20 MAR 2018 by ideonexus
How the Civil War Changed Southern Evangelicalism
There is still today a Southern Baptist Church. More than a century and a half after the Civil War, and decades after the Methodists and Presbyterians reunited with their Yankee neighbors, America’s most powerful evangelical denomination remains defined, right down to the name over the door, by an 1845 split over slavery.
Southern denominations faced enormous social and political pressure from plantation owners. Public expressions of dissent on the subject of slavery in the South were not ...Folksonomies: civil war evangelicalism
Folksonomies: civil war evangelicalism
1 
notes
notes24 JAN 2015 by ideonexus
Preachers and Prophets
Since I have had to pay college tuition for five daughters, I have chosen to play the role of preacher. I preach to all who will listen the gospel of manifest destiny. The destiny which I am preaching is not the expansion of a single nation or of a single species, but the spreading out of life in all its multifarious {134} forms from its confinement on the surface of our small planet to the freedom of a boundless universe. This unimaginably great and diverse universe, in which we occupy one...Folksonomies: colonization expansion
Folksonomies: colonization expansion
1 notes
notes14 OCT 2013 by ideonexus
Evangelism is Hard of Introverts
“The evangelical culture ties together faithfulness with extroversion,” McHugh explained. “The emphasis is on community, on participating in more and more programs and events, on meeting more and more people. It’s a constant tension for many introverts that they’re not living that out. And in a religious world, there’s more at stake when you feel that tension. It doesn’t feel like ‘I’m not doing as well as I’d like.’ It feels like ‘God isn’t pleased with me.’ ”
...Folksonomies: evangelism introversion
Folksonomies: evangelism introversion
1 notes
notesBecause there is so much at stake in the need for religious members to evangelize (the salvation of others), introverts feel they are failing their religious duties.
08 JUN 2012 by ideonexus
Apology for the Sins of the Religious
The Christians who engaged in infamous persecutions and shameful inquisitions were not evil men but misguided men. The churchmen who felt they had an edict from God to withstand the progress of science, whether in the form of a Copernican revolution or a Darwinian theory of natural selection, were not mischievous men but misinformed men. And so Christ's words from the cross are written in sharp-edged terms across some of the most inexpressible tragedies of history: 'They know not what they do'. 1 notes
notesTheir actions are rooted in their ignorance.
28 MAR 2012 by ideonexus
The Myth of Church-Goer Charity
That churchgoers do the lion’s share of the charitable work in our communities is simply untrue. They get credit for it because they do a better job of tying the good works they do to their creed. But according to a 1998 study, 82 percent of volunteerism by churchgoers falls under the rubric of “church maintenance” activities—volunteerism entirely within, and for the benefit of, the church building and immediate church community. As a result of this siphoning of volunteer energy into ... 1 notes
notesMost of their charity is within their own congregation.
13 JAN 2012 by ideonexus
Marcellin Berthelot Does Not Want Faith In Science
I do not want chemistry to degenerate into a religion; I do not want the chemist to believe in the existence of atoms as the Christian believes in the existence of Christ in the communion wafer. 1 notes
notesHe does not want chemistry to "degenerate into a religion."
09 DEC 2011 by ideonexus
Newt Gingrich is Like King David
A number of years ago, I gave a series of messages on the life of King David of old. I entitled the series, "A Portrait of a Champion." One of the messages in that series was called, "Champions Know How to Repent." Even a great champion for God such as King David messed up "royally" and had to repent ... This brings me to Newt Gingrich. While many people have, and will continue to throw stones at the former Speaker's past marriage failures, I am glad that Newt is a man who knows how to repent...
2 Twisted Logic of Scripture: His past indiscretions should be forgiven because King David was a great ruler despite sleeping with his servant's wife and having the servant murdered so he could marry her.
10 AUG 2011 by ideonexus
The Assassin Seeks Preemptive Grace
The President held up his hand. Preemptive penance and absolution were doctrines researched and developed by the Consistorial Court, but not known to the wider Church. They involved doing penance for a sin not yet committed, intense and fervent penance accompanied by scourging and flagellation, so as to build up, as it were, a store of credit. When the penance had reached the appropriate level for a particular sin, the penitent was granted absolution in advance, though he might never be calle... 1 notes
notesBefore committing a sin, a mercenary hired by the church does penance beforehand, so they may know they are still in grace after the crime.
23 JUL 2011 by ideonexus
The Law is King in America
But where, says some, is the King of America? I'll tell you. Friend, he reigns above, and doth not make havoc of mankind like the Royal Brute of Britain. Yet that we may not appear to be defective even in earthly honors, let a day be solemnly set apart for proclaiming the charter; let it be brought forth placed on the divine law, the word of God; let a crown be placed thereon, by which the world may know, that so far as we approve of monarchy, that in America THE LAW IS KING. For as in absolu... 1 notes
notesAnd the crown is demolished and scattered among the people.
18 MAY 2011 by ideonexus
America Forced Christianity to Become More Tolerant
Under the pressure of the American environment, Christianity
grew more humanistic and temperate - more tolerant with
the struggle of the sects, more liberal with the growth of
optimism and rationalism, more experimental with the rise of
science, more individualistic with the advent of democracy.
Equally important, increasing numbers of colonists, as a legion of preachers loudly lamented, were turning secular in
curiosity and skeptical in attitude. 1 notes
notesAmerica was a beach head of liberalism.
