When we examine the contradictions between Islam and Bible Christianity, we find that the key foundational element of Christianity, that Jesus the Savior is fully and completely God, is denied in Islam. Continue reading Islam denies Jesus Deity
All posts by DavidCox
The Biblical Marks of Christianity
The commonly simple (WRONG) definition
A simple definition that is commonly given and understood by people of “what is a true Christian?” is simply, “a Christian is what I am.” Although this is understandable, it is not biblical.
At this point, we have to make some very clear distinctions from Scripture here as to what is, and what is not a true Christian. Any religious group has to be judged by some criteria, and we always want to return to our spiritual authority (The Holy Scriptures) to define what is what. No group “is Christian” just because. The group is a human, earthly manifestation of a group of people gathering around some religious ideas.
See Tag: http://www.theologicalsystems.com/tag/money-and-the-minister/
Subtopics
(to be developed in the future)
Criteria for determining what a religious group “is” essentially
So many religious groups practice what is called “bait-and-switch” where they proclaim one thing, and then actually do or are another. This is common in false religions because their underlying basis of operation is to deceive, so they think nothing of doing it.
A careful and cautious Christian has to probe beyond the exterior to see what the group really is.
Defining what is true salvation
True salvation is the heart of any religious group (if it is biblical). So many religious groups and churches define “being one of them” as loyalty to the group, not true salvation. People are in the group that do not express the characteristics of a truly saved person, and that doesn’t bother the group members nor the group leadership
The “mixed nature” of any true Christianity
This is exactly what Roman Catholicism has been over all the years it has existed. It has twisted and trans-morphed many religious elements into something it wants to identify as “Christianity”. Over the course of the Old Testament, for example, we see a constant denouncing and chastising of Israel for making images and then including them in their worship (whether they worshiped the image or not, it was a prominent element of worship). This is amazing that with this history, the Roman Catholic religion has made images so prominent in their worship.
Islam breaks Scripture Harmony
When we examine true Christianity and false cults and sects within Christianity’s broad umbrella, we insist that whatever doctrinal statements a group has or approved and exhorted conduct a group gives, it cannot contradict the Bible. God is obliged to be consistent in his statements to men. He cannot change the standards from one moment to the next. If stealing is a sin in God’s eyes, then always it is. There may be some conditions whereby this concept is clarified, but we must hold the principle true. For example, if a man steals from his neighbor and is caught, he has to return what he has stolen four-fold. The principle is that the extra is a punishment for having stolen in the first place, and this is not the authorities “stealing from him” in God’s eyes, but doing what is just and fair.
Is Foreign Missions Biblical?
I recently attended a bus conference at an Independent Fundamental Baptist fellowship meeting. Maybe I don’t understand things anymore (good possibility), but I distinctly got the impression that they were bashing churches who spent money (and a lot of money, mentioning an example where “the pastor” spent $50,000 on foreign missions) but this pastor didn’t have a bus program. They scolded those in attendance because this was a tragedy in their eyes. The rest of this post is to answer that question. Continue reading Is Foreign Missions Biblical?
Islam: false prophet Muhammad
We understand that both Christianity and Islam are “competing religions” in that they are not mutually going to exist together. What one says to do, the other prohibits. These kinds of problems will make it impossible for them to mutually co-exist. They may both exist, but there will always be conflicts between them.
One the most important things is to strike an allegiance to an authority, the Bible or the Koran. While the Koran admits that the Bible is a holy book of God, the Bible gives no acknowledgement much less endorsement or authority to the Koran.
Zukeran – Abusive Churches
This is a review of this article by Pat on Leaderu.com on Abusive Churches
Sections
Control-oriented Leadership
Manipulation of Members
Rigid, Legalistic Lifestyle
Frequent Changing of Group/Church Name
Denouncing all other churches
Persecution Complex
Targeting Young Adults
Read the entire article at LeaderU.com. It is not that long.
Blue, K. – Healing Spiritual Abuse
Healing Spiritual Abuse: How to Break Free from Bad Church Experiences, Ken Blue, 1993. There is a great chapter on “Healed By Grace”. He says, “When we see that we are completely accepted by God solely through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, all religious law loses its manipulative power over us.”
A review on this book is here…
Fehlauer, M. – Exposing Spiritual Abuse
Exposing Spiritual Abuse: How to Rediscover God’s Love When the Church Has Let You Down, Mike Fehlauer. The chapter on “Toxic Love” is about the excessive devotion of people looking for a father-figure. There are two good chapters on positive and negative characteristics to look for in a pastor. Warning Signs of an Unhealthy Church – Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 are excerpts from the book.
Note that this book is a recommended reference work on apologeticsindex.org website, see the review of Fehlauer’s work – Exposing Spiritual Abuse on spiritualabuse.org.
Exposing Spiritual Abuse by Mike Fehlauer- From a review on Amazon: “To all those who love God but who do not want to be abused in God’s name by their church leaders, you’ll love this book. If you’ve ever felt you’ve given your best and
didn’t run at the first sign of trouble in a church, but mere came a point when you had been stripped of so much inside mat you had to go, yet you were talked about from the pulpit as if you had given up on God, mis book is for you! …For those who
would try to tell you mat mis book is not from God, remember this—David had a submissive attitude to Saul, when he was in Saul’s house and afterwards. But when Saul tried to kill David because of his own emotional demons, DAVID and
GOD BACKED DAVID! So don’t let church leaders tell you that you’re wrong to leave a church in which abuse is being justified in God’s name.”
Friesen, G. – Decision Making and the Will of God
VanVonderen-Ryan – Soul Repair
This is a recommendation of Vanvonderen-Ryan’s work on Soul Repair. This book explains how to recapture spiritual health after a cult.