Words matter. What we say, what we recite, what we repeat. All of it matters. And the meaning behind the words we say matter just the same. For this reason a Christian must never deny Jesus, especially to save their own life. Many have said they would lie in the face of a life or [...]
In the ongoing debate (and, really, why is there a debate) over whether the US is a Christian nation, I'm taking a look at some of the historical documents and events typically used as evidence in favor of the US as a Christian nation.
I've begun a reading of Craig Hovey's "To Share in the Body: a Theology of Martyrdom for Today's Church." Today, I'm merely posting some excellent quotes from the first third of the book. When I finish, I will do a more complete review. Check these few passages out.
The second in a seven part series looking at the seven articles of the 1527 Schleitheim Confession. The ban, or excommunication, is not one of the happy topics discussed in churches, nor (sadly) is Church Discipline conducted much these days. I believe the model exemplified in this confession displays a Biblical, Christ controlled discipline.
The first in a seven part series looking at the seven articles of the 1527 Schleitheim Confession. Baptism, obviously a volatile issue in centuries past if you did not adhere to infant baptism, has just as much relevance and importance for the Church today.
I came to these great words from Ignatius of Antioch last night: It is right, therefore, that we not just be called Christians, but that we actually be Christians, unlike some who call a man bishop but do everything without regard for him. Such people do not appear to me to act in good conscience, [...]
The best reason for the serious study of history is that virtually everyone uses the past in everyday discourse. But the historical record on which they draw is abundantly littered with myths, half-truths, and folk history; historians can, or should, provide a corrective for this. This remark applies particularly to the history of Christianity and [...]
There is one canon from the Council of Arles in particular that grabbed my attention, as well as the attention of others who understand the stark reality that the Church was patently nonviolent for the first 280 or so years of her existence.
Ninthly, he has said that if the Turks should invade the country, no resistance ought to be offered them; and if it were right to wage war, he would rather take the field against the Christians than against the Turks; and it is certainly a great matter, to set the greatest enemies of our holy [...]
And I wanted to share a story of exemplary freedom and independence. ‘The opinions for which men go to war,’ he said, ‘do not deserve those great tragedies of which they make us spectators. Let there be no longer any question among us of Zwinglians or Lutherans, for neither Zwingle nor Luther died for us, [...]
