Category: Philosophy & Religion

I have much to say on this topic and how the church has lost its way in the world today.

Philosophy & Religion7 Comments

Science Is Not The Enemy Of The Church..

RJ Walters

Being an engineer I consider myself a scientist and I can tell you first-hand that I felt very much attacked whenever I brought up science in my weekly bible classes. In that church the word “scientist” and “liberal” seemed to have an equally negative bias and I was both! I could never understand why so many were threatened when I asked questions based on scientific knowledge. If I did that it seemed I was immediately labeled a heretic. I found out my feeling were by no means unique. Here are some words about that from a book called Saving Jesus … Continue reading Science Is Not The Enemy Of The Church..

Philosophy & Religion3 Comments

Religiously Powerful…

RJ Walters

Jesus had some very stinging words about the religiously powerful of his day. The Gospel of Mark 7 is one of those places.  Let’s study some of those words. He replied, “Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written:” ‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are merely human rules.’ You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to human traditions.” And he continued, “You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order … Continue reading Religiously Powerful…

Philosophy & Religion3 Comments

Having No Religion or Faith..

RJ Walters

Britain is becoming an increasingly faithless society, according to a new survey that has found 53% of Britons now describe themselves as having no religion. The proportion is the highest ever, up from 48% in 2015 and 31% in 1983 when the British Social Attitudes survey was begun by the independent National Centre for Social Research. The trend is evident across all age groups but is particularly marked among young people, with 71% of 18-to 24-year-olds surveyed in 2016 saying they had no religion, up from 62% percent the previous year. The majority of older people still have some faith, … Continue reading Having No Religion or Faith..

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My View Of The Bible – Part 6 Closing Thoughts…

RJ Walters

This six part Sunday series was about looking at the Bible as a human document. That is, it was written and assembled by humans with different life experiences, viewpoints, and passions.  Much of their thoughts and words were believed to come from divine inspiration. Many believed they were writing what God wanted them to write. When I study the Bible I try to understand the reasons why some of the writers might have penned what they did.  Of course, I am also a human who has my own life experiences and passions, part of which surely shaped by what I have previously studied. What … Continue reading My View Of The Bible – Part 6 Closing Thoughts…

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My View Of The Bible — Part 5 Summing It Up..

RJ Walters

This is the fifth post on this series about the Bible. If it is not obvious by now I want you to understand that I put my Christianity on Jesus Christ not on a book about him. I will try to keep this brief as it is really a wrap-up of the past posts. About the Literalists: Panic – In some cases I see almost total panic in people when I say not all the words in the bible are literally true. This belief is so ingrained in the foundations of their faith they cannot imagine it could not be true. Irrational – Some say if … Continue reading My View Of The Bible — Part 5 Summing It Up..

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My View Of The Bible — Part 4 .. Misguided Beliefs?

RJ Walters

This, the fourth post on the Bible centers around where I see some others may have gone astray in regards to their beliefs surrounding  the Bible. Some have replaced the Holy Spirit with the book called the Bible… They put so much power in the Bible and so little in the Holy Spirit. Compared to the others in Trinity studies there is very little in-depth theological study about the Holy Spirit. The main exception to that might be  the Society of Friends otherwise known as Quakers. They treat the Holy Spirit as a very equal member of God’s team. Jesus … Continue reading My View Of The Bible — Part 4 .. Misguided Beliefs?

