Secular Christianity

Vista House, Oregon

This last week I rejected four comments for this blog. I support the notion that persons are free to challenge me on this blog and on satire and theology. That is fair and I enjoy discussion. I however, via blogs or email will not allow blog troll personal attacks and also grow very tired of 'dripping faucet' like cumulative snide remarks that are attempting to cut me down personally or cut down how I do business. I also strongly dislike arguing on and on in circles with someone that is not seriously considering the material I work hard to produce. Please consider that I have sleep apnea and will not take a lot of nonsense! So if you disagree with me, feel free to comment, but please do not attack me personally, or expect to beat me into submission...it will not happen, and I do not want to attempt to beat someone else into submission. I also aim to protect my commenters from abuse.

I desire to show the love of Christ.

Sometimes comments are not published due to Blogger error, and for that I am not responsible. If that happens, please email your comments to me and I will publish them on your behalf.

In regard to discussions, I do change my mind at times, and so I remain open-minded. I do not expect commenters to simply rubber stamp my material.

Most of you are wonderful, and SO I AM NOT WRITING TO YOU!

I have posted these two pages from religionfacts.com previously on satire and theology. But, I have a few more readers now and I plan on interacting slightly more with the material.

I like providing some articles primarily for the purposes of historical information. It reacquaints me with some data which I have not dealt with in awhile, which I need, as I am dealing with a lot of Biblical, theological, and philosophical material and need to refresh my mind with much of it at times. Also, I think it is generally very good information for my readers.

I should note I would rather use the scholarly material of a honest liberal secularist than a Christian that is blinded by agenda and not objective. Most of the scholars I quote are likely Biblical Christians, but I quote liberal scholars that provide beneficial information.

I will discuss one item on the list, but there others we could discuss in comments:

1822 Schleiermacher writes Christian Faith

I had to write about Friedrich Schleiermacher within my PhD.

Friedrich Schleiermacher (1768-1834) writes in his work of systematic theology, The Christian Faith that God’s original perfect creation was based on the environment being made suitable for human beings to have self-consciousness. Schleiermacher (1821)(1976: 234). The human experience of God-consciousness and self-consciousness are fulfilled through the redemptive work of Jesus Christ, and the related religious emotions. Schleiermacher (1821)(1976: 76). For Schleiermacher, Christian theology is not a systemization of revelation of God but rather a coherent understanding of Christian religious experience related to the redemptive work of Christ. Schleiermacher (1821)(1976: 125).

From a Biblical Christian worldview, God through prophets, apostles, and scribes, and Christ himself, revealed the Scriptures and God's plans for humanity, with the gospel message being the central focus.

Religious experience is an aspect of the Christian life.

As experiences are evaluated through Scripture, one can have a reasonable idea that his or her religious experience is of the Holy Spirit, and not of primarily human origin and even possibly from the influence of demonic spirits.

There is Biblical theology. Christian Scriptural revelation and Biblical theology can be systematized for understanding. Systematic theology when done properly, is therefore accurate theology.

In On Religion, Schleiermacher expresses the belief that dogma is not part of religion but arises out of religion. Schleiermacher in Kedourie (1799)(1961: 26). Religion is essentially intuitive and consists of the experience of feeling. Schleiermacher in Kedourie (1799)(1961: 26).

One that states that there is no room for dogma in religion, it at risk of casting out one type of dogma, some of it perhaps Biblical, and replacing it with philosophical and theological theories and new dogma, perhaps more popular within a time period.

This is a way of avoiding the truth of the word of God.

Biblical doctrine is not essentially and primarily intuitive, but requires God to guide persons through the Holy Spirit to understand the Bible and doctrines correctly.

He writes that Christian theology was not dictated by a direct human encounter with God but by concepts of religious experience. Schleiermacher (1821)(1976: 125). Schleiermacher understands original human perfection as not primarily a condition, but rather the ability through both good and evil experiences to have the consciousness of God stimulating and influencing humanity. God would draw all humanity to himself through an awareness of God-consciousness. Schleiermacher (1821)(1976: 303). He rejects the concept of hell because he postulates that those living in heavenly bliss could not do so in good conscience without sympathy for those in hell. This makes the universal efficacy of Christ’s redemptive work more likely, because hell would have to be nonexistent for heaven to truly be a place of peace and happiness. Schleiermacher (1821)(1976: 721).

John Ankerberg and John Weldon explain is the theological idea that salvation is universal and therefore as a result each person will eventually be redeemed in heaven in God’s presence. Ankerberg and Weldon (1999: 503). John Kreeft and Ronald Tacelli explain that universalism is universal salvation and has been considered by some well known orthodox Christians over the centuries as a viable alternative to hell, although Kreeft and Tacelli reject this concept. Kreeft and Tacelli (1994: 286). D.B. Eller writes that universalism affirms the idea that eventually all souls will be released from penalties of sin and restored to God. Eller (1996: 1128).

