Money for Forgiveness
Monday, November 3rd, 2008 : By Ken Rutherford
A number of questions regarding the current teaching was submitted last week. I’d like to address one here:
Does the Roman Catholic church today believe in taking money to in exchange for forgiveness of sins?
In my understanding, this is not an overt doctrine of the RCC. However, given their system of salvation (process justification—as Dan has pointed out), almsgiving is seen as one of many “bricks” in one’s road toward justification. Whereas we believe that the Bible teaches that one’s forgiveness of sins is a one-time event (forensic justification), we would hold that giving money to the church or to the poor would be as a RESPONSE to forgiveness. Not as a means of forgiveness.
To make it more simple, the …
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Reformation, Part 1
Sunday, October 26th, 2008 : By Dan Miller
Did you know that October 31 is called Reformation Day and marks the anniversary of the “official” beginning of the Protestant Reformation? On October 31st in 1517 Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses on the door of the University Church in Wittenberg Germany. The 95 Theses were a consolidation of Martin’s disagreements with the Roman Catholic Church regarding the sale of indulgences. Today we will seek to better understand the reasons that led to the actions of Martin Luther as well as the implications of that day has in our lives now. MP3 download.
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graceTALK, July 2008
Monday, July 7th, 2008 : By Leadership Team
The Leadership Team answers your questions.
Q1 (1:50): Why are matters such as leasing\buying a building put to vote by the whole church? Specifically, what issues are to be decided by the church members? Why is it biblical?
Q2 (13:30): Hi and thank you for reading this: I recently heard Andy Stanley tell a story about how they had lost one of their pastoral staff to cancer. It was a terribly sad story. The man who lost the fight to cancer was a man of God in his early 30’s and was a father of two. Mr. Stanley said, shortly before he passed away, that the church elders gathered and anointed him with oil and prayed over him. Obviously the …
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Is the Message of Jesus Trumped by the Teaching of Paul?
Tuesday, June 3rd, 2008 : By Dan Miller
When we speak that there must be a necessary change when a person trusts in Christ there is often an undercurrent of distinction between the message of Jesus and the teaching of Paul. Advocates for looking toward Paul for the Gospel (and not the messages of Christ) will appeal to the sections of Scripture like Romans 3 and 4 because it is in these chapters we see the clearest picture of justification by faith alone. The reasoning goes something like this, “if there must be fruits of obedience to express a person truly being justified, then Paul would have most certainly included that teaching in these chapters.” At this point, a citation of a teacher(s) such as …
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How Much Should I Change When I Get “Saved?”
Saturday, May 31st, 2008 : By Dan Miller
In teaching this passage, I noted that a fundamental issue with the church today is directly connected with our understanding of what happens when a person becomes a follower of Christ. In other words, how do we know when someone becomes a Christian and, thus, part of the church universal? To Paul, it was clear that he took great confidence that the Church at Thessalonica was real and true (“chosen” by God, v.4) because they had clearly changed and everyone knew it. In fact, they were joyfully accepting abuse from people who didn’t like the fact that they had turned from worshiping idols (see I Thess.1:6). Therefore, the change that these people underwent was obvious, radical, and complete.
Are …
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Freedom, Part 4
Sunday, November 25th, 2007 : By Dan Miller
Spiritual freedom is a result of a relationship with God on His terms and Jesus’ obedience secures this for us once and for all. Our new walk with Christ will now supply us with the ability to walk in the Spirit so that we will not gratify the desires of the flesh. Today we will discuss this and how our new relationship with our Heavenly Father puts us in a position to pursue a life of freedom, a life of enjoying Him and living life on-purpose.
Today’s teaching will flow from Galatians 5:15-21.
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