Could you tell me some of the key elements of different denominations?

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Hi,

I was looking through the yellow pages for a Christian church and found a lot of different kinds.

Could you tell me what is Calvary, Seventh Day
Adventist, Aventist, Evangelistic, Chrismatic, Apostolic, and Antioch
Churches? What are the key elements for each or what distinquishs them from each other?

Are there any websites you can recommend for me to find out more? This would help a lot.

Thank you,

Internet Rainbow (e-mail handle)


ATP: Internet Rainbow, rather than my trying to explain these differing denominations, why don't we start with a couple of links I found that would be helpful.

Hartford Institute for Religion Research
The Religious Movements Page - U. of Virginia
Chaplain Care U.S. Navy

I found these this morning when I did a search on Google for "church
denomination descriptions." I'm not vouching for the accuracy of the articles in the sites U. of V. site that describe differing denominations, just pointing you toward it as a place to gather information.

The links that take you to the home pages of specific denominations will be your best bet to get the information "from the horses mouth."

The Hartford Institute for Religion Research link has the most links on it and that is the one that will get you to the most home pages of denominations.

When you go to the home page of whichever denominations you want to check out, they should have an "about us" section, or a "our distinctives" section or a "what we believe" page.

After you have checked out the ones you want to look at if you still have questions, give me a shout and I'll do the best I can to answer your questions.

Thanks for the question! It led me to do a search to find the links noted above. I've saved the links in my favorites list for future reference. Those sites are going to come in handy!

Gordon

How do we as Christians show love to people who are intentially rude, annoying or hurtful?

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Question: The Bible often refers to love, but there are people I'm pretty sure I don't love. There is one in particular that spreads untrue things about my husband and me. She has bad-mouthed me to several people including one of my children. She is annoying at best, hurtful at worst.

I have spoken to her about some of these issues but it doesn't stop her. I have prayed for patience and God has helped me tolerate her but I don't feel warm toward her at all! I guess the question is, How do we as Christians show love to people who are intentionally rude, annoying or hurtful?

VB


ATP: It isn't easy is it? In addition to the emotional difficulty of loving such people, the methods of loving people are complex. You have named some of the methods of expressing love to hurtful people: praying for them, praying for personal patience and talking directly to the person about the conflict, all of which are appropriate Christian responses. Warm feelings, however, may not and in fact need not accompany loving action.

Love isn't a feeling. It is a commitment to do what is best for the other person no matter how we feel about it and no matter how they respond. So don't be too hard on yourself regarding the "warm feelings" issue. Feelings will take care of themselves in time.

The Bible says "Insofar as it depends on you, live at peace with all men." That statement acknowledges that it may not be possible to live peaceably with everyone no matter how well we handle things. Jesus, the perfect person, had enemies and critics and people who lied about him.

With some he was patient. With others he called them what they were: hypocrites. Differing ends of the gentleness spectrum, yet both appropriate in their context.

There is no one answer to how to show love in such circumstances.

For one person the most loving thing we can do for them is to say nothing and be patient. For others, a direct confrontation nose to nose may be the greatest act of love they can receive.

God will have to show you if either of these or something somewhere in between is the preferred approach in your situation. But be encouraged, you are already on the right track

Tour Israel with us - February 20 - March 1, 2006!

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The time slot for the Israel Trip has now been set! It will be February 20-March 1, 2006! What a great time to be in Israel. I've hosted a spring tour to Israel before and the mild weather and wonderful spring smells makes touring comfortable and a delight.

If you have ever considering taking a trip to the Holy Land, I would encourage you to join us on this trip. I will do some teaching, relating the Bible to the sites we will see, but the real treat, besides being in the land of the Bible, is that the plan is have one of the best Jewish tour guides in Israel available to us.

She is a fabulous Jewish lady who because of her expertise is often used by Israeli tourism as a special lecturer. She has led tours for presidents, celebrities, and even football players like Reggie White.

She is articulate and funny and deeply passionate about Israel. Her goal isn't just to give a tour, it is to have everyone love Israel before they leave! And you will!

