Last week’s class was about whether God does evil like ordering genocide or approving of slavery. Today’s class deals with the question “Don’t Christians do evil. The rise of the New Atheists and a lot of backlash against Christians came about out of the Islamic 9/11 attacks, strangely enough. The atheists looked at the threat of Islamic fundamentalism and jumped to the knee jerk conclusion that all religions are harmful . Hence the title of Christopher Hitchens ’ book “God is Not Great – How Religion Poisons Everything.” Christopher Hitchens lambasts Christians, Catholics, Muslims and more in his book. He doesn’t limit his ire to Muslims at all, but how many Amish terrorists have you heard of? Still, to his credit he has done a great deal help a fellow author, Salmon Rushdie, who has a death sentence on his head from an Islamic Fatwa placed on him because of his book, The Satanic Verses. That book was referring to the questions Muh...
Zombies at Your Door? They come slowly down your sidewalk, two or three at a time. They show little emotion and no enthusiasm but they are after you. They are seeking out those who aren't yet like them. Their brains have been afflicted and they cannot reason on their own any longer and they want your brain too. They are Jehovah's Witnesses. Christian, certainly there is hyperbole in this characterization but it isn't that far off the mark. When the JW's are going door to door they aren't rewarded by achieving high numbers but are putting in their time. They face rejection almost everywhere they go so it is understandable to not have any enthusiasm for this task. No, these aren't zombies who are walking dead people like the movies and TV shows. They are made in the image of God and, like you, were once 'spiritually' dead in their sins and need to be born again from above. Now, what if your encounter at the door were film...
It is worth reading first to see what their thinking and arguments are so we can understand and be able to address what they believe and not just what we think they believe. Here is a tract by Catholic Answers on praying to the saints from a Roman Catholic viewpoint: http://www.catholic.com/tracts/praying-to-the-saints Here is a Protestant counter point article answering the above. You might want to think what your answers would be first before reading this to test your own reason and knowledge of the subject. http://bnonn.thinkingmatters.org.nz/3-reasons-christianity-plus-prayer-to-saints-equals-polytheism/
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