In Matthew 7:13-14, Jesus uses an illustration relating to the ultimate destiny of individuals and explains that few persons enter by the narrow gate, and the wide and broad way of destruction is found by many. William Barclay points out, that Luke 13:24 is presenting a similar idea which may have come from the same original source, but reached the author of Luke from a different tradition. Barclay (1975: 97). In Luke, Jesus explains that many will strive to enter by the narrow gate, but shall not be able to. Barclay (1975: 97).

Laurence E. Porter describes a scenario in Luke 13:24-28 where some religious persons are rejected by God. Porter (1986: 1211). Jesus did not accept the theology that a sincere religious devotion alone would lead one to God’s presence in the culminated Kingdom of God. Let me point out that everlasting existence apart from God is absolutely and positively, not my hope for any individual person, but my theological findings are driven by research and not sentiment. I see no good reason to believe that human beings that have rejected the Biblical God throughout their lives with a corrupt nature and the resulting sinful thoughts and actions would ever in post-mortem existence come to Christ, unless guided by God to do so. Biblically, there appears to be no salvation for those outside of Christ upon death.

Hebrews 9:27, from the New American Standard Bible states:

As inasmuch as it is appointed for man to die once and after this comes judgment.

Persons suffer in hell.

Saints do not suffer in the Kingdom of Heaven/God.

As resurrected saints, we will have an understanding and acceptance of God's justice and human rebellion against God, that I reason will enable us to see hell as just even while we live in the culminated Kingdom by God's grace as we are guided and filled by the Holy Spirit.

ANKERBERG, JOHN AND JOHN WELDON (1999) Encyclopedia of Cults and New Religions, Eugene, Oregon, Harvest House Publishers.

BARCLAY, WILLIAM (1975) Introduction to the First Three Gospels, Philadelphia, The Westminster Press.

ELLER, D.B. (1996) ‘Universalism’, in Walter A. Elwell (ed.), Evangelical Dictionary of Theology, Grand Rapids, Baker Books.

KREEFT, PETER and RONALD K. TACELLI (1994) Handbook of Christian Apologetics, Downers Grove, Illinois, InterVarsity Press.

PORTER, LAURENCE.E. (1986) ‘Luke’, in F.F. Bruce (gen.ed.), The International Bible Commentary, Grand Rapids, Marshall Pickering/ Zondervan.

SCHLEIERMACHER, FRIEDRICH (1799)(1961) On Religion, in Elie Kedourie, Nationalism, New York, Praeger University Series.

SCHLEIERMACHER, FRIEDRICH (1821)(1976) The Christian Faith, Edited by H.R. Mackintosh and J.S. Stewart, Philadelphia, Fortress Press.

http://www.religionfacts.com/christianity/timeline.htm

Timeline of Christianity

The following timeline of Christianity summarizes some of the most important events in Christianity since its founding about 2,000 years ago. (Events in light grey are non-religious events included for historical context.)
c. 4 BC Birth of Jesus
c. 26 AD John the Baptist begins ministry
c. 27 AD Jesus begins ministry
c. 30 AD Crucifixion of Jesus
c. 35 Conversion of Paul
c. 44 Martyrdom of James
c. 46-48 Paul's first missionary journey
c. 49 Council of Jerusalem
c. 50-52 Paul's second missionary journey
c. 51-52 First and Second Thessalonians written
c. 53-57 Paul's third missionary journey
c. 57 Letter to the Romans written
c. 59-62 Paul imprisoned in Rome
c. 60 Andrew martyred by crucifixion in Achaia (Greece).
c. 66-67 Second Timothy written
c. 68 Martyrdom of Paul
70 Fall of Jerusalem
c. 90-95 John exiled on island of Patmos
c. 95 Book of Revelation written
c. 96 Clement of Rome's Letter to the Corinthians written
c. 120 Didache written
202 Christians persecuted under Septimus Severus
211 Christians tolerated under Emperor Antoninus Caracalla
222 Christians favored Emperor Alexander Severus
230 Origen's On First Principles
235 Christians persecuted under Emperor Maximin the Thracian
238 Christians tolerated under Emperor Gordian III
244 Christians favored under Emperor Philip the Arabian
251 Cyprian's Unity of the Catholic Church
254 Death of Origen
303 Diocletian orders burning of Christian books and churches
312 Emperor Constantine's conversion to Christianity
313 Edict of Milan establishes official toleration of Christianity
325 Council of Nicea
336 Death of Constantine
354 Birth of Augustine