From Galilee in the north, to Jerusalem and the Dead Sea in the south, we will tour places you have always read about: The places where Jesus fed the 5,000 and gave his Sermon on the Mount; the Western Wall (also called the Wailing Wall by us uninformed folks) Masada, and Qumran, where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found.

(See link in my profile to the upper right about the Dead Sea Scrolls Institute that is part of the University where I am on the Board of Governors.)

We'll also see Gordon's Garden Tomb and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre; the Old City of Jerusalem with its stations of the cross and old world feel with merchants still selling wares like they did 2000 years ago, will be a special treat.

The Mount of Olives, the Garden of Gethsemane, a St. Peter's fish meal on the Sea of Galilee after a boat ride on the Sea of Galilee, a baptism in the Jordan river and many other fascinating stops are all part of the itinerary in planning. When I have the dates fixed and brochures made up, I'll give you an address where you can request them or will have "e-copies" available online for signing up.

Right now I am looking at a group size of about 30 as I make reservations. 30 is a comfortable size for travel and for personal interaction with our tour guide and with each other.

Space is limited in Israeli tourism right now. Tourists are filling up available spots a year in advance I have been told. So if you are interested, please do e-mail me early with your contact information (name/address/e-mail and phone number for now). Brochures are being printed right now. When I receive them I can send them off to you. A $200 refundable deposit is required to hold a spot. ("Refundable" before certain dates, which will be spelled out in the brochure.)

If our group exceeds our target of 30 early on in the process, I will book more space, but it would be better for that to happen early rather than late, for reservations sake. We can go up to 60 and still have one tour guide...my preference due to who our tour guide is!....so we do have some flexibility if we establish our reservations early.

I'll look forward to hearing from you! Going to Israel truly is a trip of a lifetime. You can e-mail me at: Israel Information Request

Cost details have just come together: $2395, which includes air fare from Chicago, first class hotels, breakfast and evening dinner, all entries into tour sites, tips for guides and hotel personnel. Spending money and lunch money are the only extra's you'll need! I just got this information (May 13) and need to rewrite this page, but wanted to get it on the web site right away.

Are there activities of Satan going on in the world that God is powerless to stop?

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Question: Are there activities of Satan going on in the world, that God is powerless to stop?

Youth Question

ATP: Absolutely not. If God were powerless to stop Satan, he wouldn’t be God. Jesus said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me…” (Mt. 28:18) He either has all authority, or he doesn’t. And it is clear from the Bible that he does.

When bad things happen to people some tend to believe that Satan is always responsible. But that is not a good assumption and I think that it is an assumption that gives Satan far too much "credit."

When I was playing high school football I got blind-sided covering a punt. The impact to my leg tore the anterior cruciate ligament in my left knee. My knee was a mess and required surgery. Unfortunately the surgeon, a General Practitioner who was our family physician, mis-diagnosed my knee injury and needlessly removed the meniscus from that knee.

In addition when he did the surgery he snapped off the tip of a needle while sewing me up,left it in my knee by the incision area and didn't tell me! I didn't fully know why for 29 years I felt like I was being stabbed every time I bumped my knee, but believe me that's just what it felt like! Finally a few years back, I received a correct diagnosis and had the knee reconstructed and the needle removed.

Question: Was my leg injured because of Satan? Did the Devil cause the doctor's misdiagnosis and the needle tip to be left in my knee? No, not at all. I was injured because I got clipped playing football! It’s that simple. And the misdiagnosis of my injury and the needle tip left in my leg happened because an otherwise good physician simply had a bad couple of days.

End of story.

Some bad things happen in life just because bad things happen, not because Satan is pulling the strings. And even when Satan is involved, God has the complete ability to stop him.

Why doesn't God stop Satan at every turn? We don't know. What we do know is that He will one day, completely and permanently.

For now however, for reasons far beyond our feeble ability to understand, God allows certain things to happen that one day he will not. We wish the day of his permanent and perfect intervention were today. Until that day, however, we exercise faith and trust, knowing that God is perfect and can do no wrong. One day we will understand all the "whys."

