The Upper Room

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4:01 AM

I learned a new word today: hagiology. It means: hagiology [hag-ee-ol-uh-jee, hey-jee-] noun the branch of literature dealing with the lives and legends of the saints. a biography or narrative of a saint or saints. a collection of such biographies or narratives. We have p...

3 hours later…

fredsbend

7:15 AM

Anybody heard of this book or have a comment:

amazon.com/Seeking-Allah-Finding-Jesus-Christianity/dp/…

Someone in the low stars comments says that he was more like a JW is to Christianity than like a mainline protestant.

I'm afraid to ask on ISE because they might think I'm trying to convert them.

I know we hate that nonsense. I bet they get a good dose of well meaning Christians filling their active list with preaching.

goldPseudo

@fredsbend Actually, we don't get much Christian proselytism at all. We do get swamped with Muslim-at-Other-Muslim preaching though.

(but yeah, we hate all that nonsense too.)

Islam

7:36 AM

@goldPseudo Is it "We" or you alone?

@fredsbend amazon.com/Understanding-Islam-Guide-Judaeo-Christian-Reader/dp/…

personal testimony of a Master of Divinity Harvard and a bishop: youtube.com/watch?v=dOZSrPF5GNo

A Christian Minister's Conversion to Islam - Dr. Jerald Dirks on TheDeenShow (Part 1)

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6 hours later…

Only he is good.

1:44 PM

This is how the man makes the mistake. The woman looks into a function to find a "better way" in doing so finds "error". Then complains about the error to show how big the problem is. This however is so that when the error is fixed by "Her" she can feel proud of herself.

While the woman is complaining about the error. The man is moved in his love for her and tries to "Find the Solution". Then when he finds one, he tries to explain to her how it can be fixed.

This makes the woman angry, because now she no longer can be proud of herself for finding the answer to the "difficult problem".

She decides to take it out on the man for not being "thoughtful".

The man is simply confused at this point, "I thought I was being thoughtful he thinks".

Point of advice: Let her problems be her problems. Give her no special attention when she fixed her "errors" for this simply promotes more "error searching" meaning more "complaining about errors". -Selah

2 hours later…

Matt Gutting

4:08 PM

I got a downvote for my answer here: christianity.stackexchange.com/a/38990/12563 is there any obvious improvement I could make? (Note, the downvote came before I added a summary statement at the end.)

Mr. Bultitude

4:27 PM

@MattGutting I would guess the downvote was from someone who didn't find it personally convincing. I don't either, but I think it answers the question well, so I just gave it a +1.

Matt Gutting

Thanks; I appreciate that. I was trying to pull together what I could find.

Mr. Bultitude

5:14 PM

@fredsbend The author was an Ahmadi Muslim, which makes up about 1% of the world Muslim population. I've asked a question on Islam.SE about why they're not considered Muslims (I specifically asked about why Sunnis don't consider them Muslims since they seem to have emerged from Sunnism, given their belief in the Five Pillars and the Six Articles.)

Q: Why do Sunni Muslims say that Ahmadis are not Muslims?

In comments on another question, System Down says "the rest of the Muslims believe that Mirza Ghulam Ahmad's claims are false, and that he is a false claimant to prophethood" and links to a table in Wikipedia. I'd like to hear a more thorough answer. Why do Sunni Muslims consider Ahmadiyya belie...

belief

fredsbend

@Islam Thanks. I might read about it. I'm not really on an Islam learning trek. I'm far more interested in conversions (of any kind e.g. Christian to Muslim, Christian to Atheist, Atheist to Christian, etc.). I want to boil down the typical conversion to specific stages or parts. I wan to determine the unifying aspect of all conversions (assuming such an aspect exists).

@Mr.Bultitude Thanks. I was going to look into it to see how I should read the book.

Looks like you're new there. You might get a good answer. They have an issue with quality (poor grammar, incomplete answers, etc.)

In other words, it's useful for preliminary research, to learn terms and get a gist, before getting the details elsewhere.

@Islam Now this might be interesting.

I know harvard is known for their law and medical degrees. How respected are they for their divinity degrees?

I mean among others holding those degrees.

Mr. Bultitude

5:50 PM

@fredsbend I'm sure it depends greatly on who you ask, but my guess is: 1) among conservative/evangelical types, no respect, and 2) among liberal/mainline types, a great deal of respect. The approach of Harvard Divinity sounds a lot like Christianity Stack Exchange to me; I would expect an alumni of either to be very knowledgeable about Christianity, but not necessarily to be qualified for ministry.

fredsbend

6:02 PM

@Mr.Bultitude That's what I expect also.

Matt Gutting

I feel like there's a good deal of difference between a Div School and a seminary (of whatever stripe).

3 hours later…

Mr. Bultitude

8:43 PM

@fredsbend I missed this message the first time around. Try to keep us in the loop if you can. I'm really interested in hearing what you come up with.

Though I do wonder if it's not already well-trodden ground among sociologists of religion.

Bruce Alderman

8:54 PM

@Mr.Bultitude I think this is a mischaracterization of mainline churches. I've attended mainline churches (ELCA Lutheran and United Methodist) all my adult life, and I can't think of one time I've ever heard a Harvard theologian quoted or referenced in a sermon. What makes you think "mainline types" have a high respect for Harvard Divinity?

Mr. Bultitude

9:13 PM

@BruceAlderman I just meant that the type of pastor/theologian produced by a place like Harvard Divinity would likely be respected by the type of pastor/theologian in a mainline church. (Note the qualifiers.)

Bruce Alderman

@Mr.Bultitude Based on what?

curiousdannii

9:47 PM

-1

Q: What is the difference between pre-Nicene Trinitarianism and Arianism in terms of their Christology?

In the middle of the first volume of his five-volume work on the history of Christian theology, Jaroslav Pelikan writes, The truth, even the truth of the Gospels, is never pure and clear, and rarely simple. Jaroslav Pelikan, The Emergence of the Catholic Tradition, vol. 1, Chicago: Unive...