America's New Religiosity: God Bless America, But Don't You Dare Tell Us To Repent!

Alpha & Omega Ministries ^ | n/d | Dr. James White

[BMCDA]

Rituals are the soul of religions. Without them religions decay. And without religion everyone's going to believe whatever he wants and as a result you have many one-man-religions. IMO this is pretty much the case today, at least in the western world.

[boxlunch]

bump for a great article

[AmericanCheeseFood]

John 14:6

I am the way the truth and the life; NO MAN cometh unto the Father BUT BY ME." --Jesus Christ, Matthew:

Jesus speaking
21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.

22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?

23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: 1 depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

Revelations 3:15-16

Again gods words.

15 I know your works and that you are neither cold nor hot, I could wish you were cold or hot.

16 So then, because you are lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth.

The last is to a church btw . These go for everyone .

I am to share the Truth and bring souls to heaven . To watch out for my fellow brethren that they may not stumble . To follow that which Jesus taught as well as maintain my Life (Relationship) with God .

Jude 20-25

20 But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit,

21 keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.

22 On some have compassion making a distinction;

23 but others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garment defiled by flesh .

I like this prayer in Jude so I'm putting it here to share with others as well.

Glory to God

24 Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy,

25 To God our Savior, Who alone is wise, be glory and magesty, dominion and power, both now and forever Amen .

Anyways, acts don't save anyone, the "soul" if Christianity is in a relationship with the One true king that is Jesus .

Religion, is crap .

Only repentence from sin and acceptence of the Truth may one be with God . This is an open ticket for anyone willing to ride .

Cheese.

[AmericanCheeseFood]

John 14:6

I am the way the truth and the life; NO MAN cometh unto the Father BUT BY ME." --Jesus Christ, Matthew:

Jesus speaking
21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.

22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?

23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: 1 depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

Revelations 3:15-16

Again gods words.

15 I know your works and that you are neither cold nor hot, I could wish you were cold or hot.

16 So then, because you are lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth.

The last is to a church btw . These go for everyone .

I am to share the Truth and bring souls to heaven . To watch out for my fellow brethren that they may not stumble . To follow that which Jesus taught as well as maintain my Life (Relationship) with God .

Jude 20-25

20 But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit,

21 keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.

22 On some have compassion making a distinction;

23 but others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garment defiled by flesh .

I like this prayer in Jude so I'm putting it here to share with others as well.

Glory to God

24 Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy,

25 To God our Savior, Who alone is wise, be glory and magesty, dominion and power, both now and forever Amen .

Anyways, acts don't save anyone, the "soul" if Christianity is in a relationship with the One true king that is Jesus .

Religion, is crap .

Only repentence from sin and acceptence of the Truth may one be with God . This is an open ticket for anyone willing to ride .

Cheese.

[jammer]

Religious liberals may mock our “literalistic” reading of the Bible at this point, preferring to simply label us “fundamentalists” and ignorant

Look, I agree with a lot you folks have to say. And [almost] all of you are fine folks. But statements like those I quoted are what piss me off. The sentence essentially says, "We read it and do what is says." Well, I read it too. That's not the problem. The problem is reading it and knowing what it DOES say. That's where well-intentioned people disagree.

For those that assert what the man claims, it is wrong. For those, like the writer, who assert that every disagreement is either misguided or caused by not reading the Bible (ignorance?), is just as wrong.

[AmericanCheeseFood]

Hey, in 163 (164 OOPS) it says what the Bible says in it in pretty plain English . For you I suggest that you go and seek fellowship with believers at a good local Christian church .

If you haven't reieved Jesus, it's as simple as asking Him in . Talking to Him is easy, it's the basis of what's called Prayer . No ritual needed . An example of this would be .(You can either use these words or another.) Jesus, come into my life, I realise that I have sinned and now repent to follow You . Wash me as pure as the driven snow so that I may be reborn into a life with You and be accepted by the Father . Father God, I thank you for your Son, that you sent Him to die for me, so that I may come to You and that I may recieve Your Holy Spirit . Amen .

Basic blue print . It's up to you wether you recieve Him or not .

Cheese .

[BMCDA]

In my post I was refering to religion in general. Rituals and dogma are the cohesive forces in religion. Without that people can believe whatever they want and that particular religion isn't stable anymore and falls apart. Therefore one can observe that religions with very strict rules and rituals represent the most stable systems (e.g. Judaism).

[Matchett-PI]

James White wrote: "..... If they [Christians] speak in accordance with the Word they may well find themselves being called "unpatriotic" and "judgmental.".

And I just saw (and videotaped) blatant evidence ot that just now during the prayer service at the football stadium in NY.

