farther along than my answer currently reflects. It's the right track but it's not the right answer yet. I've contemplated deleting it until I can finish, which might be next week.

Affable Geek

11:35 AM

@Anonymous Now you know why I'm not a Muslim, a Jew, or a Hindu. Most of the world's religions are orthopractic, and all will tell you pretty much the same thing about right behavior. To me, the distinctiveness of Christianity is precisely that it doesn't cop out and just say, "Be good." It says, "Be perfect," and "Have this attitude in you that was in Christ Jesus." It tells you how to arrive at right behavior, but it does so much more - and it doesn't settle for easy.

And, most importantly, it tells me the true nature of the God who truly is for me and not against me. The One who, while I was still a sinner, sent His only Son to die for me. It's hard enough to do that for a good man - but while we were in opposition to Him? Wow!

Anonymous

12:22 PM

@AffableGeek I cannot speak for other world religions. Though, I can say that orthopraxy is not that bad in the form of humanism. Sometimes, I think it's easier to have the same deed than the same creed. At least people with different faiths and theologies can work together and help each other.

Anonymous

12:33 PM

@AffableGeek At worst, Christianity may start appearing like an extremely lax religion, where just about everything is excusable. However, such laxness may never happen, because some churches are very strict on lifestyle habits, such as eating, drinking, clothing, wearing the hair in a particular fashion, etc.

Anonymous

2:30 PM

I tried to edit this question.

-1

Q: any books on old testament apologetics?

are there any books on old testament apologetics? there are a lot of books defending the new testament and Jesus. i'm wondering if there are any apologetics on old testament

apologetics

Why is Jeremiah 31:31-34 interpreted by Christians to point toward Jesus? How and why has Christianity fused together the idea of a Hebrew מָשִׁיחַ, or messiah, with the concept of something that God will do? Is the verse really pointing to a prophecy that will be fulfilled by a מָשִׁיחַ, or are Christians just vulnerable to the hindsight bias?

-- Jeremiah 31:31-34, chabad.org

wax eagle

@Anonymous yeah, I rejected it. If you want to ask that, just ask a new question. Though tbh, that's really broad. again, in general, if you ask "why do christian do X" that's too broad.

you might as well ask "why do programmers do x" or "why to cat owners do x"

Anonymous

@waxeagle Fine. Protestants are too diverse, so I'm going to narrow down to Roman Catholics.

At least Roman Catholicism is centralized and hierarchical.

Plus, it's older than all the other denominations, so it applies more to history.

Meanwhile, Protestantism is a baby religion.

Relatively speaking.

Dan

@Anonymous with the exception of Orthodoxy :P

Anonymous

@Dan Yeah, but Roman Catholics are more spread out across the globe due to evangelism. Eastern Orthodoxy is more or less focused in the Eastern European region.

Dan

@Anonymous hmm... yes and no. But I will grant that if you want a straight answer, you're better off asking a Catholic ;)

Anonymous

2:38 PM

I believe on Seinfield (?), the writer gave coverage to the "Latvian Orthodox Church", and the real Latvian Orthodox Church thanked him for it!

@Dan Why would I be better off asking a Catholic? Are you relying on Catholic stereotypes?

Dan

@Anonymous haha no. I am relying on the fact that Orthodox have few dogmatic positions and even fewer clear-cut sources for doctrine that all agree on.

Anonymous

@Dan Your profile says that you are Orthodox. You are Orthodox Catholic, I presume.

Dan

@Anonymous I am a Christian who identifies mostly with the Orthodox tradition. But I think Catholics and Protestants bring a lot of great stuff to the table as well. You could say I'm ecumenical, but perhaps not with all the baggage that word often carries

Anonymous

@Dan Could it be that the Orthodox churches are separated by countries? There are Russian Orthodox, Greek Orthodox, Latvian Orthodox, etc.

