Interesting Questions
Someone who leaves comments here has asked a series of questions I thought were interesting. Although I don't presume to speak for Christianity, only Jesus does that, I thought I'd give my response. I'm not perfect, but I pray that I'll reflect a small glimmer of Christ.
1. What does "immoral" mean?
For those who are under grace, it is to disobey the New Testament commandments. For those who are under the law, it is to disobey the Old Testament law.
2. Does the def. of "immoral" change over time?
No, it does not. It's always the same as above.
3. What is intended by "sexual immorality"?
Sexual relationships outside of marriage (one man and one woman); activities that weaken marriage (since marriage is God's plan for us and is an image of Christ's relationship with His church); and those activities God has defined as wrong.
4. How do other religions (Islam ect.) fit into your Christian box? Are they
immoral?
Other religions, including the religion of athesism, have some moral teachings. There are good people who have non-Christian beliefs. Other religions do many good, moral things. But that does not make then right, nor does it overcome their breaking God's commandment to have no other Gods before Him.
5. Do these other groups have rights?
I think you define the word "right" differently than I do, so a discussion of "rights" is not possible until we define what we each mean by "right". What I mean by the word "rights" are those rights that come from God, and those rights God has given to be under the control of our government. A right given to us by the government is the right to vote and participate in our government, for example. This is an area in which God says we are subject to government.
What is a "right" that comes from God? We may choose for ourselves either freedom or slavery. All groups, and individual people, have the right to choose freedom God under God or slavery to sin--because there is no freedom in sin. Your sin will control your life, you do not control your sin.
6. What do you (MTA) think about globalization?
Globalization is a "wonderful" term that gives some people something they can protest and make themselves feel good about because they've "done something", without their really having to get "dirty" by actually going out and helping people. By the way, would you like to contribute to help support my upcoming trip to work in orphanages, hospitals and schools in a third world country? Just make your check out to MTA and mail it to: P.O. Box 974, Tualatin, OR 97062. Or maybe you'd like to come along (you'd have to agree to, and live out, a statement of faith). The Bible repeatedly tells us to "do" and be servants of others. It's true that not all Christians obey Jesus in this, but that does not change the fact that this is part of what Christianity is.
7. Is the destruction of a culture by an outside force immoral?
Cultures grow and change every day. Your culture, where you live, is not the same as it was 100 years ago. Why did it change? Outside influences (forces), through the transmittal of information. In the past information traveled slowly, and cultures changed slowly. Now information travels fast, and culture changes just as fast. So the change of a culture is normal and natural. The good news is that unlike Islam, Buddism, Hinduism, and all other religions, Christianity is the ONLY religion that embraces all cultures and celebrates diversity. Christians, however, will chose to not violate God's law--and that may influence the culture. The classic example is that South American headhunters who become Christian will choose to give up being headhunters.
Atheism, on the other hand, is a major force that destroys cultures and is overt about doing it. That's what already has happened in Europe and is going on in America today.
8. Does might make right?
You are asking questions 1 and 2 again. The answers to those two questions apply here.
For an atheist the answer is yes. Only the strong survive. This is easy to see in the hundred's of millions who have been slaughtered by atheistic cultures/governments just in the 20th century.
For a Christian the answer is that God defines what is right--and it has nothing to do with our human "might".
9. Is it possible to be in the military and gay at the same time?
That's up to the military.
1. What does "immoral" mean?
For those who are under grace, it is to disobey the New Testament commandments. For those who are under the law, it is to disobey the Old Testament law.
2. Does the def. of "immoral" change over time?
No, it does not. It's always the same as above.
3. What is intended by "sexual immorality"?
Sexual relationships outside of marriage (one man and one woman); activities that weaken marriage (since marriage is God's plan for us and is an image of Christ's relationship with His church); and those activities God has defined as wrong.
4. How do other religions (Islam ect.) fit into your Christian box? Are they
immoral?
Other religions, including the religion of athesism, have some moral teachings. There are good people who have non-Christian beliefs. Other religions do many good, moral things. But that does not make then right, nor does it overcome their breaking God's commandment to have no other Gods before Him.
5. Do these other groups have rights?
I think you define the word "right" differently than I do, so a discussion of "rights" is not possible until we define what we each mean by "right". What I mean by the word "rights" are those rights that come from God, and those rights God has given to be under the control of our government. A right given to us by the government is the right to vote and participate in our government, for example. This is an area in which God says we are subject to government.
