Radical, Progressive Christianity and the 218th GA meeting

June 26, an extraordinarily alarming ecumenical proposal was presented to the 218th General Assembly (GA) meeting for the Presbyterian Church. Dr. Fareed, the secretary general for the Islamic Society of North America, proposed a union of membership between Muslims and Christians. Read the article from the PC website for further inquiry. Here is why you should be concerned: the proposition was agreed upon by the GA by a slight majority of the delegates. This does not mean that the proposal will go into affect immediately, as it has to pass further delegations before being accepted into the Presbyterian confessional agreement. Their decision must either have been based upon being allotted a limited time for debate and lacking clarity or it was a result of radical, progressive Christianity. What we must make known to this sect of Christians, among everyone, is that no one may enter the body of Christ except through Christ. When Muslims misunderstand Jesus to be a mere prophet, a perversion of one of the most basic and fundamental truths of Christianity, a Muslim's union in the body of Christ is not a both/and relationship. Either you have faith or you do not. For example, even the "carnal christian" is a common, and unfortunate, occurrence in the present day evangelical Christian community. And yet, however disillusioned the carnal christian may be, this group still proclaims to acknowledge Christ in their lives, though not fully. A carnal christian ought therefore not be allowed to gain membership as long as Christ is not the head of their lives. However, I would agree that they should be allowed sustained membership, though not be in any position of leadership. For we know that our lives are based upon constant struggles against sin but if you deny Christ you deny the unity of the Trinity. Those who deny Christ are of the "natural" category. This can be seen from the picture above, just read 1st Corinthians 2-4, it's all there. I hope that every Muslim knows he or she is more than welcomed into the Christian community as a visiting member, but one should not be allowed to obtain membership until he or she repents and places their faith in Christ Jesus. For no one may worship other Gods, that is idolatry.

Sanctification through faith: a sign of salvation

When accompanied by faith and repentance, baptism becomes the visual representation that our sins are washed away. Through baptism, we are united with Christ in paying the death penalty for sin.

“do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.” Romans 6:3-5 (ESV)

God graciously gave me faith and it led me to repentance. I know that my baptism has brought me into the death of Jesus Christ so that I, too, may walk in newness of life because it is God's desire that everything I do is for His glory; and "I’m not ashamed to share the gospel because I know that it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes," Romans 1:16 (ESV). That’s how I received my salvation; now I believe in Him and now I rejoice in Him.

Bonnie and I are engaged!

Since the first day I met you, Bonnie Rae, God had plans for our lives. To have seen His plans at work through each of us has shown me the grace and brilliance of our Sovereign Father. Because you know that “grace be to those who love our Lord Jesus Christ with incorruptible love” and because you are my best friend, I can whole-heartedly admit that I love you. God bless you sweet lady, and God bless our marriage!

Sponsor a Spring Break Missionary

As of 2.20.08, the mission trip to Cuba has been postponed due to new Cuban laws which were put into place last week. I'll keep everyone updated.

The first given name of God

The Hebrew word, אלהים (el·o·hēm'), meaning God, has plural morphological form, but it is used with singular verbs and adjectives in the Hebrew text when the particular meaning of a singular deity is traditionally understood. Thus the very first words of the Bible are breshit bara elohim, where bara ברא is a verb inflected as third person singular masculine perfect. If Elohim were an ordinary plural word, then the plural verb form bar'u בראו would have been used in this sentence instead. Such plural grammatical forms are in fact found in cases where Elohim has semantically plural reference. There are a few other words in Hebrew that have a plural ending, but refer to a single entity and take singular verbs and adjectives, for example בעלים (be'alim, owner) in Exodus 21:29 and elsewhere.

The form of the word Elohim with the ending -im, is plural and masculine, but the construction is usually singular, i.e. it governs a singular verb or adjective when referring to God, but reverts to its normal plural when used of heathen divinities (Psalms 96:5; 97:7). One theory among orthodox Trinitarian Christian writers is that it is sometimes used as evidence for the doctrine of the Holy Trinity.

A plural noun governing a singular verb may be according to oldest usage. The gods form a heavenly assembly where they act as one. In this context, the Elohim may be a collective plural when the gods act in concert. Compare this to English headquarters, which is plural but governs a singular verb: there are many rooms or quarters, but they all serve one purpose. Thus, it is argued, the meaning of Elohim therefore can mean one god, with many attributes.

It is worthy of note that, in the Biblical Hebrew the customary grammatical "plurality" of a word is often a grammatical plural. The use of "plural" forms for singular nouns is common in the Hebrew Bible, and often connotes quintessence, uniqueness, or might (though it may also connote plurality).