christianityandme

Churches urged to back evolution

Filed under: News — admin @ 4:11 am

US scientists have called on mainstream religious communities to help them fight policies that undermine the teaching of evolution. The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) hit out at the “intelligent design” movement at its annual meeting in Missouri.

Teaching the idea threatens scientific literacy among schoolchildren, it said. Its proponents argue life on Earth is too complex to have evolved on its own. As the name suggests, intelligent design is a concept invoking the hand of a designer in nature.

There have been several attempts across the US by anti-evolutionists to get intelligent design taught in school science lessons. At the meeting in St Louis, the AAAS issued a statement strongly condemning the moves.

“Such veiled attempts to wedge religion - actually just one kind of religion - into science classrooms is a disservice to students, parents, teachers and taxpayers,” said AAAS president Gilbert Omenn. “It’s time to recognise that science and religion should never be pitted against each other. They can and do co-exist in the context of most people’s lives. Just not in science classrooms, lest we confuse our children.”

‘Who’s kidding whom?’

Eugenie Scott, director of the National Center for Science Education, which campaigns to keep the teaching of evolution in public schools, said those in mainstream religious communities needed to “step up to the plate” in order to prevent the issue being viewed as a battle between science and religion.

Some have already heeded the warning. “The intelligent design movement belittles religion. It makes God a designer - an engineer,” said George Coyne, director of the Vatican Observatory. “Intelligent design concentrates on a designer who they do not really identify - but who’s kidding whom?”

Last year, a federal judge ruled in favour of 11 parents in Dover, Pennsylvania, who argued that Darwinian evolution must be taught as fact. Dover school administrators had pushed for intelligent design to be inserted into science teaching. But the judge ruled this violated the constitution, which sets out a clear separation between religion and state.

Despite the ruling, more challenges are on the way. Fourteen US states are considering bills that scientists say would restrict the teaching of evolution. These include a legislative bill in Missouri which seeks to ensure that only science which can be proven by experiment is taught in schools.

“The new strategy is to teach intelligent design without calling it intelligent design,” biologist Kenneth Miller, of Brown University in Rhode Island, told the BBC.

Dr Miller, an expert witness in the Dover School case, added: “The advocates of intelligent design and creationism have tried to repackage their criticisms, saying they want to teach the evidence for evolution and the evidence against evolution.”

However, Mark Gihring, a teacher from Missouri sympathetic to intelligent design, told the BBC: “I think if we look at where the empirical scientific evidence leads us, it leads us towards intelligent design.

“[Intelligent design] ultimately takes us back to why we’re here and the value of life… if an individual doesn’t have a reason for being, they might carry themselves in a way that is ultimately destructive for society.”

Economic risk

The decentralised US education system ensures that intelligent design will remain an issue in the classroom regardless of the decision in the Dover case. “I think as a legal strategy, intelligent design is dead. That does not mean intelligent design as a social movement is dead,” said Ms Scott.

“This is an idea that has real legs and it’s going to be around for a long time. It will, however, evolve.” Among the most high-profile champions of intelligent design is US President George W Bush, who has said schools should make students aware of the concept. But Mr Omenn warned that teaching intelligent design would deprive students of a proper education, ultimately harming the US economy.

“At a time when fewer US students are heading into science, baby boomer scientists are retiring in growing numbers and international students are returning home to work, America can ill afford the time and tax-payer dollars debating the facts of evolution,” he said.

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Bible Classes - Part 1, Post 1

Filed under: News — josh @ 3:39 am

Hey everyone. I hope you all are doing well.

I started my second year of Bible classes at my home church, Church on Fire, yesterday. I went last year and the classes were awesome. We have a small church and thus a small class, but it’s actually better because it can be more one on one. I’m going to share what we are learning and my experiences at the classes, so hopefully you’ll enjoy it.

We have three classes. The first is being taught by Mike & Debbie Fox, who are evangelists at our church and sort of serve as secondary pastors. The second class is being taught by Jim & Elaine Dunn, my pastor’s parents, and the last class is during Wed.’s, which is a regular church service, but also doubles as our class, and it’s taught by my pastor, Aaron Dunn.

The first class is on Evangelism and the course is called “Called To Be A Soulwinner”. The 2nd class is “Old Testament Survey” and it’s basically an overview of the Old Testament. The third class is called “Understanding the Authority of God”.

I’ll go ahead and relay the majority of my notes here as well as chime in with other things.