Dan

@Anonymous cf. phyletism - i.e. it shouldn't be this way - but it is sadly

@Anonymous that should say something about Orthodoxy: something condemned as heresy in 1872 is still practiced by a majority of Orthodox Christians

@Anonymous but once you understand the history of Communism and how this situation/confusion came about, it's easier to sympathize with it. It will take generations to change

Anonymous

2:43 PM

@Dan So... that means that the Orthodox parishes will disallow people of foreign races in the Orthodox parishes?

Dan

@Anonymous they shouldn't - but some do

Anonymous

@Dan Huh?

@Dan You don't call yourself Orthodox Christian, eh?

Dan

@Anonymous the only place many Eastern Europeans could express national pride was in the Churches

@Anonymous I am not officially an Orthodox Christian yet. I am a catechumen. For this reason I don't call myself that yet

@Anonymous and so national pride and the Orthodox faith came to be confused. To be Serbian/Greek/Macedonian/Romanian was to be Orthodox, and vice versa

Anonymous

@Dan Why then you just don't call yourself a catechumen?

Specifically you are an Orthodox catechumen.

Dan

@Anonymous correct

@Anonymous I've been a catechumen for quite some time - haven't made the leap of chrismation yet, by choice

@Anonymous my priest is eager for me to do so haha

@Anonymous but I'm still reading church history, scripture, etc. and investigating things

Anonymous

2:50 PM

@Dan How long does it take for you to become officially a Christian? How long have you been a catechumen? What were you before?

Man, for Protestants, all you have to do is believe, become affiliated with a church, become baptized, and ding, you are automatically a Christian and a member of the church. It must be considerably harder to be Roman Catholic or Orthodox Catholic.

@Dan How did you become attracted to the Orthodox faith?

Dan

@Anonymous I am considered a Christian. Technically I am also considered Orthodox, just not fully so. For instance, if I were to die before being chrismated, I would still receive an Orthodox burial/funeral

Anonymous

@Dan Have you ever read the Orthodox Wiki? It's for the Orthodox faith!

Dan

I grew up LCMS Lutheran > agnostic > Pentecostal > non-Trinitarian neo-Pentecostal cult > non-denominational > Reformed > Christian Churches/Churches of Christ > organic house church > missional community > Evangelical Covenant Church (ECC) > back to LCMS Lutheran > Eastern Orthodoxy

@Anonymous yes! I reference it a lot

Anonymous

@Dan Your priest is actually waiting for you to ask for chrismation?

Dan

@Anonymous no he has been trying to schedule me numerous times. I have decided not to do it yet

@Anonymous It's not too difficult. I'm making it more complicated than it needs to be. People have become Orthodox on their deathbeds.

Anonymous

2:54 PM

@Dan Why not?

Dan

@Anonymous I still have reservations

Anonymous

@Dan How did you become all those things, plus joining a Christian cult? Was it dangerous? How did you end up in all those churches?

Why don't you go back to LCMS?

Isn't that the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod?

Dan

@Anonymous I did go back to LCMS, stayed as long as I could in good conscious. Yes the Missouri Synod

Anonymous

Have you tried the ELCA?

Dan

@Anonymous the ELCA has gotten a little too far from God in my estimations

@Anonymous I did consider the NALC which recently broke from ELCA over their recent decision to ordain practicing homosexuals

@Anonymous that is not the only issue i have a beef with them on - they have a notorious bishop who I'm surprised still identifies as a Christian

Anonymous

2:59 PM

@Dan So, you believe that homosexuality is a sin, eh? Are you referring to homosexuality (behavior) or homosexuality (sexual orientation)?

Dan

@Anonymous behavior

Anonymous

@Dan Who is the bishop?

@Dan Would you identify yourself as a conservative Christian?

Dan

@Anonymous Mark Hanson I believe is his name

@Anonymous hard to say - I'm labeled as conservative by the liberals and liberal by the conservatives :P

Anonymous

@Dan Ummm... what type of conservative or liberal are you referring to?

