Christianity

Progressive Christianity: A Progressive Way To Reach The Lord

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Article by Tammy Schaefer

Progressive Christianity is an emerging movement within contemporary Protestant Christianity. Progressive Christians are characterized by their liberal theology, a deep concern for the oppressed and the poor, a desire to question traditions, a concern for social justice, and an acceptance of human diversity in issues relating to religion and culture.

Progressive Christians have a belief in the centrality of Jesus’ instruction to love one other, a message encapsulated in The Lord’s Prayer. This leads progressive Christians to promote mercy and justice, compassion, anti-discrimination, environmental issues, and ways to address poverty. This growing movement is attracting increased attention within the Christian community, especially among those who are disillusioned with the Christian right and rigid orthodox beliefs.

Progressive Christianity in recent years has been used interchangeably with the term Liberal Christianity. The differences are difficult to pinpoint because there is no codified set of beliefs within these movements. Progressive Christianity casts a wide net, and draws on many theological streams, such as twentieth century neo-orthodoxy, nineteenth century evangelicalism, twenty and twenty-first century liberal theology, Unitarian Universalism, and Christian mystic tradition.

A comprehensive investigation of modern Progressive Christianity is Progressive Christian Beliefs: An Introduction by Delwin Brown. This book, written by a reformed liberal theologian, describes how followers of this movement take stands frequently on the liberal side of ideological spectrum. At the same time, the author also highlights the fact that progressive Christianity is not a synonymous with traditional Christianity.

In Progressive Christianity, there is a spiritual vigor and expressiveness that includes the arts, lively worship, and participation in a great variety of spiritual practices like meditation. This movement is also characterized by an intellectual integrity among its members, one that encourages the questioning of long-standing beliefs.

This intellectual rigor has led to the development of SBNR (Spiritual But Not Religious) Progressive Christianity. Core beliefs held among this progressive group include the belief that Jesus was a prophet whose divinity is one in which all people share, as Sons and Daughters of God; and a belief that Christians disillusioned with their churches should not abandon Christianity but reinterpret, refashion, and reinvent their religious traditions and iconography.

A notable example of how SBNR Christians approach the Gospels and the teaching of Jesus of Nazareth is The Lord’s Prayer for Daily Life, a free book produced by LivingHour.org. Prominent organizations in the Progressive Christianity movement include TCPC.org (The Center for Progressive Christianity) in Cambridge, which has established an “8 Points” guide for progressive Christians; CrossLeft.org, an activist group dedicated to organizing the Christian left; and The Progressive Christian Alliance, an affiliated group of progressive Christian ministries.

About the Author

Tammy Schaefer is a Progressive Christian writer with a special interest in the SBNR, spiritually progressive topics, and new interpretations of The Lord’s Prayer.

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Yoga and Christianity Can Work Together

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Article by Steff Kiger

Despite the persistent rumors, practicing Yoga does not really interfere or conflict with Christianity. Yoga is not a religion in itself, so it is not possible for it to conflict with Christianity.

Naturally, it really depends on who you ask. Some people in the Christian faith will call Yoga a form of hippy witchcraft. The exercise of Yoga has even been said to be the product of the devil or one of his evil minions.

Like the witch trials of old, Yoga seems to be in the cross hairs from some people who feel it threatens their lifestyle or belief system. What these town criers fail to realize, though, is that a practice called meditation, which is quite similar to Yoga, has been a staple of the church activities for hundreds of years without issue. Perhaps those who denigrate Yoga would spend their entire meditation time focusing solely on the worst thoughts that can come to mind, and this is why they feel uncomfortable with the whole exercise.

If you focus on one specific branch of Yoga, it is indeed possible to find some conflict. In some cases there are types of Yoga that include various Eastern religion teachings in their practice of the exercise. While this does stand in conflict to Christianity, it is by no means the only type of Yoga that can be practiced, and those with a more open mind can find plenty of Yoga styles that do not incorporate any religion at all.

You cannot exclude or preclude any specific faiths for involvement in Yoga or meditation. You can’t actually pigeonhole Yoga into any particular religion. It is an exercise that is relevant and yet non-specific to all faiths.

If you take a closer look at the guiding principles of Yoga, you’ll see that they are incredibly similar to the guidelines set forth in Christianity in the Ten Commandments. In fact, for people of all sorts of faiths, Yoga helps them attain an even more intimate experience with their particular God. Even with this, Yoga is under constant attack from those who don’t seem to recognize the only positive elements that come from its practice.

In the end, the most important thing to consider, whether you are One new man Christian or not, and whether or not you are an active member of the Yoga community, that everyone will have their own interpretation of their faith. Our world is getting increasingly smaller as we grow in population, and it does no one any good to start making broad accusations about the way someone else chooses to practice their faith. Rather than working toward intolerance, it would benefit everyone and be the greatest act of charity if we could simply let bygones and differences be just bygones and differences. Look for Ephesians 2.

