Religion Archives - Page 7 of 9

Eternal Security: 6 Questions We Should Ask

March 10, 2014 by EnnisP 7 Comments

Only Two Possibilities:
Eternally Secure
Or
Eternally Neurotic

Eternal security is one of those issues you can’t ignore.

It involves salvation and, more specifically, whether or not you can count on it when you need it most, at death.

Some people believe once you’re saved you’re always saved. You can never lose it so there is no need to worry about keeping it. Others think there is no guarantee. It can be lost by any qualifying misstep, although there is debate as to where that line is drawn.

Settling the issue isn’t easy. You can throw out a few verses to prove whichever side you take but for every verse you quote, there are plenty of reinterpretations to confuse things.

So I’ve decided to come at this from a different angle. I think much of the confusion can be cleared by taking an analytical/philosophical approach and that is the point of this post. I want to ask and answer pertinent questions. What you learn from this process is that once you ask one relevant question it opens the door to another and then another and eventually you have an avalanche of un-answerables.

When you do this for both sides you realize that one side fares much better than the other.

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Those of us who believe in “once-saved-always-saved” (yes, I’m one of those people) are very happy that it’s true. Those who don’t believe it have a lot of questions to answer most of which are not directly addressed in the Bible.

That fact alone should give you pause. If you have questions about how to keep your salvation intact – a very serious issue indeed – but you don’t have specific answers, then how can you be certain?

It doesn’t make sense that God would give us a salvation we could lose and then refuse to give us very clear, obvious, easily accessed, and straightforward instructions on how to keep it.

Living with that uncertainty every day would be enough to induce a nervous breakdown. Would a loving God be so cruel?

Thankfully, the opposite, eternal security (once saved, always saved), is a lot easier to live with and enables more productivity. You don’t need to worry about keeping your salvation so energy can be channeled into better less selfish pursuits.

You’re secure. You can relax. God will take care.

Sounds too good to be true, I know, and it doesn’t parallel life as we experience it but we are talking about something that doesn’t claim to parallel life. It is impossible without God. Every theory about salvation is too good to be true. Eternal security just happens to be the most rational choice.

But, as I said, thinking you can lose salvation raises many questions that the Bible just doesn’t answer. Let’s take a look. [Read more…] about Eternal Security: 6 Questions We Should Ask

Christmas Story: Comparing The Supporting Characters

December 20, 2013 by EnnisP Leave a Comment

Zacharias And Simeon
Are Similar Yet Different
Both Add Richness
To The Story

There are many supporting characters in the Christmas Story. Some have very short roles but they all add richness to the plot. Because they are diverse, they symbolize different types of believers.

What Does “Holy” Really Mean

October 25, 2013 by EnnisP 2 Comments

Marriage Is Holy
Ceremony Or Not

I don’t like the word “holy.” Just hearing it gives me the creeps but don’t read too much into that.

I know the word is in the Bible, and I really do appreciate that, but the way it is used doesn’t always agree with how it is represented in the Bible. In common use, the word has a very narrow channel of application. It doesn’t fit with everyday life. Let me explain.

The word “holy” is associated with synonyms like sacred, hallowed, revered, sanctified and consecrated. Another word distantly related is solemn. These are not commonly used words. They are religious terms and not just normal everyday religious terms. They are inner sanctum words. Institutional religion didn’t coin these words but it definitely owns them.

The ominous nature of holy – and the associated synonyms – is compounded by the way it is used. When any ceremony – another threatening word – is referred to as holy or sacred you get the idea that smiling or relaxing or enjoying the occasion is not allowed. These words are spoken only in a serious tone and accompanied only by actions that are performed rigidly, in a scripted, well arranged manner. Robotic might apply.

The following wedding video illustrates the point. Scroll to the 53rd second if you’re in a hurry: [Read more…] about What Does “Holy” Really Mean

Tithing – Definitions And Warnings

May 10, 2013 by EnnisP Leave a Comment

Tithers Offer Confused Instructions
But
Anti-Tithers Give None At All
Other Than Don’t Tithe

The definition of tithing is really straightforward. The word means one-tenth or ten percent and it is the designated amount of one’s income dedicated for God’s purposes. A “Tither” is someone who contributes ten percent of their income to God.

But don’t let that simple definition fool you. Tithing isn’t an easy topic to dissect. Every tither agrees on the ten percent part but they don’t all agree on how to calculate it or how it should be applied. “Tithe” can mean one thing for one person and something very different for another. The differences can be significant. Questions abound.

Tithers argue over which portion of their income should be included when calculating the tithe. Are we tithing on gross income or net? Stated more precisely, the question is “Ten percent of what?”

But the debate doesn’t stop there.

Those who say “Net” don’t agree on why it should be net instead of gross and they offer a variety of different formulas to calculate net. Some eliminate only their taxes before calculating the tithe and others eliminate more.

The same is true for gross tithers. They can’t say why it should be gross or what constitutes gross. In extreme cases, the definition of “gross” expands to include things like birthday gifts and student loans. Obsessive!

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Because the Bible never addresses these issues directly, gross tithers have to use stern looks and a demanding voice to force the issue. Emotional strong-arming.

In one internet conversation, a man complained that his pastor refused to accept his offering because it was calculated differently to what the pastor taught and was therefore tainted.

That mindset gives tithing a legalistic hue and it is this enforcement attitude to which many anti-tithers react. [Read more…] about Tithing – Definitions And Warnings

Why Abraham Believed In One God

August 22, 2012 by EnnisP 6 Comments

Googler Question:

“Where did Abraham get the idea
there was only one God?”

It’s not a surprising question given the polytheistic nature of today’s religious scene. Coming to belief for the modern individual is like shopping for just the right outfit only worse.

There are many different gods to choose from and once you settle on one you still must wade through the many different conflicting ideas popularized for the one you choose.

You’d need a guru to lead you along. Trying to keep track of it all is near impossible.

But did Abraham have the same problem? Are we to assume he also faced an endless list of gods?

The world was polytheistic in Abraham’s day for sure but rather than ask where Abraham got the idea of one God, a better question might be, “where did the multiple-god idea originate in the first place?”

We mustn’t assume that what we observe today was always true.

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For example, where would Abraham, in the dawn of human history, get the idea there was only one God? Did Abraham coin the concept or did monotheists predate him and pass the idea down?

The evidence indicates the latter is true.

It was one God who spoke to Adam and Eve.
It was the same God who accepted Abel’s offering and confronted Cain.
Who took Enoch.
Who spoke to Noah.
And led Abraham to the land of Canaan.

Abraham and his ancestors were familiar with only one God. There was no reason for him to expect there to be more. Only an overactive imagination would lead him to think otherwise.

And apart from what Abraham’s ancestors experienced and believed, is there anything in nature, in his day or ours, that suggests polytheism is true?

Is there any reason to believe that the control of a universe too vast to measure could be managed better by disparate, sometimes antagonistic multiple gods rather than by one?

Since Adam and Eve, and those who came after only dealt with one God, maybe we should see polytheism as the outgrowth of: [Read more…] about Why Abraham Believed In One God