Dan

@Anonymous religious

@Anonymous I guess I am a centrist in some ways

Anonymous

3:03 PM

So, why are you surprised that Mark Hanson identifies himself as a Christian?

Mark Hanson

Mark S. Hanson (born December 2, 1946) is the third and current Presiding Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Before being elected presiding bishop, he served as bishop of the Saint Paul Area Synod. Prior to being elected synod bishop, he served as pastor of three Minnesota congregations: Prince of Glory Lutheran Church, Minneapolis; Edina Community Lutheran Church; and University Lutheran Church of Hope in Minneapolis. In addition to serving as Presiding Bishop, Hanson was the 11th President of the Lutheran World Federation. Biography Early Life and Education Mark...

The LCMS may have gotten some coverage in the new TV show, Are you going to fall for that?

Dan

@Anonymous I may have the wrong bishop - the one I'm thinking of basically said the bible is fairy tales and you don't have to believe in the Gospels' account of Jesus' death and resurrection, calling it "divine child abuse"

@Anonymous I just verified that it is him who condoned this, as well as condoning an ELCA church that rejected the Trinity and practices goddess worship

Anonymous

@Dan Well, the Bible is composed of traditional narratives. And many Christians do stress importance on the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, especially the resurrection, because that is the turning point at which Christianity can make a claim to separate from mainstream Judaism.

Dan

@Anonymous he may not believe it himself, but he will not discipline churches under his care who do - which is in effect condoning the beliefs (when you are the bishop)

@Anonymous how about you? What is your background and current affiliation?

Anonymous

@Dan Do you have evidence for that? What type of church would reject the Trinity as well as worshiping a goddess? The God in the Bible is supposedly gender-neutral, not only male or only female.

Dan

@Anonymous here you go

@Anonymous they are not claiming gender neutrality - I agree that God transcends gender. They are claiming that God is feminine

distinctly

Anonymous

3:11 PM

@Dan Though, IIRC, Yahweh used to be a male god along with his female consort goddess Asherah. That ELCA church might as well worship Yahweh and Asherah.

Dan

@Anonymous so... what's your background and affiliation/religious identity?

Anonymous

@Dan No religious background. No religious affiliation. No religious identity. Raised nontheist.

Dan

@Anonymous ok. So explain nontheist and how it differs from atheist and agnostic

Anonymous

@Dan Just don't think about God or the gods.

Dan

@Anonymous do you believe it is impossible to know whether there is or isn't a God? Or that it is potentially possible but you just don't care?

Anonymous

3:16 PM

Though, some phrases may be derived from religious thought and expressions; those phrases have lost their meaning.

Jon Ericson

@Caleb Awesome. I'm looking forward to it.

Anonymous

@Dan The existence or nonexistence of God is meaningless to me. Now, when I read the Bible, I imagine that God is a character in the Bible, interacting with the human characters.

In the context of the Bible, yes, I do believe that God exists.

Dan

@Anonymous so he did exist but may or may not any longer?

Anonymous

@Dan God exists in my imagination.

Dan

@Anonymous interesting

@Anonymous ever read Anselm?

Anonymous

3:27 PM

You mean this guy?

plato.stanford.edu/entries/anselm

Nope, I haven't read him.

James T

"Cur Deus Homo" is one of the greatest book titles ever IMO

Dan

@Anonymous I don't know if I should take that facetiously or not. But he also believed God existed in his imagination. He just took it a step further

@JamesT haha

@Anonymous Orthodox aren't too fond of Anselm, nor Aquinas who came after him for that matter

Anonymous

@Dan What? He believed that God existed in his imagination?

Dan

@Anonymous you could say that beginning with Anselm, Western Christianity truly began distancing itself from early Christian thought

@Anonymous he posited the ontological argument for God, one of his points is that. You'd have to read the entire argument to see how he then tries to use that as the basis for saying God exists in reality

@Anonymous Aquinas tore that argument apart, but only so that he could offer a better one

Anonymous

@Dan exactly how?

