How the West Really Lost God

Crisis Magazine ^ | May 10, 2013 | Austin Ruse

[WashingtonSource]

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[trebb]

Ah... FINALLY someone on FR that can explain all the BENEFITS of being a MORMON!

Would that it be that all those who tell us that they are so pure and Christian-like actually acted like Christians instead of like the vengeful hand of God. Do the voices in your head tell you that you are doing His work, or did you decide that all on your own?

[9YearLurker]

I don’t buy this at all.

At least here in the Northeast, it is by far the upper-middle class that have most maintained intact families—and yet you’d be hard pressed to find anyone within those families under the age of 70 who believes literally in the Christian teachings about Christ (as opposed to the teachings of Christ, which would still be widely embraced).

The issue, I think, is that those religions which spread most vigorously in the past are those which teach origination stories and doctrine that are challenged by education and modernity.

Meditation and Buddhism actually fit much more comfortably in this demographic in part because they don’t teach what for many has become unbelievable and in part because they don’t tend to be so institutionally hierarchical, looking as if those at the top prosper from the faith of those below.

[Gumdrop]

Amen to that.

In this sex-crazed society, fornication is never mentioned as sinful. My oldest brother was a Deacon in the Catholic Church. He told me that statistics show that those who commit fornication before marriage, tend to be the same ones who commit adultery in a marriage. The sinfulness of sex outside of the marriage bond, and one’s abstaining from it before marriage, gives a person a stronger will to not be unfaithful in a marriage.

OTOH, if a person does not treat fornication as a serious offense against God, they will likely not think twice about adultery. Their conscience fortress walls have already been breached!

True Christians ought to treat sins of the flesh equally - fornication, adultery and homosexual acts are all sinful in nature. The fact that homosexual acts are unnatural as well, make them seem worse, but in God’s eyes are they worse? My view of homosexuals is that when they flaunt their sinful acts and relationships, they are not only promoting their hedonism, they are deliberatley trying to assault my sensibilities. It becomes doubly offensive to me.

But, the same can be said of some hetersexuals who are immodest, crude, lewd, etc in their behavior. My belief is that sexuality is a personal thing and ought not to be inflicted upon others in an agressive and flaunting manner.

The Catholic Church has done studies of couples who cohabitated before marriage, and/or committed fornication before marriage. Their studies showed that such couples were more apt to have failed marriages - with one exception when the couple were in a committed (engaged to be married) relationship and were already in the process of planning their wedding. Then it seemed that the risk of divorce was only slightly higher than couples who did not engage in fornication.

[Elsie]

Do the voices in your head tell you that you are doing His work, or did you decide that all on your own?

Oh my!

Zap the messenger time.

Never seen THIS tactic used when the FACTS cannot be disputed.

[Elsie]

In this sex-crazed society, fornication is never mentioned as sinful.

Hell; NOTHING is!

The media reports all kinds of EVIL; but NEVER any SIN!

[x]

Provocative. One thing I do notice about those people, though, is that however secure their own families may be, they’ve been known to undercut other people’s family lives by encouraging social trends that can have destructive consequences.

[Elsie]

My view of homosexuals is that when they flaunt their sinful acts and relationships, they are not only promoting their hedonism, they are deliberatley trying to assault my sensibilities.

They're the one's the media does NOT show.

Just the 'loving couples' we INTOLERANT folks will NOT allow to marry!

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Genesis 13:13

Now the men of Sodom were wicked and were sinning greatly against the LORD.

Genesis 18:20-21
20. Then the LORD said, "The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and their sin so grievous
21. that I will go down and see if what they have done is as bad as the outcry that has reached me. If not, I will know."

Genesis 19:4-7
4. Before they had gone to bed, all the men from every part of the city of Sodom--both young and old--surrounded the house.
5. They called to Lot, "Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so that we can have sex with them."
6. Lot went outside to meet them and shut the door behind him
7. and said, "No, my friends. Don't do this wicked thing.

Psalms 12:8 The wicked freely strut about when what is vile is honored among men.

Isaiah 3:9 The look on their faces testifies against them; they parade their sin like Sodom; they do not hide it. Woe to them! They have brought disaster upon themselves.

2 Peter 2:13b Their idea of pleasure is to carouse in broad daylight. They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their pleasures while they feast with you.

