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I have seen this problem occur repeatedly over the years in many ways, but mostly when it comes to Christianity, Buy Benicar Without Prescription. Those who know me well, know that I draw a distinction between Christians and professing Christians, order Benicar no prescription. And the reason I do this is quite simple. It has to do with whether or not the person/people taking the label bear any resemblance to the identifying marks described in the scriptures.
Where am I going with this. Ordering Benicar online, The other day, I was channel surfing and there was a documentary on regarding Fred Phelps and his Westboro Baptist Church. Buy Benicar Without Prescription, His church uses as its domain name, "godhatesfags.com". The church and its members hold protests outside of military funerals where they hold signs that read things from "Thank God for 9-11" to "AIDS is the Cure for Homosexuality". Phelp's example for his and his church's tactics is actually Jonah, online buying Benicar. When Jonah went to Nineveh, he proclaimed "In forty days Nineveh shall be destroyed." He did not tell them, Benicar used for, "God loves you". He didn't beg them to repent. He proclaimed destruction for their sin and the end result was nationwide repentance, Buy Benicar Without Prescription.
There are so many problems with this eisegesis. To begin with, Benicar online cod, Christians have their commandments; and we're to obey them. We are commanded to love. Benicar for sale, We're to love our God. Buy Benicar Without Prescription, We're to love our neighbors. We're to love our fellow brothers in Christ. And we're to love our enemies. We're also not to conform to this world, Benicar pictures, but to be conformed to the image of Christ. We're also to be compassionate. There are those who believe condemnation and warning are the sincerest form of love that can be expressed, Buy Benicar Without Prescription. Buy Benicar from canada, But it's hog wash.
The bible has many safe guards in it to keep God's people in check, to keep them from trampling over people in the name of God. This church's eisegesis takes a saying here and an example there to draw its key message, Benicar wiki. And it's a message of self-righteous hate and judgment.
On the other extreme, there are those who will say, Benicar street price, "God is love". Buy Benicar Without Prescription, Or they will declare that we're to hate the sin and love the sinner. How one can separate the two is still a mystery to me.
The bible makes it quite clear that God's wrath does in fact abide upon the wicked. It even uses words such as hate in describing the unconverted, Benicar class. To deny this is to declare ignorance of God's word. But the key is that this is God talking, Buy Benicar Without Prescription. God is capable of loving his creation for the simple fact that they are his handiwork, Benicar maximum dosage, while at the same time hating the same creation because they live in wanton disobedience to him. He can do this without any violation of his moral and righteous character. He is God and creator.
We, on the other hand, online Benicar without a prescription, are sinners. We are tainted, Online buy Benicar without a prescription, though we might be in the process of being conformed to the image of Christ. Buy Benicar Without Prescription, And as a result, we are incapable of loving and hating individuals with any form of righteous consistency. It is an absolute impossibility for us and the apostle Paul deals with the attainment of this type of righteousness in Philippians. For this reason, we are to live a particular way and in a consistent fashion with the commandments given to us, australia, uk, us, usa. The attainment and keeping of these commands is not what solely distinguishes us as his people. It is the keeping of them with love that marks us. And it's the love part that uplifts us and keeps us going when we, ourselves, fall short.
Phelps and his followers not only associate themselves as Baptists, but also as Calvinists, Buy Benicar Without Prescription. Rx free Benicar, For me, this is a double slam as I too consider myself to be both a Baptist as well as a Calvinist. While we may claim the same labels, and possibly tenets, real brand Benicar online, we appear to be very dissimilar. Our messages are different. Purchase Benicar online,
Am I suggesting that we are to adopt a homosexual in order to show how loving we are. Buy Benicar Without Prescription, No way. That is not what I am suggesting at all. However, I can say that while Jesus maintained his earthly ministry, purchase Benicar, he continually reached out to tax collectors, prostitutes, Benicar canada, mexico, india, and other sinners. He did not "hang" with the Sanhedrin. And as a result, the self-righteous accused him of loving and befriending every known group in the day, Benicar duration. The end result is that people responded to his message, Buy Benicar Without Prescription. They wanted to hear him.