Dan

3:32 PM

@Anonymous I would argue that all Aquinas did was conformed Christianity to Aristotelian thought - in which Western Christianity has remained captive ever since (even Luther recognized this and wrote his disdain for Aristotle and 'Scholasticism')

@Anonymous here is a brief introduction to the concept: stnectariospress.com/parish/river_of_fire.htm

@Anonymous For a more in depth and scholarly analysis, see this book

Anonymous

@Dan What's so bad about scholasticism?

Dan

@Anonymous see also amazon.com/…

@Anonymous mainly that it makes human reason into the ultimate arbiter of truth, although it would deny this

Anonymous

@Dan You really like Jaroslav Pelikan, huh?

I can't even pronounce that name.

Dan

@Anonymous Pelikan was a top-rate Yale scholar, but he was also an LCMS Lutheran who converted to Orthodoxy ;)

Anonymous

Pelikan looks like pecan without the lik.

Dan

3:37 PM

@Anonymous the problem is that there are few others who wrote about this stuff in that depth - and I like Pelikan because he translates primary source documents and presents them to you in his works

Anonymous

@Dan which inspired you to convert to Orthodoxy, eh?

Dan

@Anonymous no, I only found him after I began the journey

@Anonymous but I do find it peculiar that one of the few primary source historians of our era made that conversion

Anonymous

@Dan journey to become Orthodox?

Dan

@Anonymous yes

James T

@Anonymous also, the "what has Athens to do with Jerusalem?" objection (which predates scholasticism but still bites)

Anonymous

3:40 PM

@JamesT Well, it's important to observe things within cultural contexts.

Though, I think Jesus' Jerusalem was under Roman occupation, so it might have a lot of Roman/pagan influences.

James T

@Anonymous I tend to see the scholastic project as an attempt to transcend culture, providing a unifying system of thought, intended to answer all answerable questions ever.

Anonymous

@JamesT I think one can only achieve scholasticism by studying different cultures as much as one can achieve enlightenment by studying various religions and learning about human nature.

Dan

Be sure to read this for an Orthodox understanding (with which many scholars of early Christianity would agree). The funny thing is that Protestants often lodge the accusation that Orthodox are pagan - while the exact opposite is often the case

Anonymous

@Dan How did you find the St. Nectarios Press, the Orthodox Christian publishing company in Seattle, Washington?

Isn't the Northwest the home for many Orthodox Christians?

Dan

@Anonymous The Orthodox are all over the world these days

James T

3:47 PM

@Dan I think we (Protestants) have been too accustomed to the Catholic-Protestant dichotomy - taking it for granted that these are the only two options.

Dan

@JamesT that is easier since you speak the same language in a sense. You argue from similar presuppositions and worldviews

Anonymous

@JamesT Protestants are mostly protesting against the Roman Catholic Church. I doubt that they will care what goes on in the East.

Dan

Orthodoxy doesn't even agree with the definition of basic terms used in the West

James T

"original sin"

Dan

like grace, faith, etc.

@JamesT we would say 'ancestral sin' - we don't believe in inherited guilt

Anonymous

3:49 PM

@Dan Both Catholics and Protestants believe in original sin.

Dan

@Anonymous yes - we don't

Anonymous

@Dan we as in "we the orthodox christians" or "we the LCMS" lutherans"?

@Dan How do you pronounce "Lutheran"? Do you pronounce it with three syllables or two?

Loo-the-ran or Loo-thern?

Dan

@Anonymous orthodox

Anonymous

I wonder why Martin Luther's name is Martin Luther. Maybe he latinized it.

Dan

@Anonymous the first, although some do say the second in northern states in the USA

@Anonymous he was german

Anonymous

3:52 PM

@Dan Why are you named "Dan"? Is that short for "Daniel"?

