Theology

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This library is called "Theology" for lack of a better term. But the "Etc., Etc., Etc." should alert you to the fact that articles other than what could/should correctly be considered "theological" might/probably will appear here.
		Discover who these men are by placing your cursor over their picture and clicking. Click on the picture there to get back here. P.S. Don't forget the Cross!
We hear a lot about the "church" and its "history" with little background given to us about which we are speaking. By and large, those who write and speak about "church history" are referring to the Roman Catholic Church since, with very few exceptions, the "church," and the "Church Fathers" were Roman Catholic -- Luther was! We must constantly remind ourselves that the "Reformation," was a "protest" to some of the beliefs and practices of Roman Catholicism. It was not then and has yet to be a complete break with many questionable aspects of Roman Catholicism. To help in our study of Discipleship, the following website is an excellent source of major writers in "church history" and their "Catholic" heritage.
And, Now on to our Theology Articles
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All of Israel Will Be Saved Are there Scriptures commissioning Christians to forthrightly participate in creating a new nation called "Israel,"	Neturei-Karta Guardians of the City National Zionism is selfish, anti-Semitic, because it condemns the Jews of the world who, like other heathens, have not accepted Christ.
The Three Legged Stool With so many opinions, how can we know the Truth?	Give and It Shall Be Given Unto You Lessons on living.
Sin and the Perfect Life We can claim perfection only if we don’t include the full spectrum of sinful behavior in our list.	An Empty Belly and Charity If things were right with Christianity, we would not see hunger and hurting in our communities.
Giving as an Investment Bribery is defined as the act of promising, giving, receiving, or agreeing to receive money or some other item of value with the corrupt aim of influencing a public official in the discharge of his official duties.	The Temple and the Church We must divorce the idea of the Christian church from the old idea of the Temple.
Synagogue It is not an exaggeration to say that no other institution has more affected Christianity than the synagogue	Oh Lord My God It’s getting increasingly difficult to "see" the works of His hands.
TRUE RICHES Or Is 10% Really Enough?" You can't take it with you, but you can send it on ahead"	Where Only the Perfect Dare to Tread Some say that Christians have a "zero tolerance policy" for the shortcomings of others.
Red Letter Christians Its a matter of whom we consider our Master to be.	It Took Two (and it still wasn't enough) No sacrifice done by human hands is sufficient atonement.
Directed by the Spirit or How Strong is Our Faith Contemporary Christian theologians appear to believe in others paying for their ministry	So Continuing Daily With One Accord The "People of the Way" were in agreement
Were You Born in a Barn? – Many slur the poor among us as lazy and uncouth and shun them all together. Jesus didn’t.	A Good Return on Your Investment – Hum, maybe an answer to the first essay.
He followeth Not With Us Should we be so hasty in condemning the beliefs of other Christians?	Who, After All, Is Our Teacher What separates preacher from the throngs of people being preached to?
They Rejected Him They continue to this day in their rebellion.	Harmony What price, what must Christians sacrifice in the name of harmony?
Democratic Christianity Since when do we decide what we believe by popular vote?	False Pretences Are we about to see a TV program called "The Come to Christ Game?"
Gangs Dressed in the Clothes of Religion Apostasy comes in many forms; not always easy to recognize	Twelve Legions of Angels Do you really think He need our help?
Me And My Bible Our "Eternal Positioning System"	Compassionate Giving Is it possible to talk about giving to support the congregation without also talking about a "return" on our investment?
Charismata Should Christians be able to "make a living" from their "gifts?" Are they for sale?	The Prince of Peace Islam preaches, encourages, "jihad" (religious war), war for "just" purposes with promises of heavenly bliss. Does Christ Jesus?
What's in Your Sermon? The "meat and potatoes" of the Gospel or selfish ambition?	The Prince of This World If the preacher is telling us to seek health, wealth and happiness, which master is he telling us to serve?
What's A Priest? What's A Priesthood? It appears we retain the Old Testament’s priestly class without any of its substance.	The Proof of the Pudding Are we are willing to concede that God has authored confusion?
Who Flies Under a False Flag? Who is our ultimate authority, our teacher, our mentor?	Is The Book Open? Whether they do or not, the question is are all Christians capable of reading and comprehend the Bible?
Then And Now Christian worship is no longer confined to a temple – a building.	To Die: To Sleep Do we need an "attitude adjustment" about living and dying?
Chancellor of the Exchequer This has to do with a different view of "stewardship." His instead of ours. Is He keeping His set of books?	Unity Brotherhood and Communion
Should We Search for Common Ground? Must the "church" accept our sinfulness as a standard for our beliefs?	The Fabric of Our Lives Some people weave burlap into the fabric of our lives, and some weave gold thread
The Unit of Salvation From OT to NT, we moved from the family to the person	The Babylonian Captivity of the Church Why do we persist in teaching the doctrines and commandments of men?
