The evangelical, protestant, and reform battle cry! Sola Scriptura- only the Scriptures! It was one of the half dozen slogans that came out of the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century. But, what does it mean? It is most often interpreted as the belief that Scripture is the only inerrant rule for deciding issues of faith and morals. And a subtle point that’s been lost on many denominations is that it also implies that each person must interpret it individually, outside of any ecclesiastical authority. Continue reading ‘Sola Scriptura’
Monthly Archive for September, 2006
This is really a simple question; however, we find people killing each other over the answer. The Bible was written by 75-100 men! No women! Now there’s another question we could ask ourselves, but in an age of patriarchy, we know the answer now don’t we? Lest you think I’m a heretic, those men were inspired by the Holy Spirit. Continue reading ‘Who Wrote The Bible?’
‘When the forms of an old cuture are dying, the new culture is created by a few people who are not afraid to be insecure.” Rudolph Bahro. Rudy wasn’t a theologian. He was a German ecologist; however, he understood a major principle that applies to every discipline of life. You don’t have to be one of the insecure, just one who follows or backs them. Continue reading ‘New Culture - Cultural Pluralism’
I am afraid we’re going to look back one day and realize that what we believed was more as a result of cultural forces than sound theological doctrines. Look, the only way we have of conceptualizing God is through language! And guess what? Language is cultural! Continue reading ‘Cultural Diversity & Cultural Relativism’
What’s it mean to be born again? Living here in Houston, Texas that’s an easy question to answer. If you lived in an earlier age or somewhere north of the Mason Dixon line, you might not be familiar with the phrase. What might be considered a common phrase by a Southern Baptist is really a phrase that’s primarily used in the South and only in the last 40+ years. It’s primarily a phrase used by Evangelical, Pentecostal, and Fundamentalist groups of Protestantism. Continue reading ‘Born Again Christian Belief’
Obviously, I get asked a lot of questions. That’s the point of this web site. I try to see none as a stupid question. And I try to not give a stupid answer! When involved in the religious and spiritual sphere, I get asked a lot of trick questions; however, I try to keep the focus as one of interplay and dialogue. The answer I give is not as important as are the thoughts it gives to the questioner. Continue reading ‘Asking Question’
Let me start off with three definitions, from those outside the church, not from us within. All three are Robert Lanhan’s definitions.
1-Evangelical: Christians who feel God wants them to spread His word to others. Most are cultural conservatives and they tend to enjoy the type of music one hears on Star Search returns.
2-Full Gospel: A church where services are like ecstatic raves, and who babble in tongues, and think techno is the devil’s music.
3-Fundamentalist: Evangelicals who believe the Bible is literally true, avoid stuff like alcohol, R-rated movies, and say, “you’re wrong, because the Bible says so” a lot.
Continue reading ‘The Set of Interpretations’
Don’t you wish you really had the answer to that question? Why couldn’t God have made life easier? I mean, being God, He’s capable of doing anything He wants. It’s in His job description. And yet we search here and there in what seems like a futile attempt to find this elusive God. Is He out there, hidden somewhere in the black universe? Is he somehow within us. Both? Continue reading ‘Who Is God The Father?’
While 90% of Americans believe in god, it’s most often a little “g” kind of a God and therefore the results are little as well. God is so much bigger than we can imagine. As one has said, the moment you give a description of God, you’ve just proved you don’t really know Him. Who is this God that almost everyone says that they beleive in? And, Jesus who? Continue reading ‘Who Is God? Jesus Who?’
Fault Lines
There are tremors in the earth!
Fault lines are becoming more stressed. Tensions are building. If I may continue to use the previous metaphor, we have moved from a major earthquake, provided by Martin Luther. It was TRADITION being replaced by SCRIPTURE. I now THINK, meaning I don’t KNOW, that maybe the SCRIPTURE is being upstaged by the LIVING WORD. But, it’s not an either or.
Continue reading ‘Fault Lines’