Discussion on many political and religious issues to come very shortly.
One of the most interesting phenomena of American Christianity is its apparent affinity for Judaism. Politicans regularly speak of a “Judeo-Christian” moral base for American law (even though it is, in reality, closer to Roman law), and evangelicals often refer to their “Judaic” or “Jewish” roots - especially with those sophisticated enough to realize Jesus was not a blonde-hair blue-eyed American. I don’t feel the need to extrapolate all of the ways that American evangelical Christians look fondly at the Jewish nation - it is fairly transparent.
The phenomena of the SuperChristian is, for sure, nothing new. Just read the mid-second century document,
The Marytrdom of Polycarp
. Not only did his entire martyrdom mirror that of his Saviour, he was accused of being an atheist (for not believing in the gods of the Romans), served Christ flawlessly for eighty-six years, and found the persecuting crowd unworthy of his time.
On another blog I was a contributor to, one writer, The de-Convert, posted some troubling examples of what Jesus thinks about family values.
Awhile back John Stackhouse, of Regent College in Vancouver, wrote that conservative churches were growing while more liberal churches were diminishing. He mentioned the Anglican church as an example of the latter. The point he was making was obviously pro-conservative, as he was stating that liberal (or even moderate) Christianity can not offer people what conservative Protestantism can offer.
April 13, 2003.
Why are we born so far from home? Why is it so hard to travel on that narrow path and enter that tiny gate?… Sometimes the path is covered by so much debris that it is impossible to decipher where we are to go. I just want to see a little bit of the road. Why do my feet lead me down another path? Have I turned away the light beneath my feet? Am I looking too far ahead rather than the imminent path?… Deliver me from my own shadows… Open my eyes…
April 30, 2003.
Hey everyone,
This question sort of goes out to those involved in the Unitarian Universalist and Progressive Christianity thread, but others feel free to pipe up.
Anyone here seen Jesus Camp? To some it looked like psychotic possessed children, to others it was simply a reality of a passion-filled childhood.
Some, such as Richard Dawkins, has gone so far as to say raising children in such a religious fashion is child abuse. I'm not here to dispute or promote that.
The last time I wrote on this site I was concerned with the “meaning of life." The theme continues in this post, but only because the questions I have been asking myself and others has consistently led back to one answer, despite the variety of questions. I have been asking myself why I believe what I did when I was an evangelical Christian and why others continue to believe what they do - in relation to that which we cannot perceive by the five senses. Granted, there are many of those who simply do not engage in such self-reflection.
The fallacy that we all abide by one paradigm (or at least that we should) has led many Christians, both those of the conservative typology as well of the “floundering liberal” (Falwell’s words, not mine), to believe that non-believers have no ultimate purpose or meaning in life.
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