Philosophy & Religion2 Comments

My View Of The Bible –Part 3.. Other Views

RJ Walters

Now that I have told you what I believe about the Bible I will go over a short list of things that are somewhat widely accepted by some twenty-first century Christian denominations but of which I basically disagree. Most of these topic titles are  from texts of discussions I have had with Christians. I put them in a special category here because they were so deeply felt by others. All the words in the Bible are the words of Jesus (ie.  every word and punctuation mark comes from God). This title came from a person fairly high in the LCMS Lutheran organization. He … Continue reading My View Of The Bible –Part 3.. Other Views

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My View Of The Bible— Part 2 .. What I believe (con’t)

RJ Walters

This post continues with my fundamental beliefs about the Bible. I have not come to these beliefs on a whim. They are the result of many years of thoughtful prayer and study. I am also not trying to prove anyone wrong. Everyone should come to God in their own way. So let’s get on with the final four areas of my view on the Bible. Some words of the Bible have infinitely more significance to our lives than others— The words  through Jesus’ lips are the most important. Every other word is secondary at best. This is a major sticking point for some. … Continue reading My View Of The Bible— Part 2 .. What I believe (con’t)

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My View Of The Bible ..

RJ Walters

For the next three Sundays I want to bring over some slightly edited posts of things I discovered about the Bible while blogging at RedLetterLiving.net. These posts were from early 2014 but my feelings about the topic really haven’t changed all that much. I have been spending quite a bit of time lately thinking about the Bible and my experiences with it over the last decade or so. Around 2003 I decided to take up a serious study of theology and in particularly those around the words of Jesus. I naively thought I could get some clear directions for my … Continue reading My View Of The Bible ..

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The Sit Back And Wait Syndrome..

RJ Walters

One of the major problems, that is besides their political leanings, is too many evangelical churches preach the “Sit Back and Wait Syndrome”. I know, as I did so myself, that it is too easy to just ignore your Church’s current beliefs in order to preserve your “country club membership”. Taking a stand against something often times means you’re asked to leave as you don’t believe the “right” things. That can be hard on your social life but do you really want to put that ahead of your spiritual life? The “SBAW” syndrome goes something like this: Everyone of us … Continue reading The Sit Back And Wait Syndrome..

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God Whispers In Every Ear..

RJ Walters

This is the fourth and final post of Philip Gulley’s book entitled If Grace is True. Universal Salvation is not something I intended to find during my extensive study into the words of Jesus but that is where I was led. I didn’t consider this for many years. I actually thought my experiences rare. I was one of the chosen. I was special. Now I know the truth. God whispers his love in every ear. He isn’t interested in declaring his love to a select few. He doesn’t limit his presence to Vatican City, to the halls of seminaries, to … Continue reading God Whispers In Every Ear..

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The Teachings of Jesus Are Very Hard To Follow..

RJ Walters

Almost ten years ago I started my first blog called RedLetterLiving. It was about living by the words of Jesus. I was concerned that even though Christianity was founded on the idea that Jesus was the Christ few current Christian denominations seemed to put much weight on his actual words.  Little did I know that this study would go on for six years before I had fully answered my initial questions to at least my own satisfaction. I’m not sure when the organization Red Letter Christians was started but I think it was about that same timeframe. Two much more famous … Continue reading The Teachings of Jesus Are Very Hard To Follow..

Other Things, Philosophy & Religion2 Comments

God’s Still On Holiday..

RJ Walters

This is insane, and mainly because God patently hasn’t taken care of any of these things. Humans do these things and humans do stuff to mitigate or eradicate them. God’s still on holiday, where he has been for a few thousand years. Source: Lazy and Incoherent Theology: God Will Take Care of It I know that many of Mr. Trump’s supporters are evangelical Christians who believe that everything that happens, and especially his election, is God’s will.  When things happen that they don’t like or can’t reconcile with their beliefs then they fall back on  “God works in mysterious ways.” … Continue reading God’s Still On Holiday..

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The Fullness of God’s Grace…..

RJ Walters

This is part 3 of my review of the book entitled “If Grace Is True” by Philip Gulley. It is indeed hard to comprehend the fullness of God’s grace. Man puts many obstacles in the way of understanding it and unfortunately as the below quote says the church which should be about removing obstacles seems instead seems intent on putting many of them in place. Many versions of church tell us that God can’t stand to look at us because we are just too sinful. They tell us that God sees us as no more than a piece of snot. … Continue reading The Fullness of God’s Grace…..