tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16082864.post116301510847886718..comments2023-06-21T08:46:40.230-05:00Comments on Fundamentals: Why Did We Vote on This?Siarlys Jenkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15083839117838391267noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16082864.post-47453195930141677122008-12-02T19:55:00.000-06:002008-12-02T19:55:00.000-06:00I was living in Boston when they made that decisio...I was living in Boston when they made that decision and it wasn't a pretty sight. I was doing a story on it for a class assignment.Karenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06039130895443623988noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16082864.post-1163298761204037732006-11-11T20:32:00.000-06:002006-11-11T20:32:00.000-06:00This sounds like the beginning of a fascinating co...This sounds like the beginning of a fascinating conversation. How about being united with Christ? Yes, that is an excellent vision. Christ said that "all the law and the prophets" hang on two commandments: love God with all your heart, mind and soul, and, love your neighbor as yourself. If we stopped right there, then there would be no profusion of denominations. Unfortunately, politics entered into the Body of Christ at a very early stage. I was amused by the attention paid to the "Gospel of Judas" because it meant so very little, EXCEPT that around 200 AD, there were people who called themselves Christian who actually believed it. It is an example which reveals that for the first 300 years, Christianity was a bubbling ferment of gospels and syncretisms and myths and, of course, somewhere in there, the true Gospel of Jesus Christ. Orthodoxy emerged from the reign of Constantine, dripping with as much syncretism as Gospel. I have a problem with human authority which claims to speak FOR Christ, and tells us that the way to be united with Christ is to unite under said human authority. I don't really care whether the authority is the Bishop of Rome or the latest pseudo-Protestant televangelist con artist, although I do recognize plenty of difference between the two. The problem is with false unity through a fallible human authority.<BR/><BR/>The fundamental basis of the clauses on religion in the First Amendment of our federal constitution is not that all religions are equally good or equally true. The premise is that government is incompetent to make the determination as to which is true, why, and how much. Therefore, we are free, in terms of the civil law, to pursue our own conscience. God, of course, will judge as God sees fit, but the judge of the circuit court will not.<BR/><BR/>I once met a group of Jehovah's Witnesses on the street, and talked about a few perspectives I appreciated in their materials, but that on the whole I did not embrace what they teach. One of them asked "Do you read the Bible?" Certainly I replied, but EVERY denomination bases its doctrine on reading the Bible. If so many people can read the same Bible and come to very different conclusions, how can we KNOW which one is true? The Holy Spirit may indeed impart understanding to us -- but I cannot judge what the Holy Spirit imparts to you, nor vice versa.<BR/><BR/>Even before the Protestant Reformation, Christianity had split into Roman and Greek churches, not to mention such heresies as the Pelagian and Nestorian, the separate organization of Christians in the Persian empire, etc. Most Protestant churches began by claiming that they alone are the true faith, while all other Protestants, much less Catholics, are apostate. The secular arm of the law cannot enforce conscience. Both Roman Catholics and various Protestants have gone through periods of burning witches or heretics at the stake, John Calvin no less than the Popes. It does not, in the end, promote unity with Christ.<BR/><BR/>I believe that the union of one man and one woman reunites the image of God. I do not believe that a homosexual union does that. I have no desire to see the state issue "marriage licenses" to same-sex couples. In an objective mathematical sense, they are deviant from the norm of the human race. I see no need to persecute them, but I will not celebrate their union either. I do not subscribe to the teachings of the Metropolitan Baptist Church. For very different reasons, I do not subscribe to the teachings of the Southern Baptist Church, or the American or General Baptist churches. I appreciate that if I do not agree with the teachings of a given church, I can go to another more suited to me. If we all had to agree on one set of doctrine, I would have to change the doctrine of the church to suit myself, but that might dissatisfy you. Better we can each worship God as we see fit, and let God judge, not our neighbor. We didn't agree when we were all in one church, we disagreed more clandestinely, or more violently.<BR/><BR/>I don't actually know of one occasion when Christ said anything about homosexuality. Perhaps he just considered the teachings of the Torah so well established and well known that he had no need to say anything. Or perhaps, he didn't really care. Paul talked about it occasionally, but Jesus apparently did not. I don't much care. I have no idea what would make a man attractive -- I sometimes wonder why women put up with us. If the Metropolitan Baptist Church chooses to "bless" same-sex unions, that is their business, and, they are accountable to God for it. I don't have to agree with them, nor do I have to judge them.Siarlys Jenkinshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15083839117838391267noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16082864.post-1163106233110540322006-11-09T15:03:00.000-06:002006-11-09T15:03:00.000-06:00I have a problem with your argument, your saying j...I have a problem with your argument, your saying just because Metro Baptist Church wants to allow homo-sexuals to marry in their church that other baptist churches do not need to feel they need to do the same thing, correct?<BR/><BR/>See this is a prime example of Protestantism, if you don't agree with one person or church then you go to another or start your own. How about Christ, how about being united with Christ and the way that he views homosexuality. If all the thousands of different denominations were united to Christ then there would be NO homosexuals unions and people probably wouldn't even be thinking about voting on such a topic. But since there are so many splits and "free Thinkers" today and in religion, then we run into the problem.Michaelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07859506678277376581noreply@blogger.com