religion

FromOffTheStreets

Well-Known Member
How do you reconcile the practices and principles that biblical scholars and various religious denominations differ in claiming biblical support for different positions?

Do you have any views on these differing and opposing biblical viewpoints?
People get into groups & find certain ideas in passages and elevate those ideas as their idols. Churches splinter off based on what idol is placed for worship. They all "believe in God" but they need something to worship that they can grasp.
For instance, a pentecostal will teach acts, 2 cor. & prophets of the O.T. Everything they do revolves around signs & gifts of the spirit.
A social justice group will find all of the passages about helping the poor & downtrodden.
You can do this with every group, they have their top subject and they worship that subject as the gospel. The big kicker is, if you are around them & you don't think that their subject is the top one, your probably not saved...in their eyes at least.
 

Integrity

Binge Poster
God certainly saves those who comply with his will.
Complying with God’s will!

John 6:40: "For it is my Father's will that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day”.

 

FromOffTheStreets

Well-Known Member
Well 1. Just for topic discussion and curiosity and 2. I was too young to even remember my baptism, just seems crazy to me to think that could have an affect on my judgment
I think a lot of kids 8, 10 years old or whatever...believe & get baptized, and as they go through their lives they make A LOT of mistakes and all of a sudden they're 30, 40 years old. They hear someone tell them that baptism is the saving work & they start feeling like they have to perform this work to get saved "for real."
You would need to get baptized the last day of your life if that was the case.
 

vantexan

Well-Known Member
I think a lot of kids 8, 10 years old or whatever...believe & get baptized, and as they go through their lives they make A LOT of mistakes and all of a sudden they're 30, 40 years old. They hear someone tell them that baptism is the saving work & they start feeling like they have to perform this work to get saved "for real."
You would need to get baptized the last day of your life if that was the case.
It's really a matter of being baptized when you're old enough to know right from wrong and then living the Christian life to the best of your ability. You won't earn your salvation, it's God's grace that covers us. But God expects effort on our part and will judge us accordingly. Otherwise if it's you'll go to Heaven no matter how you live then many people would do some pretty wicked things. The Christian life is about living your best life so that you aren't harming yourself or others. But you'll never be perfect. You ask for forgiveness when you fail and you move on, trying not to sin. Being of service to others. I don't believe it's constantly skipping through fields of daisies while singing Kumbaya. You need yellow tights for that...
 

BigUnionGuy

Got the T-Shirt
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Integrity

Binge Poster
Good morning my Brethren,

It seems to me in my local church that the term “the gospel” is misunderstood. I believe that this is foundational to the troubles and the challenges that my church and all of Christianity is facing today. A misunderstanding of what the term “the Gospel” is or even means.

To my handful of regular learned posters on this form, what is your understanding of the term “the Gospel”?

🙏
 

tourists24

Well-Known Member
Good morning my Brethren,

It seems to me in my local church that the term “the gospel” is misunderstood. I believe that this is foundational to the troubles and the challenges that my church and all of Christianity is facing today. A misunderstanding of what the term “the Gospel” is or even means.

To my handful of regular learned posters on this form, what is your understanding of the term “the Gospel”?

🙏
I have always thought gospels were the life teachings and the story of Jesus’ purpose here on earth as told in the stories of Matthew,Mark, Luke, and John. I may have always (maybe wrongfully) considered other NT books that teach us how to live our lives in marriage, parenthood, and dealings with others. At least I have always referred to them in that manner
 

Integrity

Binge Poster
I have always thought gospels were the life teachings and the story of Jesus’ purpose here on earth as told in the stories of Matthew,Mark, Luke, and John. I may have always (maybe wrongfully) considered other NT books that teach us how to live our lives in marriage, parenthood, and dealings with others. At least I have always referred to them in that manner
Have you heard the term used differently than your understanding of the term?
 

tourists24

Well-Known Member
Have you read this?

I did. It sounds fundamentally what I expect to believe be true with one exception. I've never viewed "the gospels" as being the whole of scripture though. Whether right or wrong by me, I had always viewed the Old Testament as a history lesson of God's people and the foretelling of Jesus' arrival here on earth. The New Testament, for a lot of it as described in my last message are the gospels itself. I've never dove any deeper than that when I've approached the bible or referenced the gospels
 

Integrity

Binge Poster
I did. It sounds fundamentally what I expect to believe be true with one exception. I've never viewed "the gospels" as being the whole of scripture though. Whether right or wrong by me, I had always viewed the Old Testament as a history lesson of God's people and the foretelling of Jesus' arrival here on earth. The New Testament, for a lot of it as described in my last message are the gospels itself. I've never dove any deeper than that when I've approached the bible or referenced the gospels
The local church I attend at times refers to the whole of scripture as the Gospel…
 

tourists24

Well-Known Member
The local church I attend at times refers to the whole of scripture as the Gospel…
hmmmm.... not sure that would be a deal breaker for being a member or not, but I would have conversations with the church leadership asking them why they feel this way. I don't know why they would consider the OT in that way
 

Integrity

Binge Poster
hmmmm.... not sure that would be a deal breaker for being a member or not, but I would have conversations with the church leadership asking them why they feel this way. I don't know why they would consider the OT in that way
Not a deal breaker to me.

The local church I attend at times also refers to the Penal Substitution Theory of Atonement as the Gospel …
 
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El Correcto

god is dead
Good morning my Brethren,

It seems to me in my local church that the term “the gospel” is misunderstood. I believe that this is foundational to the troubles and the challenges that my church and all of Christianity is facing today. A misunderstanding of what the term “the Gospel” is or even means.

To my handful of regular learned posters on this form, what is your understanding of the term “the Gospel”?

🙏
The books covering Jesus’s life.
 
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