Free Republic

WALTER KIRN'S column in GQ on Mitt Romney and Mormonism is to my mind far and away the most interesting meditation on the subject this campaign season. Unlike most commentators, Mr Kirn, who was an observant Mormon for a few years after his family converted to Mormonism when he was a teen... SNIP ...Mr Santorum obviously does not hesitate to argue for his favoured policies on narrowly sectarian grounds. In contrast, America's present wariness of Mormonism, which is indeed analogous to mid-century wariness of Catholicism, requires that Mr Romney argue his case on grounds acceptable to a relatively wide range...

The Unmuzzled Ox March 5, 2012  "Thou shalt not muzzle the ox when he treadeth out the corn." (Deuteronomy 25:4)  This Mosaic regulation would seem rather insignificant, except that it is quoted twice in the New Testament. "For it is written in the law of Moses, thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treadeth out the corn. Doth God take care for oxen?" (1 Corinthians 9:9-10). Yes, but that is not the main purpose behind this law. "Or saith he it altogether for our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt, this is written: that he that...

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.(John 3:16)The gift of God, which is eternal life, or being “Born from above” has been made possible because the Righteous and Holy God made a righteous way to redeem us sinners. That way involved offering up his “only begotten Son” as a propitiation (sin offering) for us. What is meant by the mysterious term, “only begotten Son”? This is how Jesus describes himself in John 3:16. We are delving here into the mysteries of the...

The Palestinian Authority has set a number of conditions for the resumption of peace talks with Israel, Al Arabiya reported. The conditions reportedly include the acceptance by Israel of a two-state solution based on the 1967 borders, with the possibility of a limited land swap, and a complete halt of settlement construction, including in East Jerusalem. The conditions are also said to include the release of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails.

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16)But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us…(Ephesians 2:4)John 3 is the record of an interview that Jesus gave to a leading Rabbi, a Senator(Sanhedrinist) and a Pharisee, Nicodemus.The Topic? The New Birth. Jesus told Nicodemus that the New Birth was more than the acceptance of a new set of responsibilities such as marriage or ministry, as the Jews believed. The New Birth was an act of...

For months, the leadership of the Southern Baptist Convention has been debating whether to drop the word "Southern" from its name. But last week, citing the hassle and expense, leaders abandoned this attempt to scrub the racial overtones from the convention's image. As it turns out, the SBC is poised to do something much more significant. Meet the Rev. Fred Luter Jr., pastor of New Orleans's 4,500-member Franklin Avenue Baptist Church—and the man who this spring will likely become the first black president of the Southern Baptist Convention. He announced last month that he was putting himself in the running,...

“For God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes on Him might not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16)Because of the influence of modernism, and of psychology upon the biblical understanding of many, even within evangelicalism, the whole concept of the love of God has been distorted. People import their own humanistic understanding of what love is, into texts such as John 3:16. For example many modern pastors and teachers say something to the effect that the cross shows us the measure of our value. As one popular christian teacher put it,...

Power in the Ark March 2, 2012  "And when they of Ashdod arose early on the morrow, behold, Dagon was fallen upon his face to the earth before the ark of the LORD. And they took Dagon, and set him in his place again." (1 Samuel 5:3)  The Philistines had captured the Ark of the Covenant, where God met with His people, and set it up in the temple of their god, Dagon. The first night, Dagon fell down before the Ark; the second night, he fell down broken in pieces. On the next day, a great plague fell...

Take a look back at the results of the Michigan Republican Primary, and you might be surprised at who is embracing Catholic teaching. Video : Santorum and the Vote

For God so Loved the World that He gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on Him might not perish, but have everlasting life.(John 3:16)John 3:16 is perhaps the most universally recognized verse in all of scripture. When a famous athlete in American professional football, Tim Tebow, put the address “John 3:16″ on his blackening paint(under his eyes), Google reported that there were 92 million hits looking for “John 3:16″. I think it is a great thing that John 3:16 has gotten so much attention, and for so long. It is a tremendous summary of the essence of the...