Mrs. Debbie gave us some handouts she typed up (it’s funny, Mike originally was going to just include a bunch of papers in our folder . . . but make them blank! Cause he said you work off the Holy Spirit when you are evangelising, but he went ahead and let his wife type up “real” notes. Which is good cause they are useful! )

The title of the notes is (these are typed up ones. She simply had us fill in the blanks):
“Our Purpose, Mandate (which means assignment), and Calling: To Have A Heart For The Lost”

Mark 16:15-20: “Then He said, “Go into the world. Go everywhere and announce the message of God’s good news to one and all. Whoever believes and is baptized is saved, whoever refuses is damned. These are some of the signs that will accompany believers: They will throw out demons in my name, they will speak in new tongues, they will take snakes in their hands, they will drink poison and not be hurt, they will lay hands on the sick and make them well.” Then the Master Jesus, after briefing them, was taken up to heaven, and He sat down beside God in the place of hono. And the disciples went everywhere preaching, the Master working right with them, validating the Message with indisputable evidence.” (From the Message version)

God has commissioned us to go forth and preach the Gospel. There are people you meet every day that have not experienced the joy of knowing Jesus personally! They are dying, hurting inside and waiting for someone to give them hope for a better tomorrow.

Mrs. Debbie and Mike did a very cool thing in emphasising the fact that we all have our place in the body of Christ. No matter who you are, God has a job and a mission and a purpose for you. Every person is called to some kind of ministry, be it formal or informal. And one reason, one that had never crossed my mind, as to why each and every one of us is needed, is because every one of us knows people that other people do not know. Debbie told us a story about a guy from Romania (who actually came to our church a couple weeks ago. UNFORTUNEATLY I didn’t go. ) who had spent weeks ministering to the gypsies there. But he got really disappointed when no one got saved and he was making no headway, no one seemed to even be listening. So he thought he was just wasting his time or whatnot, and he got ready to pack his bags and leave. He was really sad for the people, obviously, and he asked God, “Why is no one responding? I guess God you are telling me that this just isn’t the right time or the right place for me right now. I’m going to leave.” (I am paraphrasing as I don’t remember exactly what she said). But then God spoke to him loudly and clearly, saying something to the effect of “Ron, you can not go! I have no one left to send. You are the only one who can save these people!”

It was just one of those things that shakes you to the core. To realize that God cannot impose His will on us without us accepting it first, which means there may be no one He has, cause no one has accepted Him, thuse He is powerless to reach the people. Which is why it is so important to preach and tell people about Jesus. Cause, as they also said, you never know when their time might be up. Especially if the Holy Spirit is unctioning, you must take action and open your mouth for THEIR sake. God might not have anybody else, and therefore you have a purpose simply in that.

To go on with my notes . . .

Romans 10: 13-17
“For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach, except they be sent? As it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!’ Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by The Word of God.”

(The end of this verse, btw, is saying that your own faith grows simply by hearing the Word of God being preached. Which is why it is so important to simply talk about God with others, it helps to build their faith and plant that seed, wherein God can start working in the person. They don’t have to read the Bible to be saved)

According to scripture, five things must happen for one to be saved.
1. Someone must be sent. We’re all commissioned! God has already called you.
2. That person must preach the gospel.
3. Whosoever is being preached to must hear the Word.
4. They must then believe it.
5. Then they must call upon the Lord themselves.

You Are A Soulwinner!
- We must realize that we have the Truth!
- Realize that you are important to God, and He need YOU to share Jesus with the world.
- You have a specific part in the body of Christ and no one can take your place.
1 Cor. 12:12-21
- According to scripture, God expects every believer to bring others to Christ.

(17 Therefore if any person is [ingrafted] in Christ (the Messiah) he is a new creation (a new creature altogether); the old [previous moral and spiritual condition] has passed away. Behold, the fresh and new has come! 18 But all things are from God, Who through Jesus Christ reconciled us to Himself [received us into favor, brought us into harmony with Himself] and gave to us the ministry of reconciliation [that by word and deed we might aim to bring others into harmony with Him].) II Cor. 5:17-18 - Amplified Bible

- Every believer has a ministry!
- We are the Father’s “sent” ones!
- The Father desires you to bear fruit (fruit=souls)
“You didn’t choose me, remember; I chose you, and put you in the world to bear fruit, fruit that won’t spoil. As fruit bearers, whatever you ask the Father in relation to me, he gives you.”
John 15:16 - The Message

- The heathen are our inheritence! Psalm 2:8 (You have the right to believe God for souls)
- God enables you to be successful in all you do!