Dan

@Anonymous yes

James T

@Dan I think there's also a certain kind of rationalism that C & P share. We assume everything can and should be dissected.

and then repackaged into a logical treatise

Dan

@JamesT that is Aristotelian thought / Scholasticism

Orthodox believe that theology is mystical because it is an encounter with a living God - not an abstract field of study

Well, I must go

3:55 PM

@Dan farewell!

Dan

I'll stop in later if I can, adios

Anonymous

@JamesT Check out the Thomas Aquinas song!!! It's delightfully catchy!

James T

@Anonymous listening to it now

@Anonymous that is... incredible

Anonymous

@JamesT historyteacherz (the star singer is a schoolteacher named __________ who received a federal grant to perform these videos, with the help of guest stars and film helpers) published these videos on historyteacherz.com.

James T

@Anonymous watching the Dante one now

Anonymous

4:02 PM

You can find songs on Thomas Aquinas, St. Constantine, Dante Alighieri, The Divine Comedy, etc.

It's supposed to make learning history fun and exciting, because it is presumed that history is boring and filled with nothing but outdated facts.

wax eagle

6:53 PM

this answers to this question give me a sad: christianity.stackexchange.com/questions/14226/…

how do you answer a question like that and not link to any external resources!

Jon Ericson

@waxeagle Divine inspiration.

wax eagle

@JonEricson naturally :)

Jon Ericson

But I'm going to go out on a limb and say neither answer exhibits that trait.

wax eagle

@JonEricson no. I've favorited it, I'm going to look into it and see if I can craft an answer. It's in my wheelhouse I just don't have any kind of confidence answering those without any research

Does Elisha speak?

8:55 PM

2

Q: Can we burn [tag:comparative-christianity]?

I just noticed today that we have a tag: comparative-christianity. This seems like a tag that's just begging for terrible questions. Is there a good reason to have it?

discussion tags fire-and-brimstone

Jon Ericson

@DoesElishaspeak? and @waxeagle: Most of the 24 questions it already has are either terrible or poorly tagged.

wax eagle

@JonEricson yeah

it's either unecessary or the questinos should be closed

Anonymous

9:17 PM

@DoesElishaspeak? What in the world is "comparative Christianity"?

Jon Ericson

@Anonymous The tag wiki says: "Comparison of various Christian denominations." But that's none too helpful. In the same vein, comparative-religion seems ripe for abuse as well.

(FYI, Does Elisha speak? is a feed bot. And a newly christened one at that.)

Anonymous

10:31 PM

@JonEricson Maybe Does Elisha speak? should be rechristened to Elisha. How do you have that fancy font style for "Does Elisha speak?"?

Jon Ericson

@Anonymous I dunno about the first. As for the second, use backticks: `Does Elisha speak?`.

Anonymous

Testing.

This is so cool. I am a robot.

Dude!

Jon Ericson

@Anonymous Don't abuse it. ;-)

Anonymous

@JonEricson Maybe a better question for comparative-religion is "What is the difference between the Roman Catholic position of salvation and the Greek Orthodox position of salvation?"

Ovi

Can I ask somebody here about a verse in the Bible?

Anonymous

10:39 PM

@JonEricson Your profile picture looks like wax eagle in my peripheral vision.

Jon Ericson

@Anonymous Maybe. But that's still a subpar question to my mind.

@Ovi In chat? Of course! On the main site? It depends...

Anonymous

@JonEricson How about "What is the difference between the Roman Catholic position on the real presence of Christ at the eucharist and the Southern Baptist position on the real presence of Christ at the eucharist?"

@Ovi The Jewish Bible or the Christian Bible or the Mormon Bible?

Ovi

The Christian Bible

Anonymous

@Ovi Then, the Old Testament or the New Testament?

Ovi

New Testament. But I will be back in 2 minutes

Jon Ericson

10:42 PM

@Anonymous The trouble with comparative anything is that it resembles Shark vs. Gorilla.

@Ovi Starting the timer. ;-)

You could also try searching our sister site: Biblical Hermeneutics.