I just finished reading the Bible and am wondering what is really meant by "God's grace?"

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Question: I have just finished reading the Bible and am wondering what is really meant, by “God’s grace.?”
D.S.

ATP: Grace has been defined as "the undeserved favor of God." That is as good a definition as I know, but perhaps some fleshing out would help.

Let me compare the meaning of this word with the meanings of two other words. By doing so I think it will help make the definition of grace clearer.

Justice could be defined as what happens when we get what we deserve. We do wrong or we do right and the appropriate punishment or reward is given. We deserve what we get. We have earned it, so to speak, either in a positive sense or a negative one.

Mercy could be defined as what happens when we do not get what we deserve. We do wrong and deserve a certain result from our actions, but God in his mercy decides to prevent such results from taking place.

When mercy "happens," although it would be fair of God to allow justice to result, because he is a merciful God he chooses mercy for us as an alternative to justice.

There is an old story about a mother who went to a king to plead for mercy for her imprisoned son who had been convicted of a crime. The king said to the woman,

"Dear woman, your son doesn't deserve mercy," to which the woman replied, "Sovereign king, I know that, but if he deserved it, it wouldn't be mercy." The king got her point and granted her petition of mercy for her son.

Mercy happens when we do not get what we deserve.

Grace is the third element. It is, as I mentioned, the undeserved favor of God. Unlike justice, receiving grace is not about getting what we deserve. Unlike mercy, grace is not about not getting what we deserve.

Grace is getting what we don’t deserve, but in a completely positive sense.

We don’t deserve God’s blessings, but he pours them out on us anyway.

We don’t deserve eternal life, but he gives us the opportunity through Christ to receive it.

We don’t deserve his forgiveness, but he gives it anyway when we repent.

So God’s grace is God's undeserved favor. It comes our way because of the wonderful and loving character of God, and at God’s own choosing. It is by definition, not something that we can earn or attempt to curry favor from the Lord to receive based on our own merit.

Grace is utterly undeserved, yet God gives it anyway.

What is meant by the term "original sin?"

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Question: What is meant by the term “original sin”?

Anon. Reader

ATP: Original sin is the term used to describe the sin of Adam that brought death to the entire human race. It is interesting to note that Adam and Eve did not have children until after sin entered their lives. Adam’s sin changed his perfect nature to a “sin nature.” The same thing happened with Eve. At that point Adam and Eve no longer had perfect natures to pass along to their children.

Their “spiritual DNA,” so to speak, had been damaged by sin.

Because of Adam’s sin and the change it made in his own nature, all of us are sinners by nature, not just by actions. We are born with a damaged nature inherited from Adam.

If we were to ask the question then, “Do we sin because we are sinners or are we sinners because we sin?” the answer would be “both.” We are both sinners by nature and we are sinners by deed.

Though thoroughly loved by God, we human beings are by nature sinful. Evidence that this is true is plainly seen in our society every day. And we know this by experience from what goes on in our own hearts. As some one once said:

"If things the that have crossed our minds to do or to say in the past month were put on a screen for all to see, we would be run out of town on a rail!"

Evidence of our sinful nature is seen even in small children.

Have you ever known a child that had to be taught to do wrong? Children instead, have to be taught to do right, to not insist on their own way, to share, to be kind and so on. Left to themselves without instruction and loving direction, children gravitate toward their basic nature of selfishness and self-centeredness.

This is one of the reasons that the Bible teaches we must be “born again.” We need God to give us a new nature, a spiritual one. A nature that is fit for heaven. When we receive Christ as our Lord and Savior, he does so.

Unfortunately for us for now, the old sinful nature also resides within us, and causes great inward battles for the Christian. The old nature constantly pulls against the new Christian nature.

The unbeliever doesn’t face that same battle.

They have only one nature, the sinful one, and so may feel no inward conflict when they sin or reject God’s ways. In fact they may think that a Christian is a little odd for feeling guilty about so called “small sins” that the unbeliever feels are of no consequence.

The sin nature has the unbeliever firmly by the throat. Only God, through Christ, can pry its hands away and save the person, giving them a new spiritual nature.