Tag: Religion

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Oh That Founding Father Origen…

RJ Walters

As we have learned in several of my recent posts Origen was one of the most influential theologians in the early church who was later deemed a heretic and then after that a saint again.  He spent quite a bit of time reading the “scripture” of his day. I put scripture in parens here because there was no Bible as we know it today in existence. Today Origen is definitely not one of the more popular early Christian figures with some in our establishment churches. That is particularly true of those that believe all of the Bible comes from God’s … Continue reading Oh That Founding Father Origen…

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Beliefs vs. Practices….

RJ Walters

With this post I am going to introduce you to a book that has had a pretty profound affect on my faith. It is by Robin Meyers entitled Saving Jesus from the Church: How to Stop Worshiping Christ and Start Following Jesus. Here are a couple of quotes from the book that will provide fodder for this post: 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 … Continue reading Beliefs vs. Practices….

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Fear of Death….

RJ Walters

Everyone wants to go to heaven but no one wants to die to get there. I first heard the above quote many years ago but have never tried to learn its source. I looked it up and here is what I found:    According to research by quote maven and Oxford English Dictionary contributor Barry Popik, the earliest verifiable use of this insightful saying seems to be as a song title and lyric by Delaney. The date of the song’s composition is uncertain, but it was mentioned as one of Delaney’s popular sings in an article about him in The Afro American newspaper on October 16, 1948. Delaney … Continue reading Fear of Death….

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The Church Is Not a Democracy….

RJ Walters

We in the U.S. know that one of the primary foundations of our democracy is freedom of speech. That is being able to say something different from our leaders and not suffer serious consequences. In my opinion this is what has allowed our country to remain so strong over the centuries. Many times criticisms lead to change and though we might not realize it at that time that is good for us. It makes us better; it makes us stronger. Without freedom of speech I doubt our country we even exist today. Anyone who has studied church history at all … Continue reading The Church Is Not a Democracy….

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God Is Not Dead But the Church Is On Life Support…

RJ Walters

This is a cross post from one of my other blogs at RJ’s Corner. I thought it appropriate for RLL also. It is terrible to think what the churches do to men. But if one imagines oneself in the position of the men who constitute the Church, we see they could not act differently. The churches are placed in a dilemma: the Sermon on the Mount or the Nicene Creed–the one excludes the other. If a man sincerely believes in the Sermon on the Mount, the Nicene Creed must inevitably lose all meaning and significance for him, and the Church … Continue reading God Is Not Dead But the Church Is On Life Support…

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A New Direction…. Again….

RJ Walters

In recent days I have been getting frustrated by the progress I have made into the parallel studies of the Roman empire and the Christian church. It is not that I am not learning things it is just that it is taking longer than I originally anticipated. My wife claims that I always underestimate these sort of things and maybe I do :)  I certainly like to blog on Red Letter Living as it keeps me centered on what is important in life. Having to put off posting here because I am not ready to do it intelligently is frustrating … Continue reading A New Direction…. Again….

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The Beginnings…..

RJ Walters

Time Period:  573BC I am about three weeks into my study of the parallels between Christian church history and the history of the Roman empire. I was hoping to find a “people’s history” of Rome for a source but have been unsuccessful in that regard. I now have about five sources of info but there really is little documented evidence of how the common man lived during this time. There are a few accounts from Roman soldiers but they are pretty much limited to their time in the military. Here is what Simon Baker in his book Ancient Rome: The Rise … Continue reading The Beginnings…..

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Nudges….

RJ Walters

This is another aside post that is somewhat linked to the previous one. In that post I discussed how I replied to some fellow Christians Facebook comments about how it was not the government’s job to take care of the poor. These Christians admitted, but it seems not many of them do, that it is the church’s job to do that. I then went on to agree with them fully. I’m sure they were surprised with my agreement. But I then went on to say since the church presently only takes care of about three percent of the need the … Continue reading Nudges….

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Official Christianity….

RJ Walters

I am going to jump ahead a little here so that I can put something into your mind before we tackle early church leaders. To illustrate my point I want to once again use a quote from The Future of Faith by Harvey Cox: Thus, it is now clear that the “official Christianity” that eventually emerged was only one among a range of “Christianities” that thrived during the earliest years. The distinction we still make today between “orthodox” and “heretical” movements did not exist. There was nothing inevitable or preordained about which version, if any, would predominate. It is very … Continue reading Official Christianity….

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Ashamed Not to be a Heretic…

RJ Walters

Source:Ashamed Not to be a Heretic: Harry Emerson Fosdick – QuakerQuaker. “If the day ever comes when men care so little for the basic Christian experiences and revelations of truth that they cease trying to rethink them in more adequate terms, see them in the light of freshly acquired knowledge, and interpret them anew for new days, then Christianity will be finished.” Here is an interesting post by a Quaker about a Presbyterian minister who was driven from the pulpit by fundamentalists in 1922 due to straying from the established doctrine of the time. He fought the first waves of … Continue reading Ashamed Not to be a Heretic…

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RLL Blog Announcement

RJ Walters

I am just posting a quick “aside” here to let you know that starting today I am posting again over at RedLetterLiving.net. The posts will primarily be about a study I am currently engaged in on how the Christian church got from its beginnings to where it is today and what the future might be.  If you are interested in that sort of thing pay me a visit there. I will be posting at least a couple of times a week for a few months.  This study will be historical in nature and I will try as much as possible to avoid theological discussions  and “church-speak”. Continue reading RLL Blog Announcement

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My Evangelical Friend…

RJ Walters

I just went another short round with my radical right gun totting evangelical friend on helping those less fortunate than us.  Here are some of his words replying to a post I made on FaceBook. The root cause of most of our deficit problems is still those that work and produce must pay for the existence of all those that do not work or produce goods and services. Few functions in the government produce a good or service worthy of a salary. My conservative evangelical friend very very often shouts that there are just too many “free loaders” in our … Continue reading My Evangelical Friend…

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What Language Did Adam & Eve Speak??

RJ Walters

Some Christians believe that each and every word in the Bible is literally true and without error. Even though I did not believe in a literal Bible I belonged to one of those churches at one time. I often asked embarrassing questions during our weekly bible study. Questions the clergy leader really didn’t care to try to answer.  Asking those questions is probably one of the reasons they tossed me out. I never got to ask the question in the title of this post but I would be very interested in knowing how they might answer it. According to the biblical account … Continue reading What Language Did Adam & Eve Speak??

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Many say ‘So What?’ to God, religion, atheism

RJ Walters

Source:  Many say ‘So What?’ to God, religion, atheism – USATODAY.com. It is no secret that those who claim to be “religious” in the U.S. has been shrinking every decade for more than 50 years now. But in the last ten years the people who check “none of the above” have been increasing almost exponentially. Here are some statistics from the above article: •44% told the 2011 Baylor University Religion Survey they spend no time seeking “eternal wisdom,” and 19% said “it’s useless to search for meaning.” •46% told a 2011 survey by Nashville-based evangelical research agency, LifeWay Research, they … Continue reading Many say ‘So What?’ to God, religion, atheism

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Our Sheltered Lives…..

RJ Walters

I am a frequent visitor to several Christian blogs. One of the bigger ones I recently visited was discussing  Matt 26:11  The poor you will always have with you.  There were the usual posts saying that Jesus was inferring that “since the poor will always be here why bother to do anything about it”. These types of comments used to get me upset but I know that is NOT was Jesus was saying so they don’t get to me like they used to. But there were several comments the to post from people who clearly don’t understand what it means … Continue reading Our Sheltered Lives…..