Pride and Prejudice...

When I think about pride and prejudice within the Christian community I think of people arguing over who's church is better, etc... I think this is one of the arguments that Timothy is talking about at 2 TIMOTHY 2:23-24. Perhaps its best to focus on the common denominator "JESUS" and repentance before forgiveness!

Lets us not forget that at EPHESIANS 2:8-10 it says we are saved by grace and that our faith is a gift from God so that none can boast they are better than another, church organizations included. I am/have been looking for a new church in my neighbourhood. And after almost a full year of searching I cannot find a church that fully understands the simple fact found at MATTHEW 28: 19-23.

So maybe all things are not equal and that equal for some is unequal to others. One man looks in the mirror and walks away and knows exactly who he is. Whereas another man looks and immediately forgets who he is. Some have problems with their moral compass due to external factors such as; alcohol, drugs, religiosity, etc And still more are spiritually thirsty but do not realize the way to quench their thirst. Perhaps most churches breed thirstiness through external religiosity. They say the right things but upon closer examination they are not following through.

Personally I prefer flawed company to the self-righteous kind there seems to be more honesty in the admitted sinner than to the self-righteous adherent. I believe that Jesus was of a similar mindset and that the religious leaders of his time used it against him. When we think we are done growing and learning we become unteachable and therefore unable to teach others about the simplicity of the gospel. Believing is one thing, repenting and being renewed in Christ another. I mean even demons believe in Jesus.

So what more must we do other than to simply believe?

May...

The Lord bless and keep you;
The Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up his countenance upon you,
And give you peace.

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Interesting Facts...

Here is an interesting fact. By 400 AD the bible was translated into 500 languages and then by 500 AD there was only one official language, Latin. Christians were persecuted for their belief for hundreds of years under the Romans until Constantine made it the religion of the empire and included many pagan rites to appease those that would fight against it. Then under Roman rule Christianity went from a persecuted belief to a persecuting religion that killed thousands and hundreds of thousands in the name of God. Find out more get the video "The Forbidden Book"

The plague of paganism has so infiltrated the Christian walk that it is undeniable to those that are watching and the history of the church gives no good excuse for the actions of the past. Breaking away from The Roman Catholic church was not enough. For that was only the beginning of our problems and the sin of denominational divergence. Consider that the Christian walk is plainly stated in 2 Peter 1:3-11 and if that route is taking and absorbed in the believer that he would as the scripture states. "Be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ". So I challenge you that stating facts about denominational divergence is not criticizing if given in the right attitude. An attitude of love for those that hear you.

Was Jesus criticizing when he prayed for all believers to be one as He and the Father are one in John 17?

Here is another fact this time in Ephesians 6; "We fight not against flesh and blood but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places". If we look back at Ephesians 2 we find that we are saved through faith, a gift from God not of ourselves or works so that none could boast. Denominational divergence has the spirit of exclusivity and sectarianism at its heart. And the battle for unity has been raging since the belief of Christianity was first usurped by the Roman Empire and turned into a religion. Also consider that in 2 Peter 1:5 that it is assumed that faith is already there by saying "for this very reason giving all diligence add to your faith".

Along with the spirit of exclusivity and sectarianism comes the spirit of pride, being proud of denomination. If you choose to overlook this as not sin that is your prerogative. It is the sin of pride that caused Satan to fall and causes man to think they are better than other men because they belong to a certain denomination. Mans original sin is based in judgment of God in the garden of Eden when man decided through the deception of Satan that "The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil" was good for food, was pleasant to the eyes and desirable to make one wise. The problem has existed since the beginning and his been pointed out by Columba, Wiclif, Bonhoeffer, Spurgeon, Calvin, Wesley, Luther and others.

Consider that in Christianity, that 90% of believers fail to share their faith with another throughout their whole lifetime. This fact crosses denominational boundaries and includes the autonomous non-denominational as well. It's no wonder when people choose church for comfy seats, music, socio-economic position and other non-eternal reasons. Think I'm making this up? I truly wish I was wrong and that none of what I stated was true.

The church is the real mission field and although the workers are few, those of us that claim to know the truth as revealed in scripture must at least attempt to show unity by cutting through the hyperbole of history and popular opinion. My motivation is based at the judgment seat of Christ were Jesus said;

"Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name? And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’ "

Sounds like He is talking about church folk here and not unbelievers but those who say they are believers and practice their doctrine.