It is difficult to draw a lot of conclusions here, Buy Benicar online cod, except to say we are not to draw a lot of them. We're to let the scriptures do that for us. We're to help and befriend those who are different than us. Buy Benicar Without Prescription, We are never to alienate them. We are never to drive a wedge between us and them, buy cheap Benicar. The bible and our faith may be wedge enough. We are also commanded to be the phos, Benicar mg, the light source of truth in this world. If we are not the phos, then the world will have no light source. This does not place God in a box or limit him, Buy Benicar Without Prescription. This is what God has declared in the bible, Benicar dosage. This is his plan for us. We are to be the light and the salt. Benicar alternatives, He uses the Holy Spirit to draw men unto him. Buy Benicar Without Prescription, In being drawn unto him, they are drawn to those who proclaim and live his word.
This mechanism is very simple when we do our part and allow God to do his. Invariably, it is the most difficult thing for all men. We may like to proclaim God's sovereignty, get Benicar. But to allow him to be sovereign in our lives is at enmity with our human nature. This is where we do so much of our battling. We try to execute the will of God in lives via force, as opposed to allowing God to reveal his will through our active and passive obedience, Buy Benicar Without Prescription. Benicar dangers,
When we live and proclaim God's word, people will be brought unto us. Some will listen and some will not. Those who listen provide us with an opportunity to expound, cheap Benicar no rx. And they may continue to listen until God regenerates their hearts and minds. Buy Benicar Without Prescription, Or they may leave. Then there are those who want nothing to do with our message. Buy generic Benicar, Are we to attack them. Make them feel bad. Warn them if they don't listen to us, they're going to burn, Benicar use. No, we're not, Buy Benicar Without Prescription. We are not to wastefully cast God's precious word upon them for them to trample it. We're to move on.
In declaring such hatred and in alienating people who are different, Benicar gel, ointment, cream, pill, spray, continuous-release, extended-release, Phelps and his followers have set themselves up to take the place of God the Father and the Holy Spirit. And at the end of the day, they provide one more obstacle, one more excuse, where can i order Benicar without prescription, why people should have nothing to do with Christianity.
They are not the only ones who act this way. Through the years I have encountered many others who employ similar self-righteous tactics. We should refrain from such behavior and truly glean from the scriptures how we are to treat all those we come into contact with.
Buy Benicar Without Prescription, Bear in mind that there will come a day when many will stand before God and will declare all the good works they've performed and all the messages they've preached. My Benicar experience, In the end, God will proclaim to them that he never ever knew them. Not even for a moment.
As we end this year, ask yourself a couple of questions. Does your salt have flavor. Do you bear light, Buy Benicar Without Prescription. Do you love those who hate and persecute you. Or do you simply do good to those who do good back to you, who believe as you do. What kind of Christian are you. Does the world even consider you to be a decent person?
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17/12/2007 at 10:12 am Permalink
Loving our enemies is one of the hardest parts of being a Christian for some people. They prefer to exclaim that they are “telling the truth in love” instead of loving in order to find the truth. To wish death and destruction upon others is clearly not what God intends for us.
I would be curious to hear your thoughts on “The Golden Compass” particularly in light of your Calvinist faith. I’ve not seen the movie, but adored the books. One of the differences in Lyra’s world (in the book) is that during the Reformation Calvin and the Catholic Church reached an accord to bring Calvin’s followers back into the Catholic fold, making Calvin Pope in the process. It is this Calvinist Catholic church that rules Europe, in the book.
17/12/2007 at 11:18 am Permalink
Bunny: You are absolutely correct. God may declare death and destruction upon his enemies. But Christ laid an example for us, which is supported by commandments and doctrine, that make it clear we are not to be the militant ones. This does not mean we cannot war with other nations. Nor does it mean we cannot defend ourselves.
I actually enjoyed the movie, though I have not read any of the books. I have certainly had my ear filled with the controversy, including the anti-God philosophy of the author. The funny thing is that if my theology is sound, all people are anti-God unless they have been regenerated by him.
I actually found the Golden Compass to be no different than just about any movie out there. Over the years we have had the Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, Harry Potter and even Mary Poppins. They have all introduced their notion of some authority or power– not necessarily God.