Colossians 2:10
10 And you are. in Him, made full and having come to fullness of life [in Christ you too are filled with the Godhead–Father, Son and Holy Spirit–and reach full spiritual stature]. And He is the Head of all rule and authority [of every angelic principality and power]. - Amplified

10 When you come to him, that fullness comes together for you, too. His power extends over everything. - The Message

II Cor. 3:6
6[It is He] Who has qualified us [making us to be fit and worthy and sufficient] as ministers and dispensers of a new covenant [of salvation through Christ], not [ministers] of the letter (of legally written code) but of the Spirit; for the code [of the Law] kills, but the [Holy] Spirit makes alive. - Amplified

Well . . . that’s all I’ll cover today. I’ll get to the rest tomorrow.

There’s also some really cool stories that I’d like to relay, ones that Mike and Mrs. Debbie have told us.

Here is one amazing one that I’ll share tonight:

Mrs. Debbie one time was in Columbia, preaching. One night some thugs jumped her, dragged her into a room, and pointed a gun to her head (there was about four of them), and told her that they’d shoot her if she didn’t renounce Jesus. She replied, “Well then you’ll have to shoot me.” For some reason they didn’t, and they let her go. At a church service later on, those same guys came, with their guns on their belts. Throughout the service they were patting them and taunting her. Now, my memory is a bit fuzzy (I’m getting the classes on a CD soon, so when I do I can fill this in and correct any mistakes) but at least one of those guys, the leader, accepted Christ. He was later assassinated.

Powerful story.

Also, just to let you all know, Mrs. Debbie is one of the sweetest people you will ever meet. She is one of those Christians who is so completely sold out for God, cause they have seen and experienced it all, that she is nothing but pure passion for the Lord and for people (thus her class on being a soulwinner). She is such a gentle and kind person that she was actually brought to tears multiple times when simply talking about saving people and relating stories of her childhood (she remembers looking to her classmates and crying over the fact that she knew they weren’t saved and didn’t know Jesus like she did) and evangelical/missionary experiences to us. She is so genuine that you can’t help but to be moved and to smile when she speaks. She is probably the purest person of love that I know. Someone who LIVES it with their all with no mean bone in her body. And she’s seen so many miracles in her life, and can sing and speaks fluent Spanish to boot.

So anyway, I hope you enjoy and I pray you will get something out of these updates. God bless!

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Italian judge stops courtcase over Jesus’ existence

Filed under: News — admin @ 3:00 am

Our “Priest who might be tried for saying Jesus existed” story now gets a closing: The Italian atheist lost his legal crusade against the Catholic Church on Thursday when a judge rejected his attempts to sue a priest for saying that Jesus existed 2,000 years ago, the priest’s lawyer said.

Luigi Cascioli, 72, had argued his hometown priest and former schoolmate had effectively broken an Italian law meant to protect the public from being conned. But instead of granting Cascioli his request to bring the case to court, the judge recommended magistrates investigate him for slandering priest Enrico Righi, Righi’s lawyer, Bruno Severo said.

The 76-year-old priest said he was delighted by the news, he said: “Thank God it’s over,” Righi told Reuters. “I’m glad it has ended like this, because imagine if it had gone on and on.”

Cascioli, author of a book called “The Fable of Christ,” said the court had not yet informed him of the ruling. But he was not surprised, and said he would appeal to Italy’s highest court, and then to The Hague.

Asked about the possibility he would be tried for slander, Cascioli chuckled, saying that to prove he lied, prosecutors would have to prove that Jesus existed. “They don’t have any proof,” he said.

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450 Christian churches celebrate Darwin’s 197th birthday

Filed under: News — admin @ 2:17 am

Nearly 450 Christian churches in the United States celebrated the 197th birthday of Charles Darwin yesterday (Sunday). The churches say Darwin’s theory of biological evolution is compatible with faith and that Christians have no need to choose between religion and science, the Chicago Tribune reported.

“It’s to demonstrate, by Christian leaders and members of the clergy, that you don’t have to make that choice. You can have both,” said Michael Zimmerman, dean of the College of Letters and Sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, who organized the Evolution Sunday event.

A variety of denominational and non-denominational churches, including Methodist, Lutheran, Episcopalian, Presbyterian, Unitarian, Congregationalist, United Church of Christ, Baptist and a host of community churches, are participating in the event, which grew out of Zimmerman’s The Clergy Letter Project, another effort to dispel the perception among many Christians that faith and evolution are mutually exclusive, the newspaper said.

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Finding passage quotes online

Filed under: News — admin @ 2:59 pm

Have you ever tried out www.biblegateway.com ? It’s basically all the verses you could want to find, in digital form, online. Instead of looking for a passage quote in the Bible, you can type in a number or if you don’t recall… a keyword. It’s a fun feature. I typed in Jesus and then clicked Genesis 1 to get the following:

The Beginning
1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

2 Now the earth was [a] formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.

3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 God saw that the light was good, and He separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.