(CNN) -- Sen. Rick Santorum, who is campaigning to become America's second Catholic president, disagrees from the bottom of his gut with the first Catholic to hold the office. In October, he told a Catholic university audience that when he read the 1960 speech in which John F. Kennedy said: "I believe in an America where the separation of church and state is absolute," he "almost threw up." More recently, he elaborated on his dyspeptic condition in an ABC television interview, calling JFK's credo "an absolutist doctrine that was abhorrent at the time of 1960." But the Baptist ministers who...

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.( John 3:16)We find ourselves at this point in our study of John chapter three at perhaps the most beloved and well know verse in the Bible. Certainly it is the singularly most widely translated sentence of any kind in the world. With reverence we approach these words of glad tidings from heaven. But it is possible, in fact probable, that the sheer familiarity of these words to many in our culture, has an unfortunate deadening...

If you look up "salvation" in a Catholic Catechism, what does one find? I'll show you.... Several years ago, I had an authoritative catechism that didn't even have a glossary entry for "salvation", but the US Conference of Catholic Bishops has a catechism that DOES have an entry for "salvation". Let's see what they say:

This column is in response to requests for insights into the difference between Mormonism and traditional Christianity. I have dear friends who are Mormons. They, like most Mormons, are gracious socially, exceptional family people, and in general good citizens. As such they personally are objects of my regard. Their faith, the Church of Latter Day Saints, better known as Mormonism, has been very much in the news as a result of a prominent member of their faith being a primary candidate for president. I would not deliberately misrepresent any person’s faith so I hope Mormons find the following to be...

Shadows of His Presence February 27, 2012  "And a man shall be as an hiding place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest; as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land." (Isaiah 32:2)  In the context of this beautiful verse, the "man" is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ. To one who had been traveling in the heat of the desert, such as the Sinai wilderness, nothing was so welcome as the cool shadows behind a great rock in which one could rest for a...

The Lord may be forgiving. Sex offender laws? Not so much. A Baptist church in Jacksonville has hired a registered sex offender as its new pastor, but because a court has ruled the he's not allowed to have "unsupervised contact with children under 18 years old," the church has decided to ban kids from its Sunday services. Back in 2009, Darrell Gilyard pleaded guilty to charges of lewd conduct and lewd molestation according to News4Jax.com. At the time Gilyard was a pastor at Shiloh Baptist Church. His victims were female members of his congregation under 18. He molested one 15-year-old...

Remain in Me ! "Show Me" I truly am your first love ! Have I taken you to the river to where you all belong ?! Have I placed in your hearts the beauty of song ?! Have I changed a visitation into an abide ?! Then why is it you forsake me and run and hide ? Is it that in my presence you do not know how to be , Quiet tranquil and just wait upon me ?! For if I am your Shepherd and truly pastor you in "your" ways , Then would it not behoove you...

And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven.(John 3:13)Nicodemus was a Religious leader, the ‘Rabbi of Israel’. But he was drawn to seek out the obvious wisdom of an ‘untrained’ itinerant rabbi, Jesus of Nazareth. It was the miracles of Jesus as well as his teaching , that compelled Nicodemus and other leading rabbis to acknowledge that God was with him. Jesus wasted no time at all in the interview, informing Nicodemus that he would have to be born again to be able see...

Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can these things be? Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things? Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen; and ye receive not our witness. If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things?( John 3:9-12)The third chapter of John allows us in on a conversation between Jesus and one of the great Rabbis of Israel, the Pharisee and Sanhedrinist,...

INTRODUCTION:        This is another chapter in the study of the Seven Baptisms, one book of the series entitled, Fundamental Facts For Searching Saints (Acts 2:41,42). Baptism has quite a significant meaning in The God’s Word according to the viewpoint of The God. What does baptism mean to you? How does your meaning of Baptism by The Holy Spirit compare with The God’s as clarified by His Dearly Beloved Son?    In order to fix the basic facts firmly in our minds, a brief review is always helpful. The word “baptism” is the translation of the Greek noun βάπτισμα (Báhp-teesmah). It comes from the verb βαπτίζω (bahptéez0) translated ‘baptize’ and...