What is a "right" that comes from God? We may choose for ourselves either freedom or slavery. All groups, and individual people, have the right to choose freedom God under God or slavery to sin--because there is no freedom in sin. Your sin will control your life, you do not control your sin.
6. What do you (MTA) think about globalization?
Globalization is a "wonderful" term that gives some people something they can protest and make themselves feel good about because they've "done something", without their really having to get "dirty" by actually going out and helping people. By the way, would you like to contribute to help support my upcoming trip to work in orphanages, hospitals and schools in a third world country? Just make your check out to MTA and mail it to: P.O. Box 974, Tualatin, OR 97062. Or maybe you'd like to come along (you'd have to agree to, and live out, a statement of faith). The Bible repeatedly tells us to "do" and be servants of others. It's true that not all Christians obey Jesus in this, but that does not change the fact that this is part of what Christianity is.
7. Is the destruction of a culture by an outside force immoral?
Cultures grow and change every day. Your culture, where you live, is not the same as it was 100 years ago. Why did it change? Outside influences (forces), through the transmittal of information. In the past information traveled slowly, and cultures changed slowly. Now information travels fast, and culture changes just as fast. So the change of a culture is normal and natural. The good news is that unlike Islam, Buddism, Hinduism, and all other religions, Christianity is the ONLY religion that embraces all cultures and celebrates diversity. Christians, however, will chose to not violate God's law--and that may influence the culture. The classic example is that South American headhunters who become Christian will choose to give up being headhunters.
Atheism, on the other hand, is a major force that destroys cultures and is overt about doing it. That's what already has happened in Europe and is going on in America today.
8. Does might make right?
You are asking questions 1 and 2 again. The answers to those two questions apply here.
For an atheist the answer is yes. Only the strong survive. This is easy to see in the hundred's of millions who have been slaughtered by atheistic cultures/governments just in the 20th century.
For a Christian the answer is that God defines what is right--and it has nothing to do with our human "might".
9. Is it possible to be in the military and gay at the same time?
That's up to the military.
posted by BrickBalloon
Read This Post In Our: Christianity in America Blog Archive
7 Comments:
Should I make that check out to MTA or Davis or somebody else? Just kidding. The check is in the mail.
"For those who are under grace, it is to disobey the New Testament commandments. For those who are under the law, it is to disobey the Old Testament law."
There are at least two def. of "immoral"? Were native americans immoral?
"For an atheist the answer is yes. Only the strong survive. This is easy to see in the hundred's of millions who have been slaughtered by atheistic cultures/governments just in the 20th century."
The United States is an atheist country?
The distinction between the Old Testament Law and New Testament Law is not what you seem to be thinking. The difference is not that there are two separate sets of laws, the difference is that the cross separates the two.
Jews and Muslims have chosen to live under the Old Testament law. That means that in order to have eternal life they must perfectly obey the Old Testament law. To break one Old Testament law is the same as breaking them all.
Have you perfectly obeyed all of the Ten Commandments? I haven't. No one can. It's impossible to have eternal life by obeying the Old Testament law.
So then, what is the purpose of the Old Trestament law?
It shows us that we can not obey the law. It shows us that on our own we can not meet the standard required for eternal life. It shows us we are guilty and we must pay the penalty for breaking God's law, which is death (this is not talking about our physical death, but eternal death).
But there is God news! Someone has paid you penalty on your behalf. You've done the crime, but someone else has done the time--Jesus. He died so that you will not have to die.
Those who accept Jesus' free gift are now on the other side of the cross, and under New Testament law. Are they obligated to obey New Testament law? No, they are not. They do not lose eternal life because they break a New Testament law.
So what is the purpose of the New Testament law?
It is how we show our love for God. We obey the New Testament law because we want to, not because we have to.
So what about everyone else? People such as yourself and early Native Americans? You are also under God's law (Old and New Testament moral law combined), to the extent you are aware of it. You are held accountable for what you know. In your case you are aware of a major portion of God's law because of the culture you live in and the resources (such as the internet) available to you.
Early Native American's were also aware of God's law in part. Paul writes in Roman's 2:14-15
"For when you Gentiles [non-belivers] who do not have the Law do instinctively the things of the Law, those not having the Law, are a law to themselves, in that they show the work of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness and their thoughts alternately accusing or else defending them." (NASB)
In Jeremiah 31 God says that He will put His law in the hearts of people. The above quote from Romans says that He has done that--and because we all have some knowledge of God's law, we are held accountable for disobeying that which we have knowledge of.
