Religion and Politics

[Tank]

1 hour ago, Angelsjunky said:

Guys, I think Tank's coming out. 

We're here for you, buddy.

17 albums recorded.

We were live-streamed around the world this weekend to an audience in excess of 10 million people.

I posed for a few pictures, too.

Suck it, you hack.

With all due respect.

[Angelsjunky]

1 hour ago, Tank said:

17 albums recorded.

We were live-streamed around the world this weekend to an audience in excess of 10 million people.

I posed for a few pictures, too.

Suck it, you hack.

With all due respect.

Which one are you?

[Blarg]

He's the white guy. 

[Tank]

13 hours ago, Angelsjunky said:

Which one are you?

the who continues to refuse to give you an autograph no matter how many times you ask.

[Tank]

i'm not in this photo because i was in the balcony making out with my wife.

[Tank]

1 minute ago, calscuf said:

I hope you at least got to 2nd Bsse

a gentleman nevers tells

 

 

but yeah, i did.

[Blarg]

Then Simmons tagged him out.

[tdawg87]

14 hours ago, Angelsjunky said:

Which one are you?

He's the guy with the Mercedes logo on his head

Edited September 24, 2019 by tdawg87

[T.G.]

On 9/19/2019 at 1:15 PM, Tank said:

one of my former students was a member of the First AME church here in LA and invited me to sunday services anytime. i took him up on the offer one sunday and had a very interesting experience.

as we entered the sanctuary each of us were handed a card to fill out. it was seeking justice for a black girl who had been killed by a korean shop owner in downtown and the DA had chosen not to file murder charges. we were encouraged to fill out the card to show our support to the girls family and that the law had not been applied fairly in this case. they spoke about it from the pulpit, too.

the music was interesting but eternally long-winded.

they had a brief good bye ceremony for christine johnson, an actress who was relocating to washington d.c. for a new show she was going to be on.

the sermon dealt far more with equality and justice than it did with how to live a godly life. i didn't find it to be a very spiritual service. 

there was a pretty good chance i was the only republican inside the building that day.

 

This is why I prefer to go to a church where the pastor focuses on verse by verse teaching of the bible.  "Topical" teaching are ripe with opportunities to stray from the Word.

[Taylor]

5 minutes ago, True Grich said:

This is why I prefer to go to a church where the pastor focuses on verse by verse teaching of the bible.  "Topical" teaching are ripe with opportunities to stray from the Word.

Meh, I think both topical and expositional preaching can be faithful or unfaithful to the Word, depending on how they're taught. Many of Jesus' sermons were what we'd consider topical. Look at the Sermon on the Mount.

[T.G.]

3 minutes ago, Taylor said:

Meh, I think both topical and expositional preaching can be faithful or unfaithful to the Word, depending on how they're taught. Many of Jesus' sermons were what we'd consider topical. Look at the Sermon on the Mount.

Apples and oranges.  Jesus teaching vs a pastor.  Big difference.

[Taylor]

15 minutes ago, True Grich said:

Apples and oranges.  Jesus teaching vs a pastor.  Big difference.

I honestly believe that Jesus' sermons are meant to be examples for pastors today to follow. The Bible didn't even exist in its current form until over 200 years after Jesus' death and resurrection.

I've had my faith impacted by both topical and expositional/verse-by-verse sermons. I've also sat through both topical and expositional sermons that I felt weren't completely faithful to Scripture.

[Tank]

my pastor is the nicest guy in the world, and is a godly man. preaches the most uninteresting sermons in town. i think he's into a lot of post-modern stuff and it doesn't resonate with me. i feel like his preaching has just been one big long continuous sermon since he was installed as senior pastor.

i think there's a huge need to have sermons be a study of scripture. i also think sermons need to tie in with current everyday life. because we're a church that takes end time events seriously, i also think we need to pay attention to the events happening worldwide and tie them in with what the bible has to say about last day events.

my pastor and most pastors in the adventist church never ever talk about end time events even though every single one of them will tell that they believe the second coming of Jesus to be near.

[Taylor]

The problem with end-times stuff is that Scripture makes it very clear that we don't know exactly when it's going to happen. If we're looking for signs, we can be distracted from our calling to share God's love in the here and now. The best thing we can do to prepare for the end times is to follow Jesus faithfully, however that looks.

I've never heard him speak, but it sounds like your pastor maybe doesn't make his sermons practical. Sermons need to be both Scripture-based and applicational, giving listeners truth from God's Word so that they can become better disciples in their everyday lives.