367 Athanasius lists all 27 books of NT

379 Basil the Great dies
380 Christianity made official religion of Roman Empire
381 Council of Constantinople
386 Augustine converts to Christianity

389 Gregory of Nazianzus dies
395 Gregory of Nyssa dies
c. 400 Jerome's Vulgate (translation of the Greek Bible into Latin)
407 John Chrysostom dies
411 Council of Carthage condemns Donatists
417 Pope Innocent I condemns Pelagianism

420 Death of Jerome
430 Death of Augustine

431 Council of Ephesus
451 Council of Chalcedon
787 Second Council of Nicea
950 Olga of Russia converts to Christianity
1054 Great Schism between East and West
1093 Anselm becomes Archbishop of Canterbury
1095 Council of Clermont: Pope Urban II proclaims First Crusade
1098 Crusaders take Antioch from Turks
1099 Crusaders recapture Jerusalem from Turks
1122 Concordat of Worms
1141 Peter Abelard condemned

1144 Fall of Edessa (crusader state)
1187 Fall of Jerusalem to Turks
1215 Fourth Lateran Council
1309 "Babylonian Captivity" (until 1377)
1337 Hundred Years' War (until 1453)
1378 Great Western Schism (until 1423)
1409 Council of Pisa
1413-14 Lollard rebellion
1415 Council of Constance. Martyrdom of Jan Hus.
1420 Crusade against Hussites
1431 Joan of Arc martyred
1431-49 Council of Basel
1438-45 Council of Ferrara-Florence
1453 Fall of Constantinople to Turks
1478 Spanish Inquisition founded by Ferdinand and Isabella
1483 Birth of Martin Luther

1492 Expulsion of Jews from Spain by Ferdinand and Isabella
1505 Luther becomes a monk
1517 Luther posts 95 Theses
1521 Luther excommunicated
1530 Augsburg Confession
1534 Henry VIII's Act of Supremacy
1536 Calvin's Institutes of the Christian Religion
1541 Colloquy of Regensburg
1555 Peace of Augsburg
1559 Elizabeth I's Act of Uniformity
1590 Michelangelo completes the dome of St. Peter's Basilica in Rome
1609 Baptist Church founded by John Smyth
1611 King James (Authorized) Version of the Bible produced
1729 Beginnings of Methodism, led by John Wesley
1738 John Wesley feels his "heart strangely warmed" during a reading of Luther's preface to Romans on Aldersgate Street in London
1775 American Wars of Independence begin
1783 America wins independence from Britain
1793 Louis XVI executed
1797 Second Awakening begins
1798 Pope Pius VI is prisoner of France
1799 Schleiermacher writes Speeches
1801 Cane Ridge Revival
1804 Napoleon becomes emperor
1807 Hegel writes Phenomenology of the Spirit
1808 French occupy Rome
1810 Mexico wins independence
1812-14 British-American War
1814 Reorganization of the Jesuits
1816 American Bible Society established
1822 Schleiermacher writes Christian Faith
1826 American Society for the Promotion of Temperance founded
1830 Joseph Smith produces Book of Mormon
1834 Spanish Inquisition officially abolished
1838 Abolition of slavery in the British Caribbean
1841 David Livingstone to Africa
1845 Methodists and Baptists split over the issue of slavery
1846 Pope Pius IX (until 1878)
1854 Dogma of Immaculate Conception of Mary
1859 Darwin publishes Origin of the Species
1861-65 American Civil War
1861 Presbyterians divide over the issue of slavery
1869 First Vatican Council
1870 Dogma of Papal Infallibility
1872 Moody begins preaching
1875 Mary Baker Eddy writes Science and Health
1882 Neitzsche declares "God is dead"
1895 Five Fundamentals
1900 Freud's Interpretation of Dreams
1906 Azusa Street revival
1908 Henry Ford introduces the Model T
1910 World Missionary Conference, Edinburgh
1914 Assemblies of God founded
1914-18 World War I
1917 Russian Revolution
1919 Prohibition passed into law
1925 Scopes "Monkey" trial
1932 Barth's Church Dogmatics
1939 Hitler invades Poland and sparks WWI
1945 Nag Hammadi Library discovered in Egypt;
US drops atomic bombs on Japan
1947 India wins independence from U.K.
1948 World Council of Churches founded
1950 Papal encyclical Humani generis
1956 First issue of Christianity Today
1960 Birth control pill approved by FDA
1961 First human in space
Papal encyclical Mater et Magistra
1962-65 Second Vatican Council
1963 MLK's "I Have a Dream" speech
1968 Papal encyclical Humanae vitae
1969 First man on the moon
1971 Intel introduces the microprocessor
1973 Roe vs. Wade
1987-88 Televangelist scandals
1989 First woman ordained in an apostolic-succession church (the Protestant Episcopal church). Fall of the Berlin Wall.
1997 Birth of the internet

