The Church is compromising! (dress codes, tradition, birth control, homosexuality, elders)

[michel]

[quote=phernduke]Now on the topic of opening to homosexuality? Would I have a deacon or an elder as a homosexual?
NO
Though I'll still love the person but hate his sin, as the heavenly father would. If I kill, should the church not tell me this is wrong and punish me in a loving way, so that I stay, feeling loved.

Many ways to punish, not all physical force.

So I will welcome a homosexual to church, and show him where it says its wrong. Tell him of my testimony and my trials and what the Lord has done for me.


-Chris[/QUOTE Perhaps you have hit the nail on the head, you welcome him to the church, and show him where it says his behaviour is wrong. Your duty is then done, and it is up to him to decide what path he chooses to take. He is not your responsability.

[angellous_evangellous]

Originally Posted by Deut. 32.8

There is something intensly ugly occupying the fringes of theology, and manifesting itself repeatedly in an insistence on reframing the plague, the aids pandemiic, the tsunami disaster, etc. as divine justice. In the logic of this backwater theology, when all else fails, demonize the victim. Such attitudes transcend a simple clash between religion and science. I suspect, for example, that a good percentage of creationist don't share such views.

Deut,
You are correct in labelling this thinking backwater theology. I suspect the Jerry Falwells of the South will be the only folks willing to posit that AIDs is a punishment from God and other backward views of our friend here. Conservative Christian theologians are going to be against homosexuality, but those who think that AIDs (tsunami, demonization of the victim, etc) is some divine punishment are few and far between, and I don't think that I have ever seen it in serious scholarship.

The views espoused by our friend here are rare (among scholars of course, they are not rare in the South - the final frontier for humane religion), and I suspect that he is an ignorant Southerner.

[angellous_evangellous]

Originally Posted by phernduke

Is it possible that the church has come to this? To compromise with the enemy?
Methodist churches permitting homosexual elders, baptist churches allowing segregation, brethren churches not enforcing youth dress codes, and christian parents fighting and allowing there children to dress anywhich way or listen to whatever...

The church has become lukewarm, and we know what happens then...

What are your view points has the church compromised, or is everything just peachy.

-Chris

Jesus said that the gates of hell will not prevail against the church. If he is wrong or a liar, then there is no reason for any of us to follow him. Although you have not clearly explained who the enemy of the church is, according to Jesus himself, there is no weapon that can be formed against the church which can cause its destruction - there is no enemy who can prosper against the church.

I know nothing of Baptist segregation, but I do see in the South that many large churches have "missions" for ethnic groups so that they can have services in their own langauges, but this seems to me a vital ministry and not segregation, as these ethinic groups are welcome in the larger congregation.

As for dress, we should strive for holiness, but not at the expense of becoming Pharisees. Apparaently we need teens and everyone else to dress "conservatively" because our hearts are heardened and we can't keep our eyes off them to worship God. However, enforcing this is difficult and leads to the singling out of women...

You need to research AIDs...

[Prima]

Now wait just one minute here...not everything that comes from the South is bad - Prima being an excellent example

However, I noticed something else - you say 'the Church' is compromising, yet you haven't specified what church you're talking about. You've mixed your denominations up - churches have always had different doctrines than each other, so I don't see why one, two, or even three of them changing would signify that 'the Church' is compromising...

[angellous_evangellous]

Originally Posted by Prima

Now wait just one minute here...not everything that comes from the South is bad - Prima being an excellent example

However, I noticed something else - you say 'the Church' is compromising, yet you haven't specified what church you're talking about. You've mixed your denominations up - churches have always had different doctrines than each other, so I don't see why one, two, or even three of them changing would signify that 'the Church' is compromising...

I did not mean to imply that everything in the South is bad. The Bible belt of the South is widely known for being a hotbed for conservative Christian heresies (KKK being the prime example) and backward pop theology (eg, the current hoo-ha in Kansas over evolution).

[Prima]

I did not mean to imply that everything in the South is bad. The Bible belt of the South is widely known for being a hotbed for conservative Christian heresies (KKK being the prime example) and backward pop theology (eg, the current hoo-ha in Kansas over evolution).

I know, love, I was just teasing you. I truly did not think you were that ignorant!

[angellous_evangellous]

Originally Posted by Prima

I know, love, I was just teasing you. I truly did not think you were that ignorant!

Yeah, as I study I only learn that there is so much more that I don't know...

[CaptainXeroid]

Originally Posted by phernduke

...What are your view points has the church compromised...

The way I see it, the church has moved closer to the spirit of Jesus' teaching by removing man-made obstacles to worship. I wouldn't call that compromising at all.

Originally Posted by Prima

Now wait just one minute here...not everything that comes from the South is bad - Prima being an excellent example...

Here here! A lot of other people must like the South cause they keep moving here and they don't leave.