Anonymous

@JonEricson The article also gives me the hint that the Stacks Exchange is really only for academic/professional questions. No wonder it's difficult to ask good questions. In order to ask a question, you have to be an expert in the field, or you can pretend to be an expert (an amateur) and get by with a good question.

Jon Ericson

@Anonymous Yep. ;-)

Anonymous

@JonEricson The other option is to be the "librarian" type of user. This is the type of person who has access to subscription-only academic databases and looks things up from experts.

@JonEricson The NRSV is said to be a scholarly bible resource. I disagree, because of its usage of LORD and Lord. This reflects the Christian distinction between the "Father" and the "Son". If it were scholarly, I would say that it is a Christian scholarly resource.

A Jewish Bible would just refer to one God, and Jesus is not even mentioned or implied.

@JonEricson Has it been two minutes?

Ovi

Let me first introduce myself a little bit. I am 18 and I was raised in a Christian family, and I still consider myself Christian. Ok here goes my question: it is about the verse in Mark which talks about blasphemy against the Holy Spirit.

These past few weeks I've been struggling with things such as assurance of salvation, how to live a Christian life, etc. But this morning, I really put my complete trust in Jesus and knew I was saved. But then I remembered about this verse. I read about it maybe one or two months ago, and at that time I was so paranoid about not blaspheming that something bad about the Holy Spirit went trough my mind, and I don't know what to believe now

I am very scared that God is not going to save me now, I will just think I will be saved like anyone else but when I die I will find out that I am not

Jon Ericson

10:58 PM

@Anonymous So many things are available online that a person probably doesn't need any special access for most questions. When you do, it's often possible to talk to experts who really do enjoy sharing their knowledge.

Sven

10

A: What is the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit?

To understand blasphemy against the Spirit, one first needs to understand what blasphemy is. The Catechism of the Catholic Church defines it thusly: Blasphemy is directly opposed to the second commandment. It consists in uttering against God - inwardly or outwardly - words of hatred, reproach...

Relevant question

Ovi

Oh and by the way I am an Evangelical Christian

Anonymous

"The analogy I've heard is that it's to know God exists and know His power, but to believe you can do better. If you're familiar with the story of the fall of Lucifer/Satan, it's essentially his actions in a nutshell: he knew God exists and he knew God's divine grace, yet he openly rejected it.

And thats why it's so unforgivable: God can't forgive you or save you if you reject His ability to do so."

That is just creepy.

Jon Ericson

9

Q: What is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit?

Mark 3:20-30 contains a familiar passage with a long debated phrase: 3:20 Now Jesus went home, and a crowd gathered so that they were not able to eat. 21 When his family heard this they went out to restrain him, for they said, “He is out of his mind.” 22 The experts in the law who came down f...

mark holy-spirit

Anonymous

I wonder what counts as "know" in the first place.

And what counts as "reject".

@Ovi Evangelicalism is pretty broad. Can you narrowly define your church's theology or your family's theology?

Ovi

11:03 PM

@Anonymous That would be kindda hard, because my church calls itself "Non-denominational" but you might know it, it is Calvary Chapel, it is a very big church

Ask Elisha

0

Q: Why does Abrahamic religions tend to keep sexuality in the private sphere?

Three Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christiniatiy, and Islam) mostly views sex and sexuality as a taboo to be held only as private matters and limits it from the public sphere (both the practice and discussion of it). Abrahamic religions tends to sacralize sex and sexuality as a matter between a...

religion christianity islam jews sex

Ovi

And @JonEricson and @Anonymous thank you for your answers, they helped a lot

Anonymous

@Ovi According to this picture, truthforsaints.com/denomination_history/files/…, it looks like the Calvary Chapel is descended from the Anglican Church.

Ovi

But it doesn't make complete sense, because I believe it says somewhere that speaking against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but blaspheming against the Holy Spirit is not forgiven. But if the meaning was rejection of grace, wouldn't rejecting Jesus and rejecting the Holy Spirit be almost the same thing?

