A good deal of what passes in common parlance as ‘religious’ is, when examined, really cultural. One of the strongest reasons for the success of Christianity as a world religion, has been its adaptability. Our friend Bosco, like others elsewhere, sometimes uses it a a criticism that the faith took on and adapted pre-existing pagan festivals and Christianised them; this is rather like criticising Christianity for converting pagans, and perhaps stems in part for an over-literal view about what it means to be a ‘new creation in Christ’. People do not abandon, on the whole, and never have, on the whole, abandoned their existing culture. It has required converts to conform to Christian norms – no so polygamy, no same-sex marriage, no child brides – and those norms have often, even if it has taken time, changed the cultures into which the faith has come. It may be that there is a slave-owning elite which has abandoned the practice for non-Christian reasons, but the only one of of which I am aware is our own society, where in the end, the idea of owning people came to be seen as incompatible with Christianity; something of the same has happened with capital punishment. Such changes can happen only when society has evolved to a stage where they are possible, but it is still hard to see how these things would have been generally abolished without Christianity. One certainly could not point to Islam and see a similar process.
In England, the Reformation created and celebrated a link between Church and State signalled in the name of the State Church itself – the Church of England. That Church came to be seen, and, again, celebrated, as embodying things that were typically English: it was a middle way, steering clear of the ‘priestcraft’ of Rome, and the anarchy of pure Protestantism; it took ‘the Book’ very seriously, but it also valued tradition and reason, and sought to keep these three things in balance; and although it provided a way of life for the younger sons of the aristocracy, it did so in ways which gave many of them a contact they would not otherwise have had with the ordinary people, and it was, in that way, part of a wider social contract between people and their rulers. It could not fill the gap left by the dissolution of the monasteries, but it was something to be valued. The Church had a mission to all those in every parish, and to witness to Christ everywhere English men and women lived; it took that seriously enough to follow them overseas.
The failure of the national church to reach everyone should not blind us to the fact that the most numerous group of those outside was not Catholic, but even more Protestant – that is even more bloody-minded, individualistic and English: Cromwell was the exemplar of the type.
Did any of this make Christianity in the form it came to take in these islands any less Christian? That it is impossible to answer that question reveals the extent to which our faith has proved able to adapt to and to shape cultures. It is easy enough to think, as we look at the state of the institutional churches in our country that this period has come to an end – but I wonder?
Depends on where ones priorities are.
Life on earth seems long and never ending, but even a child knows that death is longer than life.
Sure, we try to improve our day to day lives and the society as a whole, while we are forced to live in it. My master says to take no thought for tomorrow, because tomorrow will deal with itself.
Easily said than done.
The bottom line is….if one isn’t born again, one risks eternity in hell, and the Christianity they prized on earth didn’t help them. Once on is born again then one can see straight in order to be of real value to Christian society.
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You have a very limited interpretation of what being ‘born again’ means, and it worries me that with you it is accompanied by a belief in conspiracy theories which are not worthy of your intelligence.
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Ive been told that befor. But who is more nuts…..one who thinks everything is fine or one who thinks men are out there doing evil.?
How about the latest example…..I went to Wells Fargo bank to cash a check for some reason and they wouldn’t let me go unless I opened a account to save 7 dollars for fee. It was for Ed for some reason and he was waiting in the car. So, they made me open a savings and then a checking acct. The told me about all the fees. So I came back to close the accounts and get the few dollars I put in to open them about a week later. They had taken out 5 dollars for some fee or another. So I told Ed that Wells Fargo was a criminal operation of bandits and thieves. I even told the banker who I dealt with to close the acct that her bank was a bunch of thieves. This was about 3 yrs ago. Ed brushed it off as just Bosco making more noise about nothing. Until last week when Wells Fargo was busted for illegally opening up accts and charging them fees. I reminded Ed of what I told him and he remembered. I was right.
So these conspiracy theories I subscribe to might hold some water. You can feel free to go thru life thinking George Washington could never tell a lie. If you ever want to question me on any conspiracy, I can back it up with facts that even you know about, but just don’t piece together.
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No one has said there is no evil in the world. I suspect that ‘bankers are greedy crooks’ would not be news to any of us.
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Part of what you say here has left me wondering about the forms of our worship: the choristers in their red and white; the collegial seating; etc. What is it that we love about these forms? I do not think I can separate the parts. Some of it is simple beauty, but that beauty is used to connect our souls to God – no easy thing for the reserved Englishmen. I do love the adaptability of the C of E, though: you can have as Anglo-Catholic a service you like, but the priest may still open their mouth and preach like an evangelical – simply wonderful.
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Every set of humans we know about develops customs and their own way of doing things – we have an innate need for ceremonial – religion links this to our sense/knowledge that there is something beyond this material world.
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Youre doggonned right theres something beyond this world. This world is such a small part of reality that its not even measurable. The spirit world is all around us. Remember Elija, when the Phillistines or someone came to kill him for messing up their plans? Elijahs assistant was all in a panic because they surrounded them. Elijah asked god to open his assistants eyes. Then he saw the armies of god outnumbering the human army. You cant see them but they are there.
