We continue to pray for world leaders, especially this week for those involved in President Trump's official visit to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. These are three of the richest nations on earth. They derive their wealth from God's gift of a natural resource namely crude oil. This comes to them as a 'free good', the only expense they have is extracting it from the ground and converting it from a raw material into a variety of useful products. The revenues generated by this enterprise accrue to the royal families.
Please remember that you bless us with your presence, and may the Holy Spirit bring you His comfort and His peace. Join us!!!
Zoom Link:
For Study, Prayer and Fellowship - 8:00 AM PDT on 05/17/2025:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82968961343?pwd=LzcwVjJKcWVESDRURlhDcXlNV0JUdz09
Meeting ID: 829 6896 1343
Passcode: 77299ere:
As we begin to search for a Christian Culture, we must start with self and each of the 2.38 billion followers of Christ around the globe. The world population is 8,221,489,729 folks; 29% are Christian. (One person out of every three.) These Christians are all not islands, most Christians will affiliate with one denomination. It is within these denominations, with different beliefs, traditions, practices and interpretations of scripture that we find evidence of a large variety of Christian cultures. The number of denominations in 2024 is large and growing. It is (_______). The source for this number is Amanda Williams, writing for Christian Website. Remember the five core beliefs from last week. Those are critical and must be present to qualify for listing.
In the first one thousand years there was essentially one unified church. However, tensions began to emerge between the churches in the East (Constantinople) and the West (Rome). These tensions ended in 1054 AD with the “Great Schism.” The churches formally split into the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox denominations. The division came over language (Greek vs. Latin), papal authority, and whether leavened or unleavened bread should be used in the Eucharist. There have been periodic efforts for reunion: the Second Council of Lyon (1274) and the Council of Florence (1439), but the schism remains.
The next major split came in the 16th C. with the Protestant Reformation. Reformers like Martin Luther, John Calvin, and King Henry VIII protested various Catholic doctrines and practices. The two main issues were objections to the selling of indulgences and the corruption, within the Catholic Church’s hierarchy. Other concerns included denying the primacy of the Pope and advocating for translating the Bible into local common languages. As new denominations emerged from the Reformation; Catholics and Protestants fought extended religious wars, but ultimately Protestantism took hold and spread across Northern Europe.
After the Reformation, Christendom continued fracturing into many different branches with subtle distinctions in doctrine and practice. As people moved to different regions and adopted localized traditions, new denominations proliferated. Some, such as Baptists, Methodists, and Presbyterians, grew globally. Others remained smaller, such as Mennonites, Amish, Quakers, and Moravians. Additionally, new forms of Christianity developed in the 19th-20th centuries, including Adventism and Pentecostalism. Some organizations, though claiming a Christian connection, do not adhere to the five core Christian beliefs. Thus, are not Christian, ex., Mor-monism and Christian Science. Ms. Williams includes them. However, all trace their roots back to the original unified church founded nearly 2,000 years ago. There is a discussion regarding the differences required to be identified as a distinct label. The edges between denominations often blur and overlap. Some denominations share the same origins and doctrines but operate indepen-dently for administrative purposes. Others have split due to ideological divides within the faith, resulting in multiple denominations following the same essential teachings. This prevalence of overlapping classifications creates challenges in differentiating denominations. Counting by organizational units, risks either over-counting those who are essentially aligned or under-counting subdivisions of larger faith traditions.
The decentralized and dynamic variations of Christianity allows for new denominations to continually emerge. As theological interpretations arise; or administrative variations prompt reorganization; or man’s sin nature bubbles to the surface in the form of pride, new branches sprout from the tree of the faith. Do we make things finite that are infinite? While many of these new denominations remain small and limited in scope, some grow to substantial size. For example, over 105 million Christians worldwide were affiliated with denominations that originated in the 20th C. or later, according to Pew Research in 2011. As new denominations form, long standing divisions merge or dissolve. An exact count at any time is elusive. The total only conveys a reasonable approximation. Centuries of schisms, reformations, and theological disputes, has caused Christianity to fracture into a wide array of denominations.
What is true is: each of us is on a search, which has led to some extreme beliefs/teachings. Some wish to abandon earthly culture, while others wish to assimilate too much worldliness. There is no middle of the road solution. Some faith traditions have attempted to teach a midline. Our teachings/existence must be rooted in Christ and His salvific work. That is the wise path, the path of God’s truths, and it is there that human life will be filled with His light. It is on this path that we must affix our Christian culture. We must come to the realization that the OT or the NT or both will hold the answers for the major circumstances of life. What we will not find are explicit rules for every challenge or difficulty, what we will find are choices. Scriptures will lead us to a life filled with the Holy Spirit, His love and His quest for our reciprocal love.
Certain faith traditions have tried to fill in Scriptural gaps with hypocritical ‘todo’ tracts. It is not possible to replace Christian conscientiousness with rational analysis which will lead a Christian into temptation and confusion. We must read the Gospel as a book of faith, freedom, love and conscience – it is a living document which will fill out a person’s faith and quest for freedom as expressed in our love for all others and our natural world. The more we study Scripture the more we realize we are dealing with two spirits: that of the Holy Spirit and our own – as partially-formed as it may be. Scripture allows us to shed our sober, sin-centered, common-minded, reasoning brain with one that is contemplative, seeking, free, and our own in union with the Holy Spirit. When we die to man’s sin nature, God gives us a renewed heart and brain. Then … ? We find a source of love and a vision that pours into our soul to awaken and make visible a personal spirituality that is drawn into harmony with the Holy Spirit who is always at work within us. The Gospel, The Good News, was not written to make us timid or fearful or awaiting punishment or to be subject to groupthink. Were that the case we would be useless to God and self. And that would cause Christian culture to look impotent and lethargic.
Clearly, Christian culture is not literal, boring, or plodding. It is freeing and liberating. While one cannot put one’s intellectual capacity on the shelf one must interpret the words of scripture - spiritually. Its emphases are in the spirit of freedom, faith, conscience and love. We must look at Scripture, God’s revealed message, as precious, necessary and timeless. Unfortunately, one can learn Scripture by heart and be a practitioner of church traditions and still not be renewed as a child of God. AMEN
Cell: 541-973-5442
No comments:
Post a Comment