Catholics vs Protestants

ed and i were discussing this topic. and we didnt really know much. I found this list which shines a little light:

also this sentence:

Anglicanism is characterized by a via media (middle way) between Catholicism and Protestantism. Anglicans are not subject to the Pope and are Protestant in most areas of doctrine, but Anglicans also retain many Catholic forms of worship, including a hierarchy based on bishops (which is the meaning of the world “episcopalian”).

this list is a little more comprehensive.

and here is a very nice post, which you totally should read.

ps. if your still up for reading, here is the babel thing.

how is a perfect God revealed?

well, we can look to the mysteries of the stars, we can look down to the mysteries of quantum physics and subatomic particles, but the big question is: how does he demonstrate perfect love?

this almost came up in a talk at my house the other day. it was leading to and ended up around Galations 2:21 “I do not set aside the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain.” We were talking about salvation at that point and it got me thinking a little.

God cannot learn right, he knows everything. So when he gave us free will, he knew man would sin and thus become separate from him. All in all putting himself in a predicament that nothing less than God taking form as a man, dieing and rasing again could fix.

Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends. John 15:13

I guess that is the nature of perfect love eh. us screwing up and God paying for it.

revelations

a priest:

one authorized to perform the sacred rites of a religion especially as a mediatory agent between humans and God. (s)

you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. I Peter 2:5

through Jesus i am a priest. how exciting.

The Validity of the Bible

This was going to be awesome. But due to the sheer amount of content, i’m going to stick with excerpts and links.

part 1

 for ed.

 […]

If we put all these factors together—the Bible was written over fifteen hundred years by forty different authors at different places, under various circumstances, and addressing a multitude of issues—how amazing that with such diversity, the Bible proclaims a unified message! That unity is organized around one theme: God’s redemption of man and all of creation. The writers address numerous controversial subjects yet contradictions never appear. The Bible is an incredible document.

 (that is 40 authors, in 3 languages, on 3 continents, over a span of 1,500 years, no contradictions, one message. )

  […]

 Archaeology does not directly prove the Bible’s inspiration, but it does prove its historical reliability. Middle Eastern archaeological investigations have proven the Bible to be true and unerringly accurate in its historical descriptions. Nelson Glueck, a renowned Jewish archaeologist, states, “No archaeological discovery has ever controverted a biblical reference.

 […]

At this time, the number of archaeological discoveries that relate to the Bible number in the hundreds of thousands. (1996)

 […]

^^ reference

 Jesus fulfilled over 60 prophecy’s in his lifetime, including where he was born and his work at the cross and how he would die etc.

 The discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls, which date from 200 B.C. to A.D. 68, included a copy of every Old Testament book except for one. Comparison with the texts of a thousand years later shows little or no variation and change between them.

^^ reference

notes on accuracy and some notes on prophecy about Israel here.

 

part 2 will be a list of stuff i can find that proves the bible is not accurate or contradictory  (or trys to at least 😉

 

 

Christianity begins in the new testament.

Gruk lets pursue this here and see where we end up. make a statement and lets discuss it and see were we get. lets make this free’er than the sandbocks ed_rant thread, so divergence is allowed 🙂

Justice.

having a little discussion over on the sandbocks about the nature of justice.

we had this idea of trying to document our discussions, this really is the first, it gets a little divergent, but in essence, its quite interesting. defiantly helping me formulate and articulate ideas and thoughts better. although thats not too difficult, for my current level is poor.