Its Not The Healthy Who Need A Doctor It may not be the "healthy who need a doctor," but the unsaved certainly need a Savior.	The Emerging Church It is more than "loosey-goosey-anything-goes" worship practices.
The Oxymoron Of A Television Church If there was such a thing, would those who subscribed to it be called "couch potato Christians?"	The Book of Knowledge The one and only source of lasting Truth with no compromise.
True Evangelism There used to be an old saying, "Charity begins at home." What ever happened to that form of evangelism?	Evangelical - Or Something Got Lost In The Translation What in the world ever happened to the simple message of the Gospel. Oh yes, it got worldly.
Satan is the Accuser of the Brethren He who resists criticism has something to hide.
The Immediate Ascension of the Baptized – If the work of the “ordinary” Christian is finished, why not?	The Last Dispensation We appear to be missing a few things in our Disciples manual. Why?
Equivocation – How many of us have confused Jesus for the Jewish Messiah – what can you do for me?	The Storm Has Passed – Is the idea of a purpose driven life so new? Isn’t that what the Bible’s all about?
OPPORTUNISTS~CHRISTOTUNITST (COUNTERFEIT Faith) The cause may be just, the mission holy and certainly the "flock" righteous.	Good Friday Resurrectionists Christianity sees itself waiting for the Lord (or the vicar/pastor) to do everything. Assuming no responsibility.
Heaven's "Lend-Lease" Program We might be in for a surprise. Some of us, as we approach the Throne of Judgment	The Peter Principle Is there an ecclesiastical Peter Principle; "machinery" to enthrone successors to the "throne" of Peter?
Should A Church Grow? Maybe it depends upon why we go to "church."	Should a Church Grow II? In what way? Why?
The Empty Temple Are we still waiting? When is the Temple to be rebuilt? Where?	The Gospel of Moderation It will get you absolutely no where
Where have all the Christians Gone? Is it God's plan for the overwhelming numbers of humanity to go the Hell?	One Holy, Universal Catholic Church Can one imagine a worse nightmare than such a monstrosity?
Lord I Pray Prayer can change things but more likely it will be our desires and wishes that change rather than His eternal plan.	The Ascension And a greater work we are to do.
The Gospel of Moderation When did Christianity become one of moderation?	A Volunteer Reformation Has something gone amiss if we have to create "a vision that will inspire and motivate your congregation to become committed and thriving volunteers."
Science and Religion – "Both Searching for the Truth?" For the most fundamental question in all creation, science is deaf, dumb and blind – "deprived of practical significance" - moot.	Your Sin Is Greater Than Mine Can we try to excuse ourselves by casting aspersions at other people's transgressions?
Individualism and Christianity What ever happened to individual responsibility?	Your Denomination Where do our loyalties actually lie?
To What Limits? How far are we willing to go to "attract" non-believers into our "churches?"	The Law It isn’t too much to suggest that we are rapidly descending into the pit of lawless anarchy.
LEAVEN OF THE PHARISEES Some modern-day "Herodians would have us believe the "church" with its "liturgy" and "sacraments" is the guardian of His Sacred Word.	The Law and the Covenant Perhaps nothing draws the contrast between the Old and New Testament that what Christ encountered during his earthly ministry.
Is It Being Purpose Driven Or The Purpose That Drives Us? Part I (The Foundation) What purpose is driving 21^st Century Christianity?	Is it Being Purpose Driven or the Purpose that Drives Us? Part II (The Church) What was the "church" of the Bible?
Is it Being Purpose Driven or the Propose that Drives Us Part III (The Priesthood) Who are our mentors?	Is it Being Purpose Driven or the Purpose that Drives Us? Part IV (Sharing) Giving comes from a compassionate heart. It also comes from a desire not to hurt and not to exclude or ostracize people.
Something Out Of Nothing Suddenly, everything just went "poof!"	Are we Con Artists? The answer lies in the reasons why we do what we do
Giving Looks into the nature of our giving. Is there a solid Biblical basis for it?	WHAT? Do we still have “Judaizers” in our midst telling us to conform to outdated traditions?
A False Face Representing something, anything for other than what it really is fraud. How often do we misrepresent our faith to others in the hopes of gaining converts?	Gideon's Robes Is it the way things start out or the way they wind up?
Nothing to Do It is a question of who is in charge.	The Christ Plan Do we sometimes confuse our plan for His plan?
Pick And Choose (What are the Rules?) The "best" of the Bible - subtitled "Junk Food"	Truth The Scriptures, not some celebrity preacher must be the focus of our lives and the source of our information
Saved To what for what? Questions seldom asked	I Never Knew You Boy, are some folks going to be surprised. Instead of an invitation to sit at the head table, they won't even be on the invitation list.
