Steven Johnson replied;
Hi Thomas,
From: thomas malloy
First of all, our world view is that there are two religious systems, Judeo Christian and everything else, which we call the pagan religions. Now that every thing else is a range of beliefs, what they all have in common is a disregard for the Bible.
I have pagans friends and acquaintances. I've known these "pagans" for decades. The "pagans" I've known over the years don't have the time or inclination to hate jews.
I'm not saying that all pagans hate Jews, just that all Jew haters are pagans. Now there are some people who call themselves Christians and believe in Replacement Theology, the Christian Church has replaced Israel. At some level these people hate Jews. Then there are the Christians who take a liberal interpretation of theology, they question some or all of the following; the preexistance (divinity) of Yeshau, (Jesus) the virgin birth, the sinless life, the vicarious atonement, the physical resurrection, and the ascension. These people have taken over the main line protestant churches, and are the reason that people like me left. The leaders of the Presbertarian Church USA, recently called for an economic boycott of Israel, which IMHO, is tantamount to cursing them, see Genesis 12. The people who run the ELCA have decided that same sex relationship are not so bad, and have allowed people engaged in them to be pastors. This sort of sexual immorality of condemned as an abomination in both testaments.
On the other hand being "pagan" appears to have taught many of them the meaning behind to word "tolerance" since many of them have experienced first hand the bigotry of others,
Then you have the leftists who call themselves liberals, they have little or no respect for Christianity, These Liberals are tolerant on some things, but when it comes to Christianity and the Christian roots of civilization they are totally intolerant. Witness the instructor at CU Bolder who was fired for assigning a reading assignment which talked about the Christian roots of our civilization.
of how ignorant individuals in our society have unfortunately acquired the irrational belief that "pagans" must be performing all sorts of horrible secret rituals in their basements or garage, maybe even sacrifice a baby or two.
The people who are sacrificing children are by in large Satanists, they give all pagans a bad name.
It's been my observation that the pagans I've known over the years tend to spend their resources on being concerned about improving the condition of Gaia, the environment, and each other.
The worshipers of Gaia worship the created rather than the creator. There are lots of people who believe themselves to be god, they are in for a rude awakening come the Judgment Day.
With respect to Islam. the webmaster of www.prophetofdoom.net, Craig Winn, and I are of the opinion that the Wahabis and other fundamentalist Islamists have the correct interpretation of the Qu'ran. I highly recommend Mr. Winn's book as a truthful look at the true nature of Islam.
The "correct" interpretation? The writing of history, which includes the interpretation of religious text, tends to be rewritten by the victor. Such rewrites, however, don't make their version any more "truthful" than an myriad of interpretations held by the looser.
One of the fundamental tenets of Judeo Christianity is the resurrection of the dead and the Judgment Day. If you worship the G-d of Israel, you have a chance, if not, you're screwed.
With respect to Craig Winn's scholarship, I would suggest that you read his book. This morning I listened to interview that was conducted by a local ministry with another scholar of Islam. He talked about how Islamists have infiltrated America. The interview will be available on the website, www.olivetreeviews.org next Friday. Both of these men's scholarship shows that Islam's intention is to take over the World. There's no interpretation necessary in order to understand that, or to understand what's coming.
> I throughly enjoyed marijuana, but I came up with somereally stupid ideas when stoned.
It was my experience that it seemed to take forever to cut a grapefruit when stoned.
If your scenario is correct, and Carl ignored the religious teachings of the hospice workers who ministered to him in his final days and died without accepting Yeshua as Lord and Savior, then he had even more stupid ideas than I did.
IMHO, you are making judgment calls on the spiritual welfare of people you've never met when it would be wiser to simply focus on sweeping the floors of your own mansion. Some in our society would consider your judgment calls on the spiritual health of others exceedingly arrogant, and I can't say I would blame them.
I listened to Carl's series programs, and he made it quite plain that he wasn't a Christian them. You're saying that he died unrepentant. I'm doing my duty to the G-d of Israel by pointing this out to you, it's not me who is judgmental, it's him.
My father died last January after a long battle against cancer. During those last couple of months of my father's life I observed an increase in his desire to observe religious rituals. This is understandable as rituals, in my view, are meant to help
My condolences on the loss of your dad.
my father. I especially appreciated the part where the priest asked my dad to give HIM communion. It brought home the fact that we are all the same and equal under one roof - just as Jesus performed the ritual of washing the feet of his disciples.
The priest was doing his duty to G-d.
I observed a number of thoughtful, caring, and highly perceptive hospice workers who came in to check in on the welfare of my father. They were all very good at listening to and administering to his needs. However, none of these hospice workers behaved in such an arrogant manner as to feel it was their duty or spiritual obligation to administer religious teachings to my father, to make sure he was "saved".
It depends on whether you see it as your duty doesn't it.
The meanings behind most religious rituals including the act of saving the souls of loved ones are, IMHO, meant to help us focus on the important issues, to give us all comfort. Unfortunately, most of these rituals begin to lose their purpose when those administering the "sacred" act begin to believe that the ritual itself is more important than what the act was designed to address in the first place.
The ritual has nothing to do with salvation, which is contingent on your personal relationship with G-d.
The ritual that my brother and I personally participated in to save the soul of my father would not necessarily work for others or even have any meaning. I'm cool with that.
If you're relying on that for your salvation, you're heading for trouble
> >>And what happens after the temple is rebuilt?
> The sacrificial system is reinstituted. This
In other words, stay tuned.
And now, back to our regularly scheduled programming.
Amen