6 And God said, “Let there be an expanse between the waters to separate water from water.” 7 So God made the expanse and separated the water under the expanse from the water above it. And it was so. 8 God called the expanse “sky.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the second day.

9 And God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.” And it was so. 10 God called the dry ground “land,” and the gathered waters he called “seas.” And God saw that it was good.

11 Then God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.” And it was so. 12 The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. 13 And there was evening, and there was morning—the third day.

14 And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years, 15 and let them be lights in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth.” And it was so. 16 God made two great lights—the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. 17 God set them in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth, 18 to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good. 19 And there was evening, and there was morning—the fourth day.

20 And God said, “Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the sky.” 21 So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living and moving thing with which the water teems, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 22 God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth.” 23 And there was evening, and there was morning—the fifth day.

24 And God said, “Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: livestock, creatures that move along the ground, and wild animals, each according to its kind.” And it was so. 25 God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.

26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, [b] and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”

27 So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them.

28 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”

29 Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. 30 And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air and all the creatures that move on the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.” And it was so.

31 God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.

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Jessica Simpson turns to Christianity to heal

Filed under: News — admin @ 4:18 am

Superstar Jessica Simpson, also called the ultimate blonde, is returning to her Christian roots in a bid to overcome the heartbreak of her impending divorce from Nick Lachey. The “Dukes of Hazzard” beauty has posted a personal message on her website encouraging her fans to embrace themselves if they want to discover true happiness.

Appearing originally as an unpunctuated stream of consciousness, the religious Simpson writes, “I just wanted to let ya’ll know that with everything we go through in life, the good, the bad, the ugly, the sad, the right, the wrong, the-think-we-don’t-belong, we all have to allow our hearts to remain open to create who we are. Find that for yourself no matter what. Take the advice from the wisdom of those we love. Remember that bad company corrupts good character.

Breathe to allow yourself the freedom to just be. Getting to know yourself is so important. Spend time alone with your thoughts for this creates a world of true serenity. Do not be afraid. Inner beauty, outward charm - greet everyone we meet with a smile (unless it is paparazzi - haha), a smile is contagious.”

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P.O.D.’s latest album, Testify, finally hits stores

Filed under: News — josh @ 2:15 am

As a big fan of nu-metal rock quartet Payable On Death, I have been highly anticipating their brand new album, which I’ve mentioned in this space before. Well, the new album has finally hit stores! It’s called Testify, and I’ve been hearing great things about it. I love the albums logo too. It makes me extremely happy to see P.O.D. returning to their spiritual roots. Even though they always have been; they’ve always been pretty vocal in letting it be known that they are in fact Christians, and they do percieve their music through a Christian lense. They certainly never have denied their faith, but they did recieve a lot of flack for their previous self-titled album in which they didn’t blatantly make any mentions toward God or Jesus, using instead the ambigious “You” or, more commonly, the P.O.D. staple phrase “Jah”, which is in reference to “Jehova”, naturally. (though an uninformed person may not notice or make the connection)

So P.O.D. must’ve sensed the dismay from their core fanbase, who certainly like to see them talk about God, as well as from other outlets who had called them sell-outs. People had even spread rumors that they were no longer Christians (if money is going to sell you out to God then you must not have been a true believer in the first place IMO). Of course,P.O.D. themselves had always maintained that they were Christians, and their music, even on their last album, did reflect it. It simply wasn’t blatantly speaking about God or Christ, and down from their break-out second major album, Satellite, which is the one that got them really popular in the first place and featured mentions of God and faith prominently (especially on the title-track Satellite).

I was also very happy to find out that a Deluxe Edition of the album is also available. I was looking for it the other day and ended up finding several copies at Best Buy (for some reason the Christian bookstore I went to had tons of copies of the regular album but no deluxe editions). Much to my surprise, the limited edition was much more than simply an extra disc added to a standard jewel case, which is usually the case with special edition albums. P.O.D. went all out for the limited edition of Testify. Instead you get a very nice steel case (which reminded me of the special edition Halo 2 case), with an included 24-page full color booklet, and an extra DVD disc that includes not only a documentary on the album but also commentary for every track! The limited edition also includes 5 new songs! Very cool to see them supporting their fans so much, the are good to us Warriors (P.O.D. fans are called Warrior’s in case you didn’t know)

So I can’t wait to get the new album and I hope every Christian goes out to support this album and P.O.D. for being the light to the world that God has called them to be. You may see them on TV as well. They’ve been making a lot of appearances on TRL and even Jay Leno and Carson Dailey’s show, unfortuneatly I have missed all their appearences, but I’ll post a link to where you can view or download them if I can manage to find a site that has the videos posted.

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