May...

The Lord bless and keep you;
The Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up his countenance upon you,
And give you peace.

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Evolution & Christianity...

What is the essence of life here on earth, what do we share with all of the whole of creation?

I heard an interesting quote the other day from an apparent expert on the topic of the theory of evolution and his sudden "anti-evolutionary" view. It went some thing like this;

"One morning I woke up and...it struck me that I had been working on this stuff for twenty years and there was not one thing I knew about it. That's quite a shock to learn that one can be mislead so long...Ive tried putting a simple question to various people: 'Can you tell me anything you know about evolution, any one thing, any one thing that is true?' I tried that question on the geology staff at the Field Museum of Natural History and the only answer I got was silence. I tried it on the members of the Evolutionary Morphology Seminar in the University of Chicago, a very prestigious body of evolutionists, and all I got there was silence for a long time and eventually one person said, 'I do know one thing -- it ought not to be taught in high school.' "

Dr. Colin Patterson, senior paleontologist at the British Museum of Natural History in a keynote address at the American Museum of Natural History, New York City, in 1981.

Consider what Paul says in Acts 17;

Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: "Men of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. Now what you worship as something unknown I am going to proclaim to you.

"The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else. From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. 'For in him we live and move and have our being.' As some of your own poets have said, 'We are his offspring.'

Do you think Paul can say this about Christianity's "Denominational Divergence" Does history have to continually repeat itself, are we caught in the viscous circle that the author of Ecclesiastes talks about in regards to knowledge? "For with much wisdom comes much sorrow; the more knowledge, the more grief."

What is the grief that he talks of here?

Is it the knowledge of good and evil, and our pitiful attempts to be right with God through religious ceremony that is bereft of the true spirit of God?

The answer lies within the bible and the laws of God which should bring us repentance and the ability to be used in the Kingdom of God. Repent for the Kingdom of God is at hand or you will all answer for your denominational pride, religious sin, blasphemy, denominational arrogance, gluttony and superficiality to just name a few.

May...

The Lord bless and keep you;
The Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up his countenance upon you,
And give you peace.

Try a Bible Quiz and test your knowledge

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All posts by M.A.C. © Bruce W. Moar

Spiritual Arrogance...

Spiritual arrogance what is it?

Well the standard definition for arrogance is;

offensive display of superiority or self-importance; overbearing pride.

When you judge another believer you are exercising spiritual arrogance, the central prohibition of the Christian faith is not to judge others, that's God's job, not ours. Judging has been a problem with humanity from the very beginning all the way back to the Genesis narrative.

Genesis three holds the clues to how it all started "the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made" says the text. So the serpent asked Eve some questions which LEAD her to doubt God and then of all things judge God. The judgment that Eve rendered against God was that he was withholding something desirable by prohibiting her and Adam from eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Notice there was never a prohibition from the tree of life until after the fall!

This is, in a sense, the original sin that was committed by man and we still participate in this base sin today, whenever we try to judge another believer by their works, words, etc. Who are we to say someone is going to go to heaven or go to hell? Are we God that we possess such power as the power over who gets into heaven and who is damned to hell?

I can think of some scripture that may get us thinking that some folks are destined to heaven and some to hell or as the text puts it some for honor and some for dishonor.

Consider Romans 9:20-21 (Amplified)

But who are you, a mere man, to criticize and contradict and answer back to God? Will what is formed say to him that formed it, Why have you made me thus?

Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same mass (lump) one vessel for beauty and distinction and honorable use, and another for menial or ignoble and dishonorable use?

Scripture clearly teaches that whoever calls on the Lord will be saved we are not God and our finite thinking does not come close to the righteous plan of God the Father. So if you find yourself judging other believers than I suggest;

"Repenting of Religion" by Gregory A. Boyd

This book is based on the antithetical relationship between Love and judgment and how they cannot survive together.

Jesus calls men, not to a new religion, but to life.

DIETRICH BONHOEFFER

May...

The Lord bless and keep you;
The Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up his countenance upon you,
And give you peace.

Try a Bible Quiz and test your knowledge

click here ---> BIBLE QUIZ <--- click here

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All posts by M.A.C. © Bruce W. Moar