Ezekiel 16:49-50
49. "`Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy.
50. They were haughty and did detestable things before me. Therefore I did away with them as you have seen.

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2 Peter 2

1. But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them--bringing swift destruction on themselves.
2. Many will follow their shameful ways and will bring the way of truth into disrepute.
3. In their greed these teachers will exploit you with stories they have made up. Their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping.
4. For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell, putting them into gloomy dungeons to be held for judgment;
5. if he did not spare the ancient world when he brought the flood on its ungodly people, but protected Noah, a preacher of righteousness, and seven others;
6. if he condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah by burning them to ashes, and made them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly;
7. and if he rescued Lot, a righteous man, who was distressed by the filthy lives of lawless men
8. (for that righteous man, living among them day after day, was tormented in his righteous soul by the lawless deeds he saw and heard)--
9. if this is so, then the Lord knows how to rescue godly men from trials and to hold the unrighteous for the day of judgment, while continuing their punishment.
10. This is especially true of those who follow the corrupt desire of the sinful nature and despise authority. Bold and arrogant, these men are not afraid to slander celestial beings;
11. yet even angels, although they are stronger and more powerful, do not bring slanderous accusations against such beings in the presence of the Lord.
12. But these men blaspheme in matters they do not understand. They are like brute beasts, creatures of instinct, born only to be caught and destroyed, and like beasts they too will perish.
13. They will be paid back with harm for the harm they have done. Their idea of pleasure is to carouse in broad daylight. They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their pleasures while they feast with you.

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But there IS hope!!!

1 Corinthians 6:9-11

9. Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived:
Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders
10. nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.
11. And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

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If you could NOT change, you would be in most pitiful shape...
 

 

 

 

 

[9YearLurker]

I agree—other strata of society can’t as well handle the ‘freedoms’ and policies that they promote.

I do wonder whether it is the decline in belief in traditional religion, coupled with technology that makes art and the precious less rare, that is the cause of all the putrid cynicism and irony and basic unwholesomeness that has overtaken our culture.

I don’t see the pill as the cause of it all, but there was a lot to be said for the innocence that seemed to come with earlier marriages.

I really don’t know that we’ll succeed in getting any of it back.

[annalex]

Usually, when two theories are advanced to explain the same phenomenon, both theories miss a root cause common to both.

In this case, the root cause of the decline of the West is Protestantism. Its insistence of Bible alone sufficient for individual understanding of Christianity disrupted the continuity of Christian faith from the Fathers of the Church and gave rise to a self-contained skeptic who believes that because he can read he has no need for the Church, and because he can figure out science he has no need of God.

Its idea that faith is separate from good works, and that predestination operates without regard of good works based on declarative faith alone has created a man without an obligation beyond an economic debt. Child rearing then ceased to be a work of obedience to the first commandment given man, and became a matter of economic expediency; marriage became a contract voidable upon mutual consent.

Both theories have a common root.

[TradicalRC]

No kidding. Hannity is basically Pelosi-Lite as far as his Catholicism goes.

[Elsie]

Its insistence of Bible alone sufficient for individual understanding of Christianity disrupted the continuity of Christian faith from the Fathers of the Church and gave rise to a self-contained skeptic who believes that because he can read he has no need for the Church, and because he can figure out science he has no need of God.

Ignore the sins behind the curtain.

You surely remember them!

They were Counter Reformed away after the SINs of the CHURCH caused certain brave people to PROTEST them.

[annalex]

Absolutely. It is the fault of the Catholic Church that the Reformation happened. It shouldn’t have happened, and now souls are lost.

[James C. Bennett]

Not all of us were born yesterday. Here’s something to chew:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3018380/posts?page=18#18

[Elsie]

Yet, watch how most, including here, give fornication a free pass, as if it were nothing.

I think it's this word that is causing a lot of the trouble.

[Elsie]

It is the fault of the Catholic Church that the Reformation happened.

But, how is it even POSSIBLE for the CHURCH to have any fault in it?

[Elsie]

Do the voices in your head tell you that you are doing His work, or did you decide that all on your own?

I never endorsed or slammed anything or anyone -

O... k...

[Elsie]

They just followed in the footsteps of many on FR - nothing original in the derision.

Nope - no knocking here...