Christian

The Rehumanization of a Christian Zombie

A candid look at faith, fears, loss, and hope through the lens of a zombie religious pilgrim.

Charles touching a mirror image looking away

A mirror hangs in the foyer of my house. Until recently it was the lone adornment on my freshly painted walls; my adult daughters eventually put up some pictures to hide what was, to them, an emotional desert, naked of any image, portrait, or memory. I walk through the house like a dead man among the living. I have become numb, like a zombie, finding that this is the only way to avoid the pain.

She is gone, and our children have grown up and left the house. After 38 years its many rooms stand empty. Old friends take sides, and some ghost me. Acquaintances shy away. My mother died some months ago; my aging body aches more profoundly with each passing day. God does not hear, and I am alone.

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History, Faith, Politics, and COVID

Thomas Aquinas masked and holding a COVID-19 vial

COVID from historical, literary, political, ecclesiastical, and Bible perspectives. An eclectic mix from a Canadian viewpoint that produces surprising results.

History has a lesson of repeating itself and COVID is no different. Each plague unearths a new set of social problems that need address. There comes a point where history cannot give all the answers. Contemporary society is forced to make difficult but necessary changes within their particular context while avoiding the dangerous pitfalls on the way.

The goal here is to briefly touch on the history of pandemics through historical literature including the Bible, explore theological questions, and arrive at some political realities.

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Edward Irving’s Defense on Unknown Tongues: Part 2

Irving's 2nd defense in Fraser's Magazine

A digitization of Edward Irving’s second defense in Fraser’s Magazine on his promotion of unknown tongues.

Reverend Edward Irving and his central London congregation (1830s) were the center of world-wide religious attention on the topic and practice of speaking in tongues. The result was that he received heavy criticism from a variety of sources.

Irving sought to counter claims against him and his church by publishing three articles in a popular English publication called Fraser’s Magazine. All three works are digitally captured for the Gift of Tongues Project. The following is his second entry.

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ON RECENT MANIFESTATIONS OF SPIRITUAL GIFTS.
No. II
BY THE REV. EDWARD IRVING.

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Christianity's Big Split from Judaism

The reasons and impact of Christianity’s separation from its Jewish parent.

Christianity split from Judaism

Christianity started as a grass-roots Jewish movement that had its origins in the Galilee and Jerusalem regions.

There were two reasons that this offspring of a Jewish parent split: the destruction of Jerusalem, and their excommunication by Rabban Gamaliel II. This separation was distinct by the time of the Bar Kokhba revolt.

One must keep in mind that the separation was a gradual one. There were amicable relations between the two parties for centuries—so close that it caused competing interests.

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Early Pentecostal Tongues: Intro

This five-part series (including the introduction) covers how the traditional definition of tongues all but died and replaced by a wider set of expressions; the language of adoration, singing and writing in tongues, and a private prayer language. This series was started to settle a mystery – why the doctrine of tongues had changed so …

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Delphi Prophetesses and Christian Tongues

Did the ancient Greek prophetesses, especially the Pythian priestesses in Delphi, speak in tongues and the Christians later adapted it?

The alleged connection between the two is an important one in the speaking in tongues debate. A dispute which this article seeks to look deeper into.

The approach used to find an answer is to locate the primary Hellenistic texts that make this connection and evaluate them. The article provides English translations along with the majority having Greek or Latin sources. Each reference contains a brief analysis. The reader is not required to know either one of these languages to examine the works and can easily skip over these foreign texts.

Table of Contents

  • Conclusion

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    Evangelicals and Health Care Ethics

    How health care ethics need to be ingrained in the fabric of the evangelical mindset.
    Technology has introduced great breakthroughs on issues of life and death but has also naturally brought about new ethical issues that the traditional faith has not been prepared to engage in.
    Most evangelicals are left with making life or death decisions, not on the basis of religious piety, but the insistence of economics or social convenience. They are game time decisions made in hospitals and doctors offices. These decisions are not considered the role of the church or faith. It is just what has to be done. Faith comes later.

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