tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20715800.post115344767157948167..comments2023-06-22T03:32:39.901-07:00Comments on H-n-T: Mainstream Media Offers Definition of ChristianityHollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18317867541610325491noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20715800.post-1153956039538442582006-07-26T16:20:00.000-07:002006-07-26T16:20:00.000-07:00My thoughts on Brooke's latter thoughts at http://...My thoughts on Brooke's latter thoughts at http://h-n-t.blogspot.com/2006/07/faith-vs-works-lets-rumble.html. Thanks for thinking deeply and taking time to write, Brooke.Hollyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18317867541610325491noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20715800.post-1153955456949489762006-07-26T16:10:00.000-07:002006-07-26T16:10:00.000-07:00Dear AV,I'm going to start a new exercise craze an...Dear AV,<BR/><BR/>I'm going to start a new exercise craze and name it Pontius Pilates. :DHollyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18317867541610325491noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20715800.post-1153954944365181882006-07-26T16:02:00.000-07:002006-07-26T16:02:00.000-07:00Two thoughts:1) I agree not all evangelical Chris...Two thoughts:<BR/><BR/>1) I agree not all evangelical Christians are politically conservative. I am one who is not. However, I think the most prominent and vocal white evangelical leaders have tended to align themselves with conservative politics. I can only think of one prominent white evangelical leader who is more progressive politically (Tony Campolo). However, I can make a long list of evangelical leaders who are aligned with the Republican Party. So it is easy to see why the media tends to equate evangelicalism with conservatism. <BR/><BR/>2) Being a Christian is more than saying, "Jesus I believe You." I don't think the whole of scripture nor a wider than evangelical Christian orthodoxy supports that statement. Read the Sermon on the Mount. Read the book of James. What about this scripture? James 2:14-19 says, <I>14 What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but do not have works? Can faith save you? 15 If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, "Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill," and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that? 17 So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead. 18 But someone will say, "You have faith and I have works." Show me your faith apart from your works, and I by my works will show you my faith. 19 You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder.</I><BR/><BR/>If a person's life does not demonstrate their belief in Christ, perhaps there is no real belief to begin with. James is not preaching salvation by works. Jesus is not giving us a new law in the Sermon on the Mount. What they are talking about is a true righteousness of the heart that comes from a real acceptance of Christ and ALL that He did and said. Unfortunately Evangelicalism often has reduced salvation and Christianity to an "in" "out" status based on mental agreement and verbal profession. I think Christians need not be apologetic about following Christ by strictly adhering to the Bible and to His teachings. So in this case I don't think the reporter was that far off. She was perhaps off in her definition of American Evangelicalism which does not always insist on such.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20715800.post-1153938041892210472006-07-26T11:20:00.000-07:002006-07-26T11:20:00.000-07:00I read "Pilate" like pilates. I was confused for ...I read "Pilate" like pilates. I was confused for just a moment.<BR/><BR/>-AVAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20715800.post-1153796042450307202006-07-24T19:54:00.000-07:002006-07-24T19:54:00.000-07:00Thanks, Tina. I used to worry about being too simp...Thanks, Tina. I used to worry about being too simplistic in explaning Christianity. I've seen Christians get anxious about these simple statements because we want to get into the theological complexities of the trinity and the incarnation. But that's quite confusing to someone who's never been to church before.<BR/><BR/>When I've talked with people who aren't Christians, the idea that resonates with them is Jesus' words in John 14: "Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, 'Show us the Father'? Don't you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work." Since most unchurched folks have been told about the historical Jesus, it's not too hard to swallow that, yes, there really was a human named Jesus who walked the earth. But the idea this man claimed to be a deity is mindblowing to them--many have never heard this before.<BR/><BR/>On the flipside, Christians are so used to hearing about Jesus as the Son of God, we're convinced of his deity--but we forget about his humanity. I'm gonna blog about that soon. :)Hollyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18317867541610325491noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20715800.post-1153766216557930842006-07-24T11:36:00.000-07:002006-07-24T11:36:00.000-07:00Hi!I liked your recent item. I am always irked whe...Hi!<BR/>I liked your recent item. I am always irked when the media generalizes too much -- like lumping all evangelicals as conservative Christian. That doesn't describe me. <BR/>I also liked your definition of Christianity -- I think it's a simple (but not simplistic) way of explaining what you believe to a non-believer. <BR/>Thanks,<BR/>TinaAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com