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U.S.
Gay teen sues his Catholic school for depriving him of his senior year
ThinkProgress 16 hours ago .
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Last year, Lance Sanderson’s story garnered national attention. The senior at Christian Brothers High School in Memphis was told that he could not bring a boy from another school to the homecoming dance. Because he then brought the school negative publicity, he was asked not to return to school at all
U.S.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/m/8ccd927c-dd4b-3c76-9a19-30a59c9d73da/ss_gay-teen-sues-his-catholic.html
The gay cabal in the Vatican isn’t just one or two priests, its all of em. Lets be fair. All men are hypocrites. Im a hypocrite. Can I point a finger at the CCs homosexual priest craft? No. OK. So, a homosexual dominated false religion persecutes young people for being homosexuals the same as their holymen are. Young people take this rejection very hard and sometimes kill themselves. The priests of this homosexual religion should all tie their necks together and jump off Niagra Falls. They have caused so much pain and anguish that they need to die a miserable death themselves.
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You seem very confused Bosco. First, not all priests are homosexual, a small minority are. Second, as it is against church teaching, should schools be encouraging it in their pupils.
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Small minority. Good brother Chalcedon, you brighten up my day. Thank you.
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The damned of god costumed holymen persecute the grade school kids for being homosexual while every man jack in the seminaries is homosexual and worse, all the way to the principal.
Half of Priests and Bishops Are Gay
As much as half of priests and bishops are homosexual.
http://www.churchmilitant.com/video/episode/half-of-priests-and-bishops-are-gay
In a new book, Father Bernard Lynch, a gay Catholic priest who has incurred the wrath of the Vatican
The Vatican, he says, is trying to “get rid” of him, while he has been operating a counseling program for closeted gay priests in London since 1992.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/10/father-bernard-lynch-gay-catholic-priest-talks_n_1661887.html
Either his counseling programs door rarely opens or its jam packed full of gay priests. Small minority.
http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2015/10/07/over-half-of-catholic-priests-are-gay-says-vatican-insider/
Small minority. I don’t envy my catholic friends. It must be awful to have to lie to ones own self. Its one thing to lie to someone else…..but it must be torment to be faced with the realization that ones vehicle of salvation is a cesspool of vice. Whay can one do? Just tell ones self “it aint so Joe”
That pine cone really isn’t a pine cone. That big red Dragon isn’t a big red Dragon. It cant be.
Hahahahahahahahaha. Welcome to the world of religions. Hahahahahaha. Enjoy your wicked costumed holymen. Oh, that’s right…they aren’t wicked, they are little Christs. The official handbook says so.
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It is, I suppose, natural that you should be attracted to other sensationalists. The ‘evidence’ offered for the statement that ‘half the priests’ are gay is no more than speculation. Are some gay, yes, do all those who are act on their impulses? No one knows the answer, including you. And yet, as a born again person you spread scandal and innuendo. Is that what Jesus would do?
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These are catholic priests giving out these numbers. You can call me all kinds of names, but what do you call the priests who say that way more than half are gay. I guess if I were in your shoes I might not want to believe that either. But, that wont stop you from getting born again. Each man has to come to Christ by himself. If god took me he will take anybody.
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I have this odd view that evidence means more than someone expressing an opinion- old-fashioned I know.
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I remember what is was like befor I was born again. I thought I had a handle on things. I figured id go to heaven when I died, if there was a heaven. I didn’t dwell on it much. The preacher always told us we were children of god. So, that was good enough. But there was nothing inside, no hope, just day to day living. I look back and see how I was. I was ready for something. I loved Halloween and spooky stuff. I wasn’t going to join the Satanists…I was kinda young. But every friend who told me about their newfound cult or religion, I agreed to look into it if it was so great as they would tell me. The possibility of me attending catholic services was also in the works. It had spooky mixed in with godly. Perfect.
Imsurrounded by unsaved now, and I see the aimlessness in them. The few people ive seen get saved….it all comes together…we all know the same thing….we all know the same person. We all give up trying to do things our way. We have peace. The saints recognize each other pretty quick. The ones who do an impersonation are spotted eventually. Some impersonations are better than others. I get chewed out by people who figure that are born again simply because their religion told them they are. When I inform them that they need to invite Jesus in, they say im this and im that for insinuating they need to get born again. No matter what I tell them, it doesn’t matter, especially if their religion has covered those bases already. I didn’t belong to a religion. My Methodist and Baptist upbringing didn’t come with any hooks. When I was told Jesus wants a relationship with me and that hes right here next to me, well, I believed it. I didn’t say that my religion already has me saved. I believed what I was being told. Well, I went my way, glad to be rid of that holy roller. Get back home and take a few puffs and pick up my brand new Gibson Les Paul. A different person walked in the front door than the one who walked out.
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I am glad to hear that, Bosco.
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