Baptism Baptism could well be described as the door to Christian fellowship.	Persecution in America If we look carefully, Christianity is under attack in America.
Faith Based Christianity Where is it written that Christians are supposed to know everything and understand everything?	The Secularization of Christianity When did we start looking for human, secular explanations for God’s wonders?
To Tell the Truth Christianity is the most unreasonable faith conceivable – it is truly "blind faith."	The Empty Room How much have things changed?
Judas daVinci Much to do about nothing.	Problems, We Got Problems The world is full of them. American seems swallowed up by them.
Scripture We must take care not to extract a single passage and build an entire theological principle on that one passage.	Practicing Women – Maybe females could ascend to the pulpit if they weren’t "practicing women."
Domino Evangelism Is it time for a less expensive more effective model of evangelism?	The Founding Father Lest we forget, we have just one "Founding Father."
Can A Smart Person Believe in God? Is this even the right question to ask?	A Titanic Fraud - Guess what! The tomb of Mary, Mary Magdalene, Jesus and His son has been discovered. Wow! Scientifically verified and all! So what!
Clouds, Temples and Thrones At one time there were all three. Now all reside in our hearts.	The Sabbath Did Jesus do away with the Ten Commandments or not?
What's Left? If we look at a full spectrum of Scripture that is rejected by science, what's left?	It Began. Where Did It End? We know when and where the Old Testament Priesthood began. Did it ever end?
Lessons From Israel Throughout the Old Testament, the people of Israel were told to keep the Commandments of God. We are too.	Cultic When is a "cult" a cult? Who decides such things? Based on what evidence?
Sugar Coated Tickle their ears. Tell them, and other signs of desperation, anything just to get them to come back next Sunday.	Clues To The Church’s Real Purpose It is so different, the first generation Christians wouldn't recognize what we call the "church."
Should We Yoke About This? I - Doctrine If the First Century "church" at Corinth had made such absurd statements as we hear today, Paul would have thrown up his arms in total despair.	Should We Yoke About This II? (The Congregation) We have invented the "non-church church"
By Whatever Means? Is it anything goes for the Protestant church?	The Proper Support Of Church Edifices And Church Institutions – Part 1 The Church, as it so pride fully calls itself, tries to substantiate its position on "proper support" by the argument that it is a "visible organization."
The Proper Support Of Church Edifices And Church Institutions – Part 2 The median (most frequent) pastor’s take-home salary in the United States today is $79,446	Church Or Synagogue? The nature of the synagogue has greatly influenced the nature of our churches.
Are We To Question Our Leaders Most leaders (pastors/ministers) say no. But shouldn’t that depend upon who they are?	What Is A Toxic Church Leader’s of today’s toxic religions peddle the Word for profit (2 Corinthians 2:17). In Romans, Paul describes them as such,
The Temple of God For generations, Judaism has talked about rebuilding the Temple and reinitiating the sacrificial system not realizing the Temple is already among us - in us.	Scriptural Errancy With all the presumed errors in the Bible, is there enough left that we can trust?
Biblical Originalism Does the Bible need to be updated, brought into the 21st Century to more closely conform to today's standards?	Who? Is there a "lynchpin" to Christian Theology? If so, what is it?
The Conundrum of Israel Scripturally, nothing is said about the restoration of Israel.	The Truth It is not in the wisdom of men where we should seek Truth
A Free Pass Do we need to evangelize Jews and Muslims alike?	Boycott Does legalization of abortion, divorce and homosexuality change God's views on these and other such subjects? Should such action affect a Christian's attitude and/or behavior on them? Maybe instead of boycotting we should just approach those involved in such behaviors and let them know they're playing with fire - eternally.
Are You Saved? Do we "split hairs" over matters of humanly devised doctrines?	Appeasement More and more we are being called upon to soften the perceived harshness of Christianity, its judgmental character, in order not to alienate non-believers.
The Hotbed of Christianity What happened to the Middle East, the cradle of Christianity?
Field of Dreams Telling people what they want to hear or that makes them feel good about themselves may be deceptive.	Brass Snakes Things restrict and confine what they are supposed represent.
Crucify Me on a Gilded Cross I'm waiting for God to out spend me. I tithed, where's my 100 fold?	Is God for Us or For Himself? Some actually question His motives - after all He has done and still does for us.
I Wanna You Gotta Some preachers are telling their followers that we have the right to tell God what to do. In the end, He'll tell them what to do and where to go.	That's What Sells! Why do we go to church? Because it doesn’t challenge us to be any different than we are naturally or to bask in the reflected glory of our famous pastor.
Theological Prostitution To look at the ministry of Jesus as any less than a revolutionary; to believe that our only duty as Christians is to show up and pay up on Sunday are lies.	Ghosts of Christians Past Has the message changed or just the preaching?


Limited Principles Did what Paul wrote to the saints in Corinth only apply to them?