Someone (a firefighter, I think), was introduced who got up and quoted the words of Paul in the last 5 verses of Romans 8 (verses 35-39).

Well .... all the words in those verses .... EXCEPT for one minor little detail; the last seven words in verse 39.

Of course that was done so as not to "offend" anyone.

I wonder if the young man who read those verses even knew that the last seven words were DELIBERATELY excluded. I'm betting he didn't.

I've been watching in vain for "the _whole_ Truth of God" to be spoken .... AT LEAST .... out of the mouths of those who profess to speak and teach in the name of the *Christian* God.

ESPECIALLY since, "Christianity ___IS___ the Lord Jesus Christ."

Oh yeah .... the part of verse 39 he quoted was: ".... nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God" but left out: "WHICH IS IN CHRIST JESUS OUR LORD."

Those who left out that part, fear men more than God.

[AmericanCheeseFood]

Study to show yourself approved .. With Jesus comes grace . Religion is bondage from grace with rules that hold sed religion together .

Avoid bondage . Avoid crap .

Cheese .

Dale Jr. won!

[texgal]

I didn't see Southern Baptists or Billy Graham on your list, whew, am I relieved! =:0)

[Quix]

Yes, those things miss the mark of God's perfection. Things go much better the way He designed them.

Giving Him the finger as though He didn't know what He was doing is not a great survival skill. He happens to be The Boss. He also happens to have The Power to back up His position.

But He's interested in freely chosen Loving dialogue with Friends. Alas, relatively few seem eager to pay the price of giving up their pride and rebellion to have authentic intimacy with Him.

Personally, I think Pride is a more foundational and destructive evil than any you listed. . . . Pride, rebellion, idolatry, defiance--not good survival traits.

[Quix]

Having counseled many homosexuals, I have found they can be about as varied as other sub-groups.

Many seem to sort of defiantly glory in giving God the finger and going their own way. I suspect that even they are full of inner angst and would prefer less pain in their lives.

Some are in great surface anguish as well and would give all they had to be free of values and habits at cross purposes with society and God's design. And they can be incredibly sensitive and kind.

In fact, I sometimes wonder how God will look at some such on the one hand and arrogant pharisees on the other. I think I know who'll be isolated furthest. . . . especially if one is repentant and the other self-righteous.

[the_doc]

I have no problem with a repentant homosexual. But a person who has never come to loathe his homosexual tendencies is not a Christian.

The Wesleyans were the first to make the mistake of regarding unrepentant homosexuals as Christians if they were nice and if they professed faith in Christ.

Now, most of the major denominations are defying God in this way. Please don't make that awful mistake thinking you are just opposing Pharisaic arrogance. That's an altogether different problem.

[RnMomof7]

The Wesleyans were the first to make the mistake of regarding unrepentant homosexuals as Christians if they were nice and if they professed faith in Christ.

I just didnt want to leave you with the impression that this is totally true

The United Methodists like many main line churches has caved into political pressure..and stopped listening to Gods word..however the Weselyans,the Church of the Nazarene.the Free Methodists ,the Salvation Army..are all holiness Wesleyan Churches and would not admit to membership,let alone ordain unrepentant,practicing homosexuals..

Most of the Wesleyan,holiness family do not consider United Methodists Wesleyan anymore

[Quix]

QUITE AGREE

[Quix]

Quite so.

RE all the above. . .

I don't want to encourage tab A in slot Z by any means. Things really do work better the way God designed them.

I do want to caution many believers who tend to look down their haughty noses at other believers about the other believers's WORSE sins--that many times--that is not God's perspective. He lumped cowards in with homosexuals in one Scripture.

Whether it is truly objectively possible for practicing homosexuals to be more loving than SOME practicing heterosexual believers--I'm not strictly sure in stict senses of the key words. But sometimes, it sure seems like it. And I'm not sure how God would view that except to be very grieved over both of them.

I say that in the sense that Love puts the other person's best interests first. Violating God's standards tends to do the opposite whether for upside down lust or arrogance. . . . which is usually the forerunner of all such lusts and other junk.

[RnMomof7]

I believe that God calls ALL of us to be holy...and do note that Revelation says ALL liars will go into the lake of fire..that should be very sobering to everyone

[moneyrunner]

Good question. I don't remember when I first read the phrase. But it did stick in my mind.

Love and peace.

[Looking for Diogenes]

This article makes some good points. We would be a lot better off and probably have avoided this tragedy if we hadn't ceded so much ground to the evils of atheism, socialism, feminism, homosexuality, fornication, and pornography.

What about covetousness?