In question 7 above you asked: "Is the destruction of a culture by an outside force immoral?" My answer is that atheistic Europe has declared war on America and is agressively attacking America. The question is not whether America is atheistic, the question is your original question: Is the destruction of our American Christan culture by Europe immoral? What do you think?
BTW, thank you for the donation. It is very badly needed.
Just a couple things first. You misspelled Christian (notice the second "i"). There are other errors, but this is the funniest. Really, just run spell check. It will do you wonders. Those computer guys, what will they come up with next. This is not to say that my prose is perfect. Another thing, I must confess, the check.. is not in the mail. 'Tis very sad. I should not have lied father. I thought you would get the joke.
"The point of Christianity is not what you believe, but who you trust." I did not make that up. How sad is this commentary. That really does not have to do with anything. I am still shocked at the comment.
"For an atheist the answer is yes. Only the strong survive. This is easy to see in the hundred's of millions who have been slaughtered by atheistic cultures/governments just in the 20th century." I did not make that one up either. The U.S. has done these very acts. By your own definition, we are an atheist country. It is not fair or accurate to blame the deaths of millions on atheists or any other personal belief. For the record, I do not think the U.S. is an atheistic country. On the other hand, the U.S. is not Christian.
You ask me, "Is the destruction of our American Christan culture by Europe immoral?" I think your question is flawed. It also contradicts your own statements. We seemed to agree that the U.S. was, at the very least, not a Christian country. Yet, here you use the words "our American Christian culture". I am not Christian and do not live in a Christian culture. The U.S. is not Christian. What do you mean by "our American Christian culture"? I am going to guess that you are referring to "our America" being invaded by atheistic Europe. The more I think about it, the more difficult it is to label a country (or continent) with a religious outlook. Especially, when discussing western countries such as the U.S. and those in Europe.
I suppose your real question is, "Is the destruction of our American culture by Europe immoral?" Europe (in my re-wording of your question) is being referred to without any connotations or labels ect. to religion. This question I also disagree with. I do not think the highly exportable American culture is being destroyed by Europe. If anything, we are imposing our fast-food nation on them. Is it, then, immoral to impose our culture on Europe? It seems that Europe and the U.S. have entered into trade agreements of their own free will. The mingling of our cultures is done with the approval of each group. For me, this falls into the moral category.
After thinking about this question more leads me to hypothesize that "American culture" could mean something different. Previously, I had thought that you were talking about present day America. You could have intended the question to be about native Americans. In this case I would think that Europeans did illegally take the area known as America. This would be immoral.
Or, you could have been questioning about Christian Americans being pushed around by current Atheist Europeans. If you feel that your culture is being destroyed. A letter to your local, state or national government may be in order.
I guess my point to all this rambling is, I disagree with your assumptions. I do not think America is under attack by Europe (the atheistic Europe or other types of Europe). Only religious fanatics seem to be attacking our nation. I should clarify here. These religious fanatics fly commercial planes into buildings and shoot/capture/kill people for the only reason as to what they believe in (ie. Even you are not attacking the U.S.).
Thank you again for pointing out the typo. I'm always pleased to hear about them and fix them as soon as is possible. In assigning a reason for typos, please be aware that not everyone always has a spell checker available and that physical problems may--at times--make avoiding typos difficult. Even the Blogger spell checker has problems as it does not run on computers with non-Microsoft operating systems and browsers.
It seems we disagree on many points, including what you think I think. I suppose I am not doing well at communicating. There is no doubt in my mind that America is a Christian country--although Hollywood and the media in particular are working hard at creating a non-Christian culture. Our laws, form of government, business practices, history, and much of our culture are all rooted in Christianity--and continue to be Thank you again for pointing out the typo. I'm always pleased to hear about them and fix them as soon as is possible. In assigning a reason for typos, please be aware that not everyone always has a spell checker available and that physical problems may--at times--make avoiding typos difficult. Even the Blogger spell checker has problems as it does not run on computers with non-Microsoft operating systems and browsers.
It seems we disagree on many points, including what you think I think. I suppose I am not doing well at communicating. There is no doubt in my mind that America is a Christian country--although Hollywood and the media in particular are working hard at creating a non-Christian culture. Our laws, form of government, business practices, history, and much of our culture are all rooted in Christianity--and continue to be basically Christian in nature.
When I mentioned the slaughter carried out by atheistic countries I'm referring to the 12 million murdered by Hitler (an atheistic government that believed in the survival of the fittest). I'm talking about the tens of millions slaughtered by Stalin - another atheistic government. I'm talking about the 100 millions slaughtered by communist Red China. I'm talking about the killing fields in Cambodia. And today is a special day. It is the anniversary of Sudam Hussein's killing of 10,000 Kurds in one day using poison gas - another slaughter by an atheist.
