Monday, February 13, 2012
MichaelA on All is Well™ in New Jersey: Robroy, awesome stats mate. So there we have it: John Spong, the man who proved himself incapable of building anything positive. All he could do…
robroy on All is Well™ in New Jersey: Ask and ye shall receive, Dean Munday. The stats for Newark and New Jersey of the ASA back from 1997 to 2007 followed by the…
ToAllTheWorld on All is Well™ in New Jersey: Statmann, it is a shame that the charts only go back to 2002.  I can remember looking at them in years past, and Newark actually…
Rob Eaton+ on Three Parishes in Diocese of Albany Seek DEPO: Los Angeles has more than one DEPO congregation.  Bp Ed Little ought to be on the LA payroll for as much as he’s there.  (joke)
Rob Eaton+ on Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you Katherine Ragsdale, Dean of EDS: David (28), I won’t argue with you, but I did preface that whole pictorial paragraph with the phrase “..left with the impression of…” (bold added).…
MichaelA on All is Well™ in New Jersey: Thanks Statmann. Mike458 “and you have to admit, while St. Anthony of Padua is a very popular title for RC churches, it’s pretty rare for…
cennydd13 on Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you Katherine Ragsdale, Dean of EDS: 32.  Milton, in 2006, I chose not to cling to the flotsam and jetsam left when TEC ran aground and began to be pounded to…
cennydd13 on A Call to Disobey the United States Government: No, our history isn’t over….not by a long shot….and the people of this country will have the final word.  We always do, and sooner or…
Statmann on All is Well™ in New Jersey: St. Anthony is a phantom parish in Newark dio.  Still listing 500 Members and almost 200 ASA, but aat last they report no Plate &…
mike458 on All is Well™ in New Jersey: Bp. Councell allowed St. George’s in Helmetta (where I occasionally attended in the 70’s) to separate from TEc, with no repercussions, lawsuits, etc.
Jackie on All is Well™ in New Jersey: As a reminder - the Diocese of New Jersey has begun a search for a new bishop
AnglicanXn on All is Well™ in New Jersey: I served as assistant in a parish in the NW part of the Dio of NJ in the late 80’s.  The rector with whom I…
MichaelA on All is Well™ in New Jersey: Okay, so TEC has 106 parishes in northern New Jersey, and presumably a similar amount in the southern/central bit. By contrast ACNA has only seven…
cennydd13 on Lo He Comes With Clouds Descending: Speaking of Welsh hymn tunes, my favorites are “Blaenwern” and “Cwm Rhondda.”  Great harmony in both.
Sarah on Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you Katherine Ragsdale, Dean of EDS: Hey folks, please don’t make comments about her physical appearance.  There is plenty to despise in her character, actions, beliefs/ideas, rhetoric, personality, etc, to leave…
Bill2 on Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you Katherine Ragsdale, Dean of EDS: Don’t they pay this woman enough at EDS so she can buy a bottle of shampoo?
Richard Yale on All is Well™ in New Jersey: Actually, the graph suggests that no one has submitted a parochial report since 2005.  Since they have received no notice of change they continue to…
Milton on Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you Katherine Ragsdale, Dean of EDS: For those hoping to “turn the TEC ship around”, I think Sarah’s hope as I glean it from her many posts is both more realistic…
Pageantmaster [Pray for +Mark Lawrence] on UPDATED: Bishops Breaking Collegiality - What Could Cause the Rift?: #26 Thanks carl I have no idea why anyone would live in the Midsomer villages - very short life expectancy.
carl on UPDATED: Bishops Breaking Collegiality - What Could Cause the Rift?: [25] Pageantmaster No worries.  I didn’t perceive it as sharp, and was not offended.  If I suffered distress this afternoon, it was over the fact…

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Sarah

Further Questions From The Skeptical Luncheons

Thursday, February 18, 2010 • 12:40 pm

I’ve posted a couple of times on the Skeptical Luncheons being hosted here in Greenville by The Caleb Group.

Here are the latest questions under consideration—chosen by the group:

The questions on the table right now are:
Diversity of understanding among Christians:
Evolution of thought?
Is Christianity a theology or a plan of action?
What makes someone a Christian?
Should we expect to see demonstrable differences in Christians?

 


Comments:

I’ll bite.

There are many areas that are non-essential where we are free to disagree.  However, on the essentials of the faith we are not free to do so.

Second question:  Both.

Third Question:  There relationship with God Almighty as provided through Jesus Christ His only begotten son and savior of humanity.

Fourth Question:  Absolutely.  We must be in the world but not of it….with all that such means and implies.

[1] Posted by Creighton+ on 02-18-2010 at 01:23 PM • top

Creighton your answer to #1 begs the question what are the essential and who gets to decide what are the essentials?

[2] Posted by JustOneVoice on 02-18-2010 at 05:10 PM • top

What makes someone a Christian?

The question is improperly formed.  God makes someone a Christian.  Regeneration is an act of divine and not human will.  The proper question therefore is “What are the necessary and sufficient visible markers of a Christian?”  We do not know what physical life is, but we are able to determine the presence of physical life by observing the attributes of life.  By analogy, we should ask “What are the necessary and sufficient observable attributes of spiritual life?”

carl

[3] Posted by carl on 02-18-2010 at 05:47 PM • top

Is Christianity a theology or a plan of action?

False dilemma.  Christianity is a world view.  It establishes the presuppositions by which creation and all within it may be understood.  It is the derivative propositional instantiation of the Truth in human existance. 

carl

[4] Posted by carl on 02-18-2010 at 05:55 PM • top

Interesting comments, all.

I think what I have found the most helpful as I get Johnny’s emails about these lunches is to read the questions that the non-Christians are coming up with.  That is what intrigues me.

Most convicting is this last question: “Should we expect to see demonstrable differences in Christians?”

My answer is, unfortunately, . . . “no, you should not.”

The reason for that is that God saves really some very bad people.  They do bad things even after they become Christians.  And, though we are promised that God will help us through His Spirt to become more like Jesus and less like our fallen nature, sadly, observers do not always *see* that improvement [which sometimes takes place internally more than externally], and even worse, some of us are so bad—so much worse than the non-Christians—that our *improvements* often do not rise to the level of other people’s “pretty averagely nice behavior.”

Anyway, just some basic “instant reflections” from me.

[5] Posted by Sarah on 02-19-2010 at 02:46 PM • top

Diversity of understanding among Christians:Evolution of thought?
I really like to know what that means.

[6] Posted by Festivus on 02-19-2010 at 08:22 PM • top

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