Anonymous

11:18 PM

@Ovi Maybe Jesus and the Holy Spirit are two different persons so that you can blaspheme against the Holy Spirit?

@Ovi You may try contacting your pastor for the answer.

I wonder what counts as "blasphemy against the Holy Spirit", anyway.

I think it's just a fancy term for "denying good" and "replacing it with evil."

James T

@Ovi it is a difficult issue. You are thinking of the passage from Matthew 12.

I often find it helps to read the context a bit more.

In this part of Matthew's gospel we see the quotation from Isaiah "Here is my servant, whom I have chosen, my beloved, with whom my soul is well pleased. I will put my Spirit upon him, and he will proclaim justice to the Gentiles."

and then Jesus casting out demons "by the Spirit of God"

(before we get to the blasphemy issue)

and the crowd calls him "Son of David" before he calls himself "Son of Man"

so my reading is that there may be some distinction between Jesus as the visible Messiah, and the Holy Spirit as the invisible giver of life and grace, who can act even on those who do not know Jesus

Hence, speaking against the Son of Man as opposed to speaking against the Holy Spirit

Ovi

@JamesT Ok thanks that also helped a lot

@JamesT and @everyone else, can I also ask about works?

James T

@Ovi sure!

Ovi

11:35 PM

As it says in one of the answers, one interpretation of blaspheming can also be just turning back to sin after you have become a Christian. But we are only saved trough faith

@JamesT so how do we lead a Christian life without believing in works?

wax eagle

@Ovi btw. I can't stress this highly enough, we're just a bunch of people on the internet. I highly recommend finding someone you trust in your real life. We're fore the most part good folks and most of us are believers, but there are some exceptions. Again, find someone you know and trust. Preferably someone in your church who you can talk to and connect to.

2

@Ovi that's umm...and interesting definition

@Ovi there is some confusion here, on how good works work. Essentially, there is nothing you do to be saved. However, following salvation the Spirit grows a desire in you to change and do things. This is what James is talking about when he says "faith without works is dead"

Ovi

@waxeagle I have talked to my brother, but I wanted to make sure. He basically said to not worry about anything right now, to just pray and read my Bible everyday

@waxeagle To read mostly Psalms and things like that that do not scare me, and God will show me the way

@waxeagle my biggest fear is falling into a wrong form of Christianity, and only find out when it is too late

wax eagle

@Ovi oh I wouldn't worry about that.

Sven

power of fear..

wax eagle

@Ovi to be honest, if you've given your life to Christ and trusted him as your savior, what group you identify with and what doctrines you believe are relatively unimportant. Literally the only thing that matters is making Jesus your lord and savior

3

we spend a lot of time here hung up on the minutia and procedure and what constitutes a sin, but really, ultimately, it's Jesus is lord, and all of this is specks of dust compared to the magnitude of that.

Ovi

11:49 PM

@waxeagle ok, thanks. And I guess you do agree with my brother? Also, I have been listening to a sermon by Paul Washer, and he seems to be a little more strict with works, and believes that most Evangelical Americans are doing Christianity wrong

James T

@Ovi Peter denied Christ three times. Paul persecuted Christians. Jesus promised "you will be with me in Paradise" to only one person: the thief who hung on the cross beside him. No need to fear when we have these examples of the love and grace of God!

2

Ovi

@waxeagle and @Sven this is a 3 minute video of what he believes: youtube.com/watch?v=AYsClDclvf0

I am also afraid because for example God will tell me after I die something like he said to other people. "You did not listen to my people when I sent them"

wax eagle

@Ovi but you have!

Ovi

@JamesT and @Sven And the verse which says that not everyone who calls "Lord, Lord" will enter the kindgom

Sven

paul washer really believes watching the wrong movies will bring you to hell?

wax eagle

11:57 PM

@Ovi nod it's referring there to those who claim to be Christians but are not

you sound sincere, and you're struggling with these questions which is an excellent thing

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