Quote: ThirstyMan wrote in post #44

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I'm doing my best to follow the Christ who was/is revealed in the Sctriptures and to live a life inspired and guided by the Holy Spirit.

My faith is a local thing in my personal life, in my marriage, my family, my job, my church and community.

I'm not a national movement, I'm not a political movement, not a social movement.

I'm a Christian... a Christ follower. I may spill into greater movements as cited above, but they are not me.

My politics are conservative and part of my faith, not my faith. Charity is a hand up, not just a hand out and I look for Truth and God's hand in all things.

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steph,

there are those in that video with whom I do not agree. Some who you may call a "Fundamentalist", I call a heretic.

Nevertheless, that video is Communist propaganda, plain and simple.

BTW - John the Baptist was a Fundamentalist.

Paul was a Fundamentalist.

John the Beloved was a Fundamentalist.

Peter was a Fundamentalist.

Matthew, Mark and Luke were Fundamentalists.

The Old Testament Prophets...all Fundamentalists.

If you want to escape Funtamentalist teachings, then you'll have to abandon Christianity altogether.

Zitat

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In order to become a new person, we need Christ. Only through an active ongoing relationship with Jesus can we become transformed and overcome the labels that bind us.

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Pfft! Wishy-washy, milquetoast, Social Gospel.

That's all fine and dandy, but before one accpets the Good News, one must first be aware of the Bad News.

The bad news is....we are born into this world as hellbound sinners..."condemned already", as Christ put it.

The only remedy for our condition is, that Christ died on the cross, in our stead, and paid the price for our sins because we owe a sin debt to a Holy God.

Simple as that. When you accept that, then there is the new birth..."born again" as Christ put it.

Quote: truth_seeker wrote in post #42

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Quote: nerd wrote in post #33

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Quote: Justme wrote in post #30

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Steph, you post as if there is one church at odds and against the people. That's a broad brush.

BTW I have no problems with a pharmacist being able to practice faith and not supply contraception. Go somewhere else like you would anything.

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I will agree if the pharmacists owns the business, otherwise he is the one that needs to do as his boss says, or go somewhere else.

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Then if a Real Estate Broker owns the firm, he can discriminate based on race, on religion? Because his religion holds the view that blacks should live separate, or that Jews aren't people?

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Quote: steph wrote in post #45

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Of course this isn't what turned me around. It was just a good compilation video of the people behind the movement that has been more of a bane for American christianity than something fruitful. Like I said, Charles Stanley was upset about women's rights and equality in marriage. He's divorced now. Just sayin' There is plenty more out there. Maybe I need to post the Museum of Idolatry videos.

The fact is we are losing people hand over fist in the faith. Step outside the bubble and it's easier to see. Remember, I mentioned my own church pushing away a 12 year old boy because he wasn't the right race or socioeconomic background. All that kid needed was some time invested in him to turn his life around. He was told to leave. This was at the same time the church was spending MILLIONS on a new church across town. Just yesterday it was reported that an elderly lady is having to live in her car because her house burned down in January. She didn't have insurance but once again, where's the church? They could get together and rehab her house in a weekend or two for little or nothing. The churches in this area are too busy building multimillion dollar "recreation ministries" so the members don't have to interact with the world. I have a bitter taste in my mouth about this issue. This is just my midsized city wasting the resources God has given them on wood, hay and stubble. First Baptist Dallas just spent $130,000,000 on their new digs. The old ones were pretty nice. Just think of the number of people that could be helped by investing in the community and people instead of fru fru.

It's not all "communist propaganda". Some of the crazy crap going on in the Church today is turning people off because it's not of God.

http://www.alittleleaven.com/2010/07/mot...the-sermon.html

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Quote: steph wrote in post #46

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Quote: ThirstyMan wrote in post #44

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I'm doing my best to follow the Christ who was/is revealed in the Sctriptures and to live a life inspired and guided by the Holy Spirit.

My faith is a local thing in my personal life, in my marriage, my family, my job, my church and community.

I'm not a national movement, I'm not a political movement, not a social movement.

I'm a Christian... a Christ follower. I may spill into greater movements as cited above, but they are not me.

My politics are conservative and part of my faith, not my faith. Charity is a hand up, not just a hand out and I look for Truth and God's hand in all things.

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This is all we can do individually but it's naive to think that the major denominations aren't pushing their policies legislatively. They do. That is what is backfiring for the church.

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The obvious (but not always that easy) solution is to find a church that you are comfortable with and simply leave your displeasure with whatever former denomination you may have been a part of in the rear view mirror. Heck, I grew up in the Catholic church but decided to move on as a young adult, I don't really think all that much about what the Catholic church does (or doesn't do) at the present, I view that as the business of those that are members of that group.

My church is very happily growing. We saved up our money for almost 10 years and built a new larger building as an annex to our original building. We still can't afford to completely furnish it for sanctuary space at the present, so we volunteer to carry all of the chairs and A-V equipment from the old building (which we still use for most Sundays) to the new building for events that we expect will have a larger crowd. We donated our old Oak pews to a church plant about a year ago (I really miss them as they were much more comfortable than the new chairs) and purchased free-standing chairs that allowed up to fit about 30% people than the pew seating provided. When we bring up the extra chairs from storage and combine them with the others, we can seat double in the new building.

This new building also provides us with an incredible amount of outreach space and capabilities. We are able to host events for the broader community that were impossible before then (all of our programs and events from children to seniors are open to the community at large). The Men's Prayer and Bible Study group that I attend actually has men traveling from 50-60+ miles and includes attendees from over 2 dozen churches at this point. Part of our mission beyond our personal growth and local evangelism is expanding the group to other churches. Some of us will attend another church men's meeting/breakfast once or twice a month to explain our group's mission and offer them our study curriculum. We also do basic "street corner" evangelism at some public event or another about once a month. And that's just the Men's group. We have many other vibrant community outreach programs running all of the time.

As I mentioned earlier, my Pastor makes it a point to remind us frequently that we are not a religious group. He also reminds us that our only doctrine comes from the Holy Bible, if something is not found in the Holy Bible, it is not a part of our beliefs, doctrine, or teachings. And throughout all of this "politics" is never discussed (beyond private conversations) and is never allowed to become an issue in any way.

And one of the most encouraging things that we see each week on Sunday, is that when Pastor tells the kids to line-up for Children's Church, about 1/2 of the seats open up! It is thrilling to see so many kids from toddler to 5th grade be a part of our church family!

Quote: Cedric wrote in post #57

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FP123,

I spent (wasted) an entire evening patiently providing Steph with similar examples of the wonderful works currently being done by the Christian church.

I was joined by another RR member (Palinista?).

Unfortunately, it has subsequently become clear to me that Steph summarily dismisses the notion that the Church has any redeeming value.

It doesn't fit her agenda.

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