Also, without opening pandora's box ... there are many, many biblical scholars who believe the book of Revelation is mostly about the Roman empire in the First Century BC, not about a future apocalypse. These videos are an excellent summary:
 

 

[Taylor]

Relevant:

https://babylonbee.com/news/evangelical-leaders-ask-trump-which-one-of-them-will-betray-him-during-impeachment-proceedings

[Tank]

1 hour ago, Taylor said:

The problem with end-times stuff is that Scripture makes it very clear that we don't know exactly when it's going to happen. If we're looking for signs, we can be distracted from our calling to share God's love in the here and now. The best thing we can do to prepare for the end times is to follow Jesus faithfully, however that looks.

I've never heard him speak, but it sounds like your pastor maybe doesn't make his sermons practical. Sermons need to be both Scripture-based and applicational, giving listeners truth from God's Word so that they can become better disciples in their everyday lives.

Also, without opening pandora's box ... there are many, many biblical scholars who believe the book of Revelation is mostly about the Roman empire in the First Century BC, not about a future apocalypse. These videos are an excellent summary:

 

adventists have traditionally avoided setting dates for the second coming, heeding the warnings in scripture against doing so, and after the events that led to the founding of our church. i'm not interested in hearing any preacher under any circumstances start yammering away about that, and i don't know anyone within my circle of friends, family, or parishioners who feels any differently about it than i do.

a significant part of the adventist belief is that the book of revelation lays out a narrative about how end time events are going to play out. there are many different interpretations of this oft misunderstood book, including how we as a church view things in it. we believe those signs are worth paying attention to, but most mainstream preachers just simply won't talk about it. there are always the extremists around the fringes that think a sneeze from trump is some kind of messianic prophecy being fulfilled, but those people stay out of the light, and that's probably a good thing.

i have never heard anyone anywhere suggest that revelation is about the roman empire. that was interesting though it's not something i believe personally. thanks for sharing the videos with me. i watched the first one and will watch the second one later. and yes, the book of revelation is an absolute pandora's box because there's so much disagreement about all the symbology.

i love sermons that inspire me to live better each day, that bring the stories from scripture to life and shed new light for me today. i wish i heard more sermons like that. there's a possibility that my senior pastor may be accepting a new job in church administration. i'm hoping he does and that we can bring in someone to really inspire us each week.

thanks for sharing your thoughts on this.

[mtangelsfan]

6 hours ago, Taylor said:

I honestly believe that Jesus' sermons are meant to be examples for pastors today to follow. The Bible didn't even exist in its current form until over 200 years after Jesus' death and resurrection.

I've had my faith impacted by both topical and expositional/verse-by-verse sermons. I've also sat through both topical and expositional sermons that I felt weren't completely faithful to Scripture.

I don't think they are but I think a church should be doing both verse by verse and topical

[Vegas Halo Fan]

On 9/18/2019 at 1:41 PM, Taylor said:

Billy Graham was approached by both parties to run for president, but he declined, because he knew politics were divisive.

Precisely why Baha'is don't belong to political parties, and why I am a registered independent.

Your point is well taken, though. Many of the things embraced by Republicans seem totally at odds with Christian doctrine. Christians have aligned with them for reasons that I cannot fathom, much as their alliance with poor whites (who benefit from many of the programs that Republicans want to cut or eliminate).

[Adam]

1 hour ago, Vegas Halo Fan said:

Precisely why Baha'is don't belong to political parties, and why I am a registered independent.

Your point is well taken, though. Many of the things embraced by Republicans seem totally at odds with Christian doctrine. Christians have aligned with them for reasons that I cannot fathom, much as their alliance with poor whites (who benefit from many of the programs that Republicans want to cut or eliminate).

My guess would be that the left seems to demean believers. 

[Vegas Halo Fan]

2 minutes ago, Adam said:

My guess would be that the left seems to demean believers. 

That is a failing in and of itself.

[Taylor]

2 hours ago, Adam said:

My guess would be that the left seems to demean believers. 

The left alienates believers, while right seditiously uses believers for their own ends.

[mtangelsfan]

They alienate by demeaning

[Adam]

39 minutes ago, Taylor said:

The left alienates believers, while right seditiously uses believers for their own ends.

Accurate

[Lou]

8 minutes ago, mtangelsfan said:

They alienate by demeaning

but that sounds bad so we'll just go with demean 

[Lou]

41 minutes ago, Taylor said:

The left alienates believers, while right seditiously uses believers for their own ends.

like winning elections?