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What's called the 'Doctrine of Penal Substitution' appears to be the predominant view of the matter among Christians, so I wonder if you'd comment (critically, I would expect) on the following article, which is similar to others that are available from sources usually considered reliable...
If any of us--or any human anywhere--is completely innocent of any transgressions against other people or against God's order, standards, and expectations...if he or she is perfect, in other words...
then please identify him or for us.
And here's a hint...the Bible teaches us that there is...
The question here concerned "diversity" among Christians...and that it might be worrisome. When it is pointed out that Protestants and Orthodox Christian both believe that Christ died for us, that's unity, not diversity.
But as for your question, our colleague "Prepared," took it on by saying...
According to what you wrote, you missed the most obvious reason for your confusion...and did so right after you yourself spelled it out for the readers!
That's all. I'm sure you'll get over it.
Right. I was simply agreeing with that.
It's when you went on to add that therefore you think the other poster's intention was to confuse you that your thinking went astray. You'd already stated a reason...probably the most likely reason, when you admitted the following: ("I don't know exactly...
It doesn't just mean less important. It means less important than something else that is identified. Second degree murder is less "important" than first degree murder, therefore, but it's certainly not one of the "minor" offenses.
I could give you scores of examples. But let's take several in...
For one thing, the church tries to be a 'good neighbor' to all the residents on the nearby streets, regardless of those folks' own religious beliefs or affiliations.
To that end, the church invites the neighbors to attend the church's non-religious (and non-fundraising) celebrations like the...
I agree. And there is no doubt that fear of punishment does deter crime, bearing in mind that that also depends on the nature of the particular crime, what the punishment is, and how likely it is to be applied to the violator. Obviously, a $20 overtime parking ticket doesn't deter as well as a...
Certainly, And that would be better than treating these offenses like we do parking violations, no?
I do not contend that such crimes will be "prevented" by strong punishments.
What I was saying was that stern punishments such as those under discussion in ValleyGal's post, DO, yes, provide a...
Well, it isn't a false sense of security for law-abiding citizens if death or a lifetime of incarceration is what awaits the person who is convicted of murdering someone.
In the case of petty and many nonviolent crimes, your point here is worth studying. But for murder, which you were also...
I doubt that very many would use it that way.
But I was pointing out that when you wrote this--
...you were talking about the origin of the word, not the way it came to be used and understood by almost everyone (to mean a church gathering).
The word is used there in a loose or slang sense...
At a glance, that seems like a good observation, but I wonder...
It may be possible to identify some characteristic that is so common that it isn't about religion in particular.
Whatever it is would then be just something that is typical or normal with humans.
Without thinking about the question for a long time, I suspect that you're right about this. We can fairly easily identify certain beliefs or practices that MOST religions have in common... but there do seem to be a few exceptions no matter what the belief or practice is.
It could be...
That's true. And they've all been mistaken in their predictions.
Today's version will join them, and yet all of these people imagined that they had found evidence in the Bible that the era in which they were living was the one prophesized.
There are whole denominations, in fact, that are still...
It seems so. And each one of them has something or other to point to as "proof."
...and it has been so for 3/4 of a century now!
Actually, Europe is worried (or relieved) that its nations are separating from the unity that they thought they had in place until recently.
Britain voted for...
For what it's worth, I tend to agree with the point Lees made.
We know about God what we have been given to know. We do not know everything in the universe or everything that is about God or his intentions. For that matter, we are not capable of understanding how and why God does everything he...
Referring to the communion bread and wine as the "elements" is a common and handy way of speaking about all of that with a single word. Many churches, but mostly the older ones, use this terminology although there's nothing wrong with using more complicated language.
However, it doesn't refer...