This is not a litmus test for christian beliefs. What I’m about to say isn’t a test for whether someone is Christian or not. Nor is this a way for a person to test how many beliefs they must have to keep their salvation. This isn’t a math equation for figuring out if you’re in-or-out of the faith. This is an illustration that has all the weak spots of word pictures, but that I use to underscore the idea of what is central to historical Christianity and what might be more debatable.
I’m looking forward to some movies this summer, but I doubt I’ll be able to afford the gas to get me to the movie theater. That being the case, I figure I’ll do some Summer Movie Dreaming right here on the 379th Edition of the Christian Carnival. I’m not going to format the posts since I spent more time hunting for pictures (and being busy at work so you see anything strange, let me know), so here we go!
So far, I’ve assumed certain things: (1) the church is made up of People, (2) The church’s existence is based on historical prerequisites (3) The church’s leadership is divine and an unmentioned 4th. I covered some entailments of these by pointing out that the church’s purpose is linked with the work of God, the Holy Spirit, living in the church. With such underpinnings in place one wonders what the local expression of the universal church might look like. I mean, is it merely Two or Three non-speaking Christians at the local bodega/grocery store? Is it maybe a married Christian couple taking a nap? There are some things, both positive and negative that demarcates the boundary lines of a local expression of The Church Universal: what are they?
John 8 is often used as an example of people who profess belief but never really believed, I want to look at it as it stands: people who believe who refuse to be disciples. Now disciple is one of those archaic words that have religious overtones making it almost incomprehensible in modern day discussion. When dropped in conversation it automatically evokes images of a Jedi-like figure, hooded and dust-covered or of one of Christ’s Dozen. But “disciple” simply means someone who follows and molds their lives from the teachings of their teacher: a student.
reynaldo reynoso (admin)
The Problem
Personally I’ve never heard the question asked out loud but I have asked it of myself. I would find myself looking at scriptures and from an early age the question that was at the forefront of my mind was ?Why??
Not the ?why?? of life or the ?why?? of pain (although these questions did come up). But Why the death of Jesus? Why did He have to suffer and get crucified?