Philip Yancey is BAFFLED BY EVANGELICALS (doctrine, church, beliefs, Christ)
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“To choose a person who stands against everything that Christianity believes as the hero, the representative, one that we get behind enthusiastically is not something that I understand at all,” he added.
I read the link. It would probably have been better if the link within the link had bee used (Evangelical Focus).
In any case, remember that this is the Christianity forum. It IS NOT the Politics forum. Comments directly related to Christianity are in order. Comments that should be in the Politics forum are strictly forbidden in this forum.
It has already been suggested that this thread should be deleted as political, but I read the article, and the article linked within, and came to the conclusion that Philip Yancey brings up some issues about Christian beliefs that deserve to be discussed.
Consider yourselves warned not to make this a political thread. If you do, we'll just skip the warnings and issue posting restriction infractions.
Discuss Mr. Yancey's comments about the beliefs of Christians. We'll have to reserve the right to delete this thread if this is not possible.
Makes sense. It is my hopes we can discuss the Christian expectations of supporting our neighbors as opposed to using humiliation and fear to justify empowering the few and casting aside those who have been marginalized.
Since Yancey is quite inflential in the evangelical community, I thought it would be appropriate to share his POV on the topic of doing fo r the least of us.
it is appropriate to get an understanding of the (Pentecostal?) doctrine of Universal Dominion in this light, imo. You will find a wikipedia entry on the RCC version, but i note just searching "doctrine of Universal Dominion" leads one to that, and little else. i think i got the best characterization by searching 'pentecostal doctrine universal dominion.'
essentially--from the wiki--the emperor is the vicar of the pope. translated into American, more or less. i am not providing links on purpose here, because then i would end up defining it for you; but it is the policy currently being pursued by the empire...has always been the policy pursued by empires...whatever. There are no politics without religious imprimatur; the two are the same coin.
.....but it is the policy currently being pursued by the empire...has always been the policy pursued by empires...whatever. There are no politics without religious imprimatur; the two are the same coin.
And I take it that the point is to skew the particular religious ideas, in this case a kind of puritanish morality, into the main focus of the religious element, eclipsing much more important and strongly emphasized teachings?
“To choose a person who stands against everything that Christianity believes as the hero, the representative, one that we get behind enthusiastically is not something that I understand at all,” he added.
The Catholic Church did it all through the middle ages. Power corrupts. If the current political situation has shown us anything, it has proved that the religious right don't care about having a genuinely Christian government. They want power, and they are using religion to get it. It's a great strategy. If you are able to convince voters that their eternal salvation depends on voting for you, you can do a lot of damage.
there ya go, right there. Not only that, the voters will finance the "damage."
Quote:
Originally Posted by nateswift
And I take it that the point is to skew the particular religious ideas, in this case a kind of puritanish morality, into the main focus of the religious element, eclipsing much more important and strongly emphasized teachings?
i would say yes, but of course others will disagree with your premises there. To..."them," they are following the "more important and strongly emphasized teachings."
The Catholic Church did it all through the middle ages. Power corrupts. If the current political situation has shown us anything, it has proved that the religious right don't care about having a genuinely Christian government. They want power, and they are using religion to get it. It's a great strategy. If you are able to convince voters that their eternal salvation depends on voting for you, you can do a lot of damage.
True enough, but the point here is how those religious Ideas are derived (or corrupted) from Teachings present in Christianity, and how to bring this to the attention of the public.
I am just as amazed, but my own sister, as loving and devoted a person as you will generally meet is under that spell. Personally, I think the thread should be under a salesmanship or marketing banner, but I guess we don't have that here. My sister's husband, who sincerely upholds many of the values preached, is not under the spell and recognizes the actual character of the salesman.
Politically speaking, perhaps the focus should be the parable of the two brothers, but here is an opportunity to contrast the values preached currently with the values taught by Christ.
Maybe the marketing for the principles of Christ needs an overhaul.
I don't know if they actually support him, or if some vocal ones simply claim "evangelicals" support him.
Same seems to be true about Catholics. There are people who say Catholics support him, but many others say "what are you talking about"?
You can say the same about the other candidate as well. Neither one of them reflect Christ in how they operate. The article in the OP wants to focus on Trump - but there are Christians that support both candidates.
Let's not pretend one is better than the other with regards to Christianity.
So for the Christian, if both cancel each other out, then what?
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