Humanism And Jesus
I have decided to do an extended study of Humanism at the recently resurrected RedLetterLiving blog. Click HERE to see the first post. Continue reading Humanism And Jesus
Tag: Jesus
A “Follower Of Jesus” Apology for MAGA Christians.
I want to use the post as my official apology to the world for Evangelical Christians. I know that won’t mean much but it matters to me to apologize for this ugly group. I am a person who has proudly … Continue reading A “Follower Of Jesus” Apology for MAGA Christians.
If God Is Love
This is a continuation of my look back on my blog RedLetterLiving before I activate it again. It has pretty much been in hiatus for six years now but I think it is necessary to resurrect it in order to … Continue reading If God Is Love
Not Taking Jesus Seriously
As mentioned last Sunday, I am putting here some foundational posts from my blog at RedLetterLiving here before I resurrect it in September. From RedLetterLiving Blog – Feb 2014 The church frustrates me. I was once asked by a wealthy … Continue reading Not Taking Jesus Seriously
Favorites Sunday – If God Is Love…
This Sunday’s Looking Back is about one of my favorite Christian books and how I viewed its message five years ago.
Continue reading “Favorites Sunday – If God Is Love…”
At Its Core…
There have been quite a few negative comments about Christianity here on RJsCorner and many of them were from me. I want to make it clear with this post that I lament what has become of Christianity not what it is at its core. When Jesus was asked what it the most important thing about being one of his followers he gave us two commands: Love God and Love Each Other He was very adamant that these two eclipsed everything else. In this case, like my Evangelical friends claim they do for every biblical thing, I take his words literally. It … Continue reading At Its Core…
Saving Jesus
This post is about some insightful words from a book entitled Saving Jesus from the Church: How to Stop Worshiping Christ and Start Following Jesus by Robin R. Meyers. This book solidified my belief that the words of Jesus have been losing focus in the church. Here are the words for today. Strangely, we have come to a moment in human history when the message of the Sermon on the Mount could indeed save us, but it can no longer be heard above the din of dueling doctrines. Consider this: there is not a single word in that sermon about what … Continue reading Saving Jesus
Social Gospel
Christ’s church has cycled from one level to another for almost its whole existence. I can only hope that the cycle turns positive in the coming years. If it doesn’t I can see the end of that institution. One of the bright periods of the Protestant version of the church occurred between 1890 -1930. It was known as the social gospel. Here is a little about that from my friends at Wikipedia: In the late 19th century, many Protestants were disgusted by the poverty level and the low quality of living in the slums. The social gospel movement provided a … Continue reading Social Gospel
About Atonement..
One of the current foundations of the Christianity is the atonement. Generally that is thought to be Jesus taking the wrath of God for us with his substitutional crucifixion in order to appease God wrath toward man’s sinfulness. I, like many others I’m sure, thought that atonement was a foundational issue with Jesus and the early church. In reality it was post-Constantine theologians who gave us the doctrine of original sin and the blood atonement, the belief that Jesus came to earth solely for the purpose of dying for our sins, was a doctrine not fully developed in the church … Continue reading About Atonement..
Religiously Powerful…
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…
My View Of The Bible — Part 5 Summing It Up..
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..
My View Of The Bible — Part 4 .. Misguided Beliefs?
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?
My View Of The Bible –Part 3.. Other Views
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
The Sit Back And Wait Syndrome..
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..
The Sit Back And Wait Syndrome….
Sometimes I take a peak at the website I put up for the church I was once a member. I have been gone for three years now but nothing has changed on that site since I left. The pastor just doesn’t see the Internet as being valuable in reaching out to the community. But one thing that is updated is the text of his sermons are added each week. I glance at them from time to time just to get an idea of how the church is doing. One thing that has not changed in these eight years of the … Continue reading The Sit Back And Wait Syndrome….
RJ's Corner - Having My Say 