tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12676056.post1584333444906500800..comments2023-10-09T09:35:28.278-07:00Comments on The LoneTomato Stand: 330. extraterrestrials and the Body of ChristThe_LoneTomatohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08460131548407301707noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12676056.post-7169506870970918292009-06-15T23:39:54.187-07:002009-06-15T23:39:54.187-07:00Sylvia
The real reason religious influence is wan...Sylvia<br /><br />The real reason religious influence is waning is that Christians simply refuse to be separate from the world. Take the civil unions controversy for example. Homosexual marriages -- which I'm not in favor of, by the way -- do not destroy traditional marriages, as religious types claim. What destroys the unified mother-father household is pure indulgence in sexual immorality and irresponsible pursuit of selfish gratification. <br /><br />Adultery has broken up more homes than gay people have. Fornication has resulted in more single parent families than gay couples marrying has. Simple heterosexual immorality that religious people refuse to give up, whether it occurs in their adult children or themselves. The sexual fantasies people engage in, the behavior that leads to sexual relationships outside of marriage -- religion has lost its influence simply because religious people don't want to be separate from the non-religious people. <br /><br />Religious people want all the things non-religious people have: the money, the material comforts, the status in society, the sexual pleasures, the influence, the praise, whatever, the prerogative to get even, to get back, to complain, to treat others badly, whatever. That's why religious influence is waning -- because of massive unwillingness to take up the cross and be conformed to Christ's image.<br /><br />My favorite class in my zoology major, and the class I got the highest science grade for in college (the 4.0, tops in the class) was Vertebrate Zoology. As I read our two textbooks, I was continually struck by how perfect each creature's design was, how the function and structure of their anatomy was so thought out. Over and over I concluded what joy God must have had designing and creating each animal, and how in doing so it pleased Him to give us humans something to occupy our time with (studying nature and biology). <br /><br />Well contrary to the idea that people who love God cannot love science, the church I belonged to in Scotland was full of scientists -- professors, teachers, nurses, doctors -- and was in its own league as far as devotion and commitment to Christ.<br /><br />The intense opposition evangelicals had to Barack Obama, who was educated in a Protestant school, because his father was Kenyan, (aren't missionaries supposed to go to all countries and not be prejudiced against people?), and even more insane, the notion that he was going to ban homeschooling when he himself was homeschooled by his mother, shows that the evangelicals simply aren't thinking.Sylvianoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12676056.post-82854093753243640582009-04-23T19:10:00.000-07:002009-04-23T19:10:00.000-07:00As my seminary professor said, "If you let science...As my seminary professor said, "If you let science do it's job, and religion do it's job, the two will never contradict."<br /><br />I have posed the question to my friend who is much more up to date on modern theology than I am: is there any talk about an 'alien Jesus'? I mean, the Son of God visited earth in human form, so can we assume that Jesus came and lived on other planets, with life forms, AS those life forms? An infinite God is capable of loving infinitely, which mean He can reach out to all people, cultures, planets... and species, no?<br /><br />It's all speculation at this point, but my God wouldn't truly be God of all if He only cared about one planet in this cosmos.<br /><br />Ashland JonesAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12676056.post-9925818595207934352009-04-23T10:20:00.000-07:002009-04-23T10:20:00.000-07:00Amen! I had a friend warn me against delving too d...Amen! I had a friend warn me against delving too deeply into reason and science yesterday, and I am aghast. Reason is not opposed to God - He defines true reason! So, we have no need to fear reason or science, so long as we do it well in light of the truth of God. <br /><br />I have been writing about these things all week on my blog 9http://wellthoughtoutlife.blogspot.com/), so your post is timely.Kaciehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06374573594800663980noreply@blogger.com