I originally wrote this post for my daily blog over at RJsCorner but thought it is also very applicable here as well. Anyone who has read many of my words here know that I don’t have a very positive attitude … Continue reading The Tree Of Knowledge
One of my primary mottos in life is to question everything. As you know that is one of the three things on my permanent header here at RJsCorner. Questioning everything is not limited to things I am told to accept without questions, they also include my current beliefs. That is what this two-part post is going to be about. The picture above does a pretty good job of visually describing how I see my life looking forwards and especially backwards. Because one life experience is just piled onto the top of others, there are no simple truths anymore. Your truth … Continue reading Getting To The Root Of It All … Part 1
I have let it be known many times here on RJsCorner that I am pro-life in all regards and that certainly includes the death penalty. So, when I heard that the largest Christian church in the world’s leader Pope Francis, backed by bishops around the world, declared the death penalty unacceptable in all cases I lept for joy. Finally, at least some Christians saw that public execution was an affront to the very nature and essence of God. Christians have a long history with the death penalty, going all the way back to A.D. 33, when the Roman Empire crucified Jesus. Sadly, … Continue reading Abolish The Death Penalty
Despite recent trends the U.S. is still pretty much an inclusive society. As the saying on the plaque at the Statue Of Liberty goes we welcome all others to our shores. The resulting diversity is in my mind one of the primary reasons we have been such a strong and prosperous country. Elitism is by definition exclusive. It wants more and more for a smaller and smaller portion of society. It celebrates that fact that more than half the wealth of this country is in the hands of the top one percent of the population. The advantages of inclusiveness and diversity … Continue reading Inclusiveness…..
Source: Paul as Usurper of Christianity? « Common Treasury. I am aware that there has been much discussion in the past on the alleged contrasting visions of Jesus in the gospels (especially Matthew, Mark, and Luke-Acts) and the message in the Paul’s letters. There is something to the charge I think (not that I have studied this in great detail); I have on a couple of occasions tried to get into Ludemann’s examination of the issue in Paul: The Founder of Christianity but have never really got past the first chapter, perhaps I’ll try again in due course…. [W]e would be … Continue reading Paul as Usurper of Christianity?
Since this is the first post here in 2013 I pray we all make a new years resolution to not embarrass God!! We followers of Jesus seem to think that our self-proclamation that we are Christians doesn’t affect anyone but ourselves. But in reality making that claim and then not living up the actions necessary to show the world that you follow Jesus embarrasses God. It makes him look bad when everyone who knows you to be a Christian see you doing things that are definitely not Christ like. The primary way that someone comes to be a follower of … Continue reading Don’t Embarrass God….
I have had a Sojourners membership for a number of years now and enjoy the monthly magazine. One reason is that it shows me that I am not alone out there in believing what I do about Christianity. Jim Wallis, who is the editor-in-chief of the magazine always has an editorial at the beginning of each issue. This month is was about how the word “evangelical” means to the world in general. In the editorial Jim opens with the following words: Here we go again. Presidential elections are coming, and the role of ‘evangelicals’ is predictably becoming a hot political … Continue reading Defining Evangelicals…
This is a continuation of my collection of snippets from the book by Philip Gulley entitled If God is Love. The Psalmists boats, “Do I not hate those who hate you, O Lord? And do I not loathe those who rise up against you? I hate them with perfect hate. I count them my enemies” (Psalm 139:21-22). Hatred, when directed at those we have judged wicked, becomes a sign of religious devotion rather than a grievous sin. The enemy is not loved, but destroyed, not prayed for, but preyed upon. We can protest religious hatred and violence are sins of the past, … Continue reading If God is Love (Part 2)
There are thousands of different concepts and ideas floating around in Christianity and most of them have followers who have split from others over their specific views. Of course the biggest split started when a lowly monk decided he knew better than the Pope what God was really about. There are those who have split off other denominations because they believe that total immersion is the only way to receive a “correct” baptism and, of course there are those who choose different views of the Bible. Some say every word is literally true and some say only the doctrinal messages … Continue reading Give them Jesus
RJ's Corner - Having My Say 