NowTHINK!AboutIt

Avoiding Hackneyed...Making Sense

The Main Point Of The Seven Churches Of Asia Minor

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If 71% of churches went astray after only 50 years, what should we expect after 2000 years?

The Answer To Robotic Literalism
Is Rational Literalism

The Book of Revelation is important to this discussion because it is the book where you find the seven churches of Asia Minor addressed by the glorified Christ. He had something to say to each of these churches and His message to each is recorded in the first three chapters.

Revelation, by the way, is either an interpreters delight or nightmare depending on how the book is approached. It is filled with graphic text describing things we do not and cannot naturally understand.

It doesn’t provide an appendix, index or endnotes to help with unfamiliar words or phrases. The language of the book defies colloquial and academic language in our day and that is true even in the time it was written which was almost two thousand years ago.

The writer was not contributing to an ongoing discussion on popular issues. The message of this book was not something anyone saw coming.

Some of the unusual events and descriptions in Revelation are found in earlier books but with no more explanation than John’s discourse. John simply puts them together chronologically in one place.

But even with previous mentions of some of these ideas, he’s telling us what we do not readily understand and describing things we’ve never experienced or seen before.

And that is where the seven churches of Asia Minor are mentioned. [Read more…] about The Main Point Of The Seven Churches Of Asia Minor

9 Ways Religion Endangers Democracy

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When religion overtakes a government, it's still a coup.

You Can’t Legislate
Pure Religion

The word “Religion” is used in conversations frequently and most often refers to organizations like churches that claim to represent God or spiritual issues.

Generally, religion is thought of as a good thing and it can be but we also know it has a bad side. According to the Global Center For Religious Research, as many as a third of all US adults have experienced religious trauma, and that’s just in the US.

Religious trauma is defined by Therapist.com as any religious experience that is stressful, degrading, dangerous, abusive or damaging.

It’s strange that those words should be associated with religion since the only Bible verse that comes close to defining the nature of religion paints a very different picture.

If any person thinks he is religious and does not bridle (control) his tongue but deceives his heart, this person’s religion is worthless. Pure religion that is undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world. (James 1:26-27)

Many thoughts can be extracted from these two short verses but the most important point is religion done properly is helpful and encouraging. It solves problems and lends assistance.

It also means religion must be monitored at all times to make sure it’s staying on the right path.

The focus of this article is organized Christian religion and how we view it. I’m also focused particularly on the ways in which religion interferes with democracy. It goes without saying that there’s nothing in James or any other book that indicates religion should mimic political action groups. [Read more…] about 9 Ways Religion Endangers Democracy

14 Thoughts On Testing The Spirit

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Beliefs compel us to act even when what we believe it wrong.

Insisting That Truth
Must Always Be Honored
Is Fair
Adamantly Claiming You Know All Truth
Is Not

The Bible makes a very curious statement in 1 John 4:1.

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see if they are from God.

It’s not just curious. It also sounds a bit weird.

Weirdness aside, though, we shouldn’t pass over it too quickly or casually. We’re told to do the test so we need to figure out what it means and how it’s done.

What The Test Implies

At the very least, the need for a test means we cannot walk around thinking we have everything figured out, that there’s never going to be a time when we have all the answers much less know all the questions.

Knowing Jesus gives us a great deal of confidence (and security) but it doesn’t make us all-knowing. The confidence He gives is great but daily living is still an unmapped journey. Faith is simple but should never be simple minded. We still need to pay attention.

Large ships navigate from one port to another over thousands of miles accurately because they trust their navigational instruments. But trust doesn’t mean they turn instruments on and take a coffee break till they arrive. They constantly monitor the situation 24/7, and make adjustments as needed (and they are always needed), until their destination appears on the horizon.

John is telling us to watch where we are going, to pay attention. God is leading. We are following but following requires an intentional, intelligent awareness of where we are in relation to where we’re going each and every day. [Read more…] about 14 Thoughts On Testing The Spirit

11 Reasons Abortion Isn’t Murder

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God’s Knowing Each Human
In Specific Detail
Doesn’t Give Us Personhood
Any More Than It Gives Personhood
To A Grain Of Sand

To be clear, in this article, I’m not asking if abortion is wrong. The only question here is about murder: “Is abortion murder?” That’s important because something can be very wrong and still not be murder.

There are several categories of wrong. There’s perceived vs actual wrong and minor vs major wrong, major being anything that is absolutely wrong. Murder falls in the absolutely wrong category but if something – for example abortion – isn’t absolutely wrong, how wrong is it?

You may be one of those who consider abortion absolutely wrong and that’s your right. Others may believe it is wrong but not as wrong as murder. Others may believe it is only mildly wrong, if wrong at all. Those shifts in thinking are important nuances but murder is the focus of this article.

I’m arguing that abortion isn’t murder. Where you land in the discussion is a matter of personal consideration, another factor we don’t talk about much but we should. How you “feel” about an issue is important to you but others may feel differently.

There is no scientific proof that abortion is murder and that alone should give us pause. The primary motivation behind the recent court activity and public skirmishes around this topic is belief. People “Believe” it’s wrong and they are acting on that belief.

Unfortunately, Belief isn’t known for its strong connection to facts or logic.

Hence, this post. [Read more…] about 11 Reasons Abortion Isn’t Murder

Proselytes, Sycophants And Political Extremism

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Sycophantic Tendencies: Make something of nothing, make nothing of something.

Not Every Proselyte
Becomes A Child Of Hell

According to several dictionaries, a proselyte is a newcomer to some version of faith. Since no one is born a believer of any kind, everyone is a proselyte at some point.

Even if one is born into a religious family, becoming an adherent to the family altar, be it Catholic, Baptist, Hindu or whatever, is still a choice and when you make it, you are a proselyte.

Each person’s level of commitment to their chosen belief, however, is not the same. It could be very intense or quite casual. It could also be non existent.

Ronald Reagan Jr. is a good example. His father, President Reagan, was quite religious but Ron Jr. rejected his father’s religion entirely. Instead, he became an atheist and today represents the Freedom From Religion Foundation regularly in TV commercials.

If you’re religious and of the Christian variety, you probably find his commercials offensive.

Obviously, in his case, his dad’s religion didn’t stick but he still qualified as a proselyte. Instead of Christianity, he became a proselyte to atheism. Whenever he came to that conclusion, he was a newcomer to the belief that God doesn’t exist.

But the point to this post is not that you are a proselyte but where has that journey taken you? [Read more…] about Proselytes, Sycophants And Political Extremism