Sources
1. Earle E. Cairns, Christianity Through the Centuries (Zondervan, 1996).
2. Justo Gonzalez, The Story of Christianity (Prince Press, 1999).
3. Kenneth Scott Latourette, A History of Christianity, Vol. I: to A.D. 1500 (4th ed., Prince Press, 2000).
4. Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Premium Service, 2004.
« Glossary of Christianity

Timeline of Christianity Christian History »

http://www.religionfacts.com/christianity/timeline.htm

Fast Facts on Christianity

This section provides basic facts on Christianity in a quick, at-a-glance format. Here you can get a general sense of the Christian faith before exploring it in greater depth, get the basics in order to compare Christianity to other religions, study for a test on Christianity, play a Christian trivia game, or just learn something new.

Date founded:
c. 33 AD
Place founded:
Palestine
Founder:
Jesus of Nazareth, a Jewish carpenter
Adherents:
2 billion {1}
US adherents:
159 million in 2001 {2}
UK adherents:
51 million in 1997 {3}
Size rank:
largest world religion
Main location:
Europe
North America
South America
Major sects (denominations):
Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Protestant
Sacred texts:
The Bible, comprised of the Old Testament and New Testament
Original languages:
Aramaic, Greek, Latin
Religious professionals:
Priest; bishop; archbishop; patriarch; pope; pastor; minister; preacher; deacon
House of worship:
Church, chapel, cathedral, basilica, meeting hall
Type of theism:
Trinitarian Monotheism
Ultimate reality:
One God (a Trinity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit)
Human nature:
Created good but now born sinful
Purpose of life:
Know, love and serve God
How to live:
Have faith in the true God and Christ's resurrection, do good works, participate in sacraments
Afterlife:
Resurrection of body and soul, purgatory (Catholic and Orthodox), and eternal heaven or hell
Symbols:
Cross, dove, anchor, fish, alpha and omega, chi rho
Major holidays:
Advent (Nov. 30 - Dec. 24)
Christmas (Dec. 25)
Epiphany (Jan. 6)
Lent (40-day period prior to Easter)
Good Friday (last Friday before Easter)
Easter (date varies)
All Saint's Day (Nov. 1)
Books of the New Testament :
Gospel of Matthew
Gospel of Mark
Gospel of Luke
Gospel of John
Acts of the Apostles
Romans
1 Corinthians
2 Corinthians
Galatians Ephesians
Philippians
Colossians
1 Thessalonians
2 Thessalonians
1 Timothy
2 Timothy
Titus
Philemon Hebrews
James
1 Peter
2 Peter
1 John
2 John
3 John
Jude
Revelation
Two Greatest Commandments
1. Love God with your heart, soul and mind.
2. Love your neighbor as yourself. {4}
Four Last Things
1. second coming
2. judgment
3. heaven
4. hell
Seven Deadly Sins
1. pride
2. greed
3. lust
4. envy
5. gluttony
6. anger
7. sloth
Seven Ecumenical Councils
1. Council of Nicea (325 AD)
2. Council of Constantinople (381)
3. Council of Ephesus (431)
4. Council of Chalcedon (451)
5. Second Council of Constantinople (553)
6. Third Council of Constantinople (681)
7. Second Council of Nicea (787)
Twelve Apostles
1. James, son of Zebedee
2. John, son of Zebedee
3. Philip
4. Bartholomew
5. Thomas
6. Andrew (Peter's brother)
7. Simon Peter
8. Matthew the tax collector
9. James, son of Alphaeus
10. Simon the Zealot
11. Judas Iscariot
12. Thaddaeus {5}
Fourteen Stations of the Cross
1. Jesus is condemned to death
2. The cross is laid upon him
3. Jesus' first fall
4. Jesus meets Mary
5. Simon of Cyrene bears the cross
6. Veronica wipes Jesus' face
7. Jesus' second fall
8. Jesus meets the women of Jerusalem
9. Jesus' third fall
10. Jesus is stripped of his garments
11. Jesus is crucified
12. Jesus dies
13. Jesus' body is taken down
14. Jesus's body is laid in the tomb
References
1. adherents.com
2. adherents.com
3. adherents.com
4. Mark 12:28-31.
5. Matthew 10:2.



An incredible near miss from Surrey, BC.