About the Author

Stronger Christianity

False Prophets and Christianity

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Article by Pete SEN Stockton

‘Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves.’ Matthew 7:15 ESVThe world has its fair share of false teachers.I was watching a TV documentary the other day about the abundance of false doctors and other specialists especially in rural countries. In areas where modern technology has yet to make it presence felt, up in the mountains, false doctors go about their day prescribing fake symptoms and medication to the local townsfolk. And they get paid for it. Sometimes there are even false teachers in these areas who teach the poor little kids all the wrong things.Christianity is no stranger to false teachers, but they have a better term for it – false prophets. Let’s dig a little deeper into the world of false prophets and their effect on the Christian religion.Most people these days don’t even believe in false prophets anymore. This is the modern world we’re living in, these are no longer the hectic and dangerous times described in the Bible. But truth is, more and more false prophets have come out of the wilds to drive people away from God’s rightful path.You see them everyday. How about those Church leaders who talk about the Words of God 10 hours a week in front of their people, but then gets caught in an adultery scandal? Or how about that homeless woman who claims herself to be a prophet of God, but has a record for mugging people when she’s cornered them out of site?Remember this quotation,”My dear brothers, never forget, when you hear the progress of enlightenment vaunted, that the devil’s best trick is to persuade you that he doesn’t exist!””Le Joueur généreux,” pub. February 7, 1864; translation by Cat Nilan, 1999.Satan is the fallen angel, and he is hell bent in swaying Mankind, God’s creation that resembled His likeness, to his favor. What better way to do just that than to send out his minions in disguise and proclaim themselves as prophets of God?If ordinary men see them as their fellow human beings, they are less likely to associate their intentions with the devil. This is what false prophets are and Satan is using them to further his own evil goals.’Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.’ 1 Peter 5:8 ESVSo how does a modern Christian steer clear of these false prophets? Simple. Turn to God’s words and teachings, the Bible.If you invest time to read and contemplate the Bible a few minutes each day, there’s no way false prophets would be able to break through your faith. The Bible is all you need, if you think about it, to be guided back towards God’s Kingdom, which is why Scripture memorization goes a long way into solidifying your Christian faith.Read and meditate the Bible verses as much as you can, at least five to ten minutes every day. If you can do this, you won’t have a problem with false prophets for the rest of your life.

About the Author

Looking to get spiritual inspiration or some Quotes in the Bible? Bible Verses has something to offer. Check it out https://secrets2meditation.com/goto/?url=http://www.topbibleverses.com

The Law of Attraction and Christianity – How to Find Common Ground Between Self-Help and Faith

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Article by James Baty

Self-support has been declared an American religion. You need to have look no more to know the validity of this statement than the huge volume of literature revealed on the subject and the range of men and women taking good considering and affirmations to a maniacal amount. When you go up to somebody who will not even permit you say some thing poor that is taking place in the globe simply because it might mess up their resonance with the universe, you know they are entirely indoctrinated into the cult of self-help. On the other end of truth, you have essential Christianity. These beautiful individuals deem all things great and bad to be attributed to God, and God by yourself. They had nothing to do with it. Granted, this offers the excellent scape goat when life normally requires the unavoidable course downward. Back in the self-help camp, if something goes improper, the extremists will say people joined in some type of damaging collective consciousness that drew calamity upon their lives.

So, possibly you are a Christian who is intrigued by self-aid tips like the Regulation of Attraction? How can you, like most middle of the street individuals, discover common ground between two seemingly polarized ideologies? I imagine you can discover some solace by viewing each ideologies through the basics and perception.

Initial, lets search at the essentials. The root of self-help’s constructive considering and prosperity teachings is the Regulation of Attraction. Essentially, the Law of Attraction states that a single attracts what ever constructive or damaging issues the thoughts is projecting through predominant believed patterns. Now, on the self-aid side, this can lead one particular to conclude this kind of issues as: I can produce my individual future, my thoughts will lead me down paths of either mild or darkness, by way of affirmation and meditation I can focus to understand my accurate potential.

Christianity, on the other hand, depicts male as possessing been made in God’s personal image, for that reason becoming the only creature with the innate capability to develop (talking outdoors of procreation, which all daily life can do). In addition, Christ himself instructs that you ought to ask and get by faith. Christ and the apostles also alert to target the head on the goodness of God, for absence of emphasis will lead 1 into darkness. As you can see, the basics of Christianity are dramatically opposed to the Law of Attraction due to the fact the basics of Christianity state: I can produce my own long term simply because God has enabled me to produce, my ideas will lead me down paths of either light or darkness, by way of affirmation of what I am in God and meditation on His greatness and love for me, I can comprehend my accurate possible in this daily life.

Now, if you still feel that these two beliefs are opposed, I would strongly inspire you to go through the previously mentioned paragraph 1 far more time. As one can see, it is merely a matter of perception. The Law of Attraction depicts the universe as becoming composed, at the essential amount, entirely of vitality. And vitality, as we know, has no commencing and no stop, flows through all of existence and in no way goes away but is simply transferred. Christianity states that God is in the universe simply because He produced it. God has no starting and no end, flows by way of all of existence and is eternal (another way of saying never goes away).

There you have it. This is simply a summary of what it truly signifies to be a Christian and an observer of the Regulation of Attraction. I think that so significantly of what helps make up our reality, very good and lousy, has been brought into actuality by our individual thought designs and our steps based on people ideas. God produced us to produce, so why not generate the very best possible life you can even though you even now have time on this earth?

About the Author

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