Yes, the U.S. has done some wrong things. For example, you are right, America has slaughtered millions of innocent children. And we are not doing anything to stop it. I'd like to see the slaughter stopped right NOW, but our courts won't allow it. Over 40,000,000 babies have been killed by abortions since Row v. Wade. That's a slaughter equal to what Stalin did!! Except we are killing innocent babies! Is this moral? At some point we, as a country, will be held accountable to God for this.
The difference between what you call highly exportable American culture, and the attack against America by European atheism, is that the countries into which American culture is going welcomes it. As you said, it is their own free will. However, we do not welcome the "culture" Europe is trying to force on us.
Yes, America is also under attack by people who use religion as a cover for their culture of hatred. What they are attempting to do is not moral--as well as what they are doing in Iraq not being moral when they cut the heads off innocent women and children.
As far as Christian fundamentalists--I don't see them as much of a force for change--and other than being vocal over 30 years ago, they never were much of a force for change. The strength of Christianity in America today is in the everyday follower of Christ. People who are trusting the Lord for their salvation, and are living out the Lord Jesus' instructions to love God and love their neighbors. And showing that love, as the Bible says, through obeying Christ.
"If you love Me, you will keep My commandments." - John 14:15
It is wonderfull that you can generalize so well about atheistic countries. But, back to what you said, "For an atheist the answer is yes. Only the strong survive. This is easy to see in the hundred's of millions who have been slaughtered by atheistic cultures/governments just in the 20th century." Do we really have to get into the fact that governments do bad things regardless of leadership ideas?
As far as wrongs done by this country, they run deep. The United States people should accept the fact that the government has done wrong. Deal with these issues. Offer an apology. Then, people can start to move on. For example, firebombing Japanese civilians was not a nice thing to do. Regardless of your political beliefs, "The Fog of War" is a great movie. Please do some research on it, then go rent it.
It was embarrassing to watch John Kerry attacked by the "Swift Boat Veterans". They just emphasized how painful and how deep the scars of war are. When will people of this country realize that the government has done very bad things? Even the atrocities at Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib has not mattered.
You go onto say, "We do not welcome the "culture" Europe is trying to force on us." I beg to differ. Every good capitalist and amateur economist knows that opening trade doors are good for a nation's economy. Europe has been invading America since 1492. They are one of our biggest trading partners. The culture door is wide open. Your boyfriend, George Bush, wants this (please see information regarding the falling dollar). For that matter, you seem to be the only person that does not want trade with Europe. Hello.. remember reality. We are over here.
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Can you at least read over what you post. For example, paragraphs 1,2 and 3.
I've not been talking about culture transmitted through trade. I'm talking about cultural ideas injected into America politically, as well as through the media. I'm very much for free and open trade, in spite of my personal opinion that truly free trade will reduce the American standard of living somewhat. The positive result is that it will greatly improve the world's standard of living.
I'm also in favor of a free exchange of ideas. So, although I feel that the European secular, atheistic culture is wrong, they may promote their culture as they see fit. What is wrong is for people to say Christians are wrong to defend their faith and morality, while those same people are pushing their own faith and morality onto others. That's the immorality--the hypocrisy and lies.
Concerning the morality of governments, I agree that all governments make mistakes. After all, governments are composed of people. But the magnitudes of those errors, and how they respond to their errors differ. Those responsible for Abu Ghraib are facing justice. Those responsible for cutting off the heads of civilians, women and children in Iraq are not--but are instead celebrated as heroes. Where is the greater moral wrong?
A huge difference can be seen historically between countries governed based on Christian principles and countries governed based on Darwinian (atheistic) principles. Have you noticed that the complete title of Darwin's book is generally keep hidden. His book is referred to "The Origin of Species", but the correct title is, "The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection. or The Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life". In other words, it's about justifying racism and it's principles have been used by atheistic governments to murder hundred's of millions, as well as justifying putting hundreds of millions in labor camps, prisons, re-education centers, etc. Yes America has made mistake, and we must be ever vigilant to prevent abuses of power in the future. But don't go pointing a finger at America until you have first condemned the much worse, BY FAR, offenses committed by the non-Christian world. I'll start giving your opinion some credence when you start actively opposing injustice, racism, oppression, muder and slavery (yes, slavery still exists) wherever it is found.
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