What I didn’t find in this first movie of the series was an overt attack and celebration against God. Honestly, I would have had a serious problem with that. De Vinci Code was much more overt in its attack against Christianity. And frankly, I thought the movie sucked.
A couple of years back another movie caused great controversy– the Passion of the Christ. Many fundamentalists actually took their congregations to see the movie so that they might be able to answer questions or minister. I was not one of the ones to see this movie, and have not since it came out. I had a simple problem with the movie. I knew the underlying premise and story from my faith. And through my faith, I know the outcome– at least what I have been intended to know. So I was faced with the issue of what did I hope to accomplish by seeing it? Did I hope to enhance my faith with sight? Or did I hope to derive pleasure from a “great” production? I felt neither was appropriate for me personally. And while I have not had an issue with others seeing it, I felt there was no need to personally set aside the time.
The re-unification of the Catholic Church and Calvinists is an interesting twist for sure. If you consider the non-Calvinist fallout of the reformation and the ecumenical movement, this is hardly a stretch. If you look at cultural fundamentalists and their embracement of “standards” or men’s rules, it is not a stretch.
Through the centuries there have been many such re-unifications or integrations between nations/people proclaiming to be God’s and with pagan cultures. There has always been, however, a remnant that truly reflected God’s grace. I’m not sure if this is true in the Golden Compass books or not. It is a common theme in a lot of cultures and movies to reflect this principal.
Thanks for your comment! I really appreciate it.
24/12/2007 at 8:54 am Permalink
Great article, Mike. Is it okay if I hate Fred Phelps?
24/12/2007 at 9:04 am Permalink
Gordan: Well…
Actually, I do find the guy, his followers and what they do to be rather deplorable. Hate, hmm… Let’s just say I won’t judge you
29/12/2007 at 10:36 am Permalink
I think Fred Phelps and his brain washed followers hide behind their ‘religion’ to spread their ridiculous hate and nastiness.
It’s absolutely naseating to me, as well as infuriating.
What happened to being accepting of others even if they are not exactly like ourselves, isn’t that what makes the world go round…that eveyone is unique????
I find it really pathetic that there are so many people who use their religion as an ‘excuse’ to look down on, pass judgement on/over and have such bent views. What is most sad though is it makes people like me, who already have had a bad taste of religion shoved down their throat, withdraw even further from the idea (of religion).
Fortunately I have someone like you to show me that it’s possible for it to NOT have to be like that…..
30/12/2007 at 8:38 pm Permalink
I was unaware of WBC’s M.O. so this was enlightening and thought-provoking.
To my mind, categorizing Jonah as “fire & brimstone” was always obscured by an intense admiration for his results!
But, as long as we’re talking Old Testament figures, if we were as faithful as Job, wouldn’t we “thank God for 9/11?” (Job 1:21-22)
Does the gut-wrenching revulsion that wells up in our spirits at the mere thought of such a sentiment tell us how far we are from desiring God’s will?
31/12/2007 at 10:49 am Permalink
EE: I think accepting people as they are is certainly a key element. It’s not up to make people conform one way or another. And even as a Christian, it’s not up to me. It’s up to God. So, if God hasn’t conformed them to my standards and beliefs, who am I to judge them?
Moonshadow: The funny part of admiring Jonah for his results is that he tried to avoid the calling in the first place, because of the results. He knew the prophecies regarding his people and nation being taken into captivity only 60 years or so later. If he didn’t give the message, then he wouldn’t be instrumental in the Assyrians having the ability to do such a thing.
And I don’t think we have to look to the O.T. for that. The mandate is to give thanks in ALL things for it’s the will of God in Christ Jesus. However, this is a thankfulness in the sovereignty of God. We’re also to have pity, mercy and compassion on those who suffer.
I’m not sure I understand the last question. If it’s concerning the acts of 9/11, then our revulsion is a good thing. They were acts of evil. Images of God in man were destroyed. Innocent blood was shed in a murderous fashion and God has made it clear that he will bring about his own vengeance.
If it’s regarding a lack of thankfulness, I can only account for my own heart on that subject. I don’t know the thankfulness of others. I’d say in general, we’re not usually thankful when we should be. Why should 9/11 have been any different?
03/01/2008 at 8:36 am Permalink
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