Biden: ‘My Religion Defines My Life;’ Pope: ‘There Is a Grave and Clear Obligation to Oppose’ Legalized Abortion

CNS News reports:

The position Biden took on abortion before an audience of many millions in this nationally televised debate was in direct defiance of an ancient moral teaching of the [Roman Catholic] church that has been emphatically restated by the current pope and his immediate predecessor.

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Parapastrix

Apprising Ministries defines for you a growing menace that will eventually take the mainstream of the church visible onto the broad path of the mortally wounded mainline denominations. View article →

Gary Gilley: The Cost Of Discipleship By Dietrich Bonhoffer

 

By Gary Gilley, Southern View Chapel

Bonhoeffer, who died because of his principles in a Germany concentration camp in 1945, is one of the most frequently quoted individuals by evangelical leaders. This has always surprised me given the fact that Bonhoeffer was a Christian humanist with neo-orthodox leanings.

Nevertheless, I decided to read for myself this, his most well known book. Bonhoeffer’s greatest contribution to the Christian community is his teachings on what he calls “cheap grace.” “Cheap grace,” he writes, “means the justification of sin without the justification of the sinner” (p.46).

In a statement that would strike a great blow against easy-believism of our day he says, “Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession, absolution without personal confession.

Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate” (p.47). To these thoughts, and the theology behind them, we say a hardy “amen.”

On the other hand, in addition to his humanistic and neo-orthodox tendencies mentioned above, The Cost of Discipleship clearly revealed other major problems. Most disturbing of which is his belief concerning sacramental regeneration.

Bonhoeffer takes the traditional Lutheran view that grace is dispensed through the sacraments of baptism (most often infant baptism) (pp. 254-262) and the Lord’s supper (pp. 263-276). In other words, it is through these means that one is born again.

Additionally he believes that a true Christian can lose his salvation (p. 329). These are grave errors that must be factored into any understanding of Bonhoeffer’s teachings. While Bonhoeffer supplies some thoughts worth considering, his false teachings are too many and too real to ignore.

TRUTH ABOUT DIETRICH BONHOEFFER : Apprising Ministries

Ken Silva published Dr. Gary Gilley’s article with his permission, October 11, 2012.

Evangelical Leaders Try to Get Out Christian Conservative Vote Despite Objections to Mormonism

“In poll after poll,” reports the Associated Press, “evangelicals have overwhelmingly said they would back the Republican presidential nominee despite theological differences with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. But what had been thought of as a hypothetical question for American evangelicals for years, Southern Baptist leader Al Mohler said recently, is now a reality with this election and is being tested in a contest that will likely be decided by slim margins.” View article →

Pope Prays in Arabic for First Time

France 24 International News reports:

Pope Benedict XVI on Wednesday pronounced a blessing in Arabic at his weekly audience in front of 20,000 pilgrims on St Peter’s Square — the first time the language has been used at such an event.

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Southern Poverty Law Center Pushes Homosexual Tolerance to Elementary Students with ‘Mix It Up’ Day

Christian News Network reports:

On Tuesday, October 30th, over 2,000 public and private schools across the United States are scheduled to participate in an observance spearheaded by the Southern Poverty Law Center, which begins at, but is not limited to, lunchtime. It focuses on encouraging youth to meet up with and affirm those who are different from them, not only persons of various races and ethnicities, but also those who are openly homosexual.

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Spying Out the Land

Tim Challies challenges the Christian who chooses not to stray from his or her comfort zone. He points to himself as an example. “So much of what I do in life,” he says, “so many of the decisions I make, are driven primarily by considerations of my own comfort. I do what I do because it is more comfortable than the alternative; I choose to go this way instead of that way because the opposite looks like it may just bring too much discomfort. I’m kind of a coward, I guess, and kind of consumed with keeping life safe and easy.” View article →

Culture Warts or Faithful Servants, Part 2

Peter Jones, Director of truthXchange, continues his series. In the first installment, Dr. Jones examined the reasons young people reject being called “Christian.” In this latest article, he addresses the massive change Western culture is experiencing as a result of what he labels “orgiastic sexuality and occult spirituality.” The two thinkers he holds responsible for the cultural chaos are Carl Jung, the psychologist, and Mircea Eliade the scholar. View article →

U.S. Congressman: Evolution, Big Bang Are ‘Lies Straight From the Pit of Hell’

Christian News Network reports:

Republican Representative Paul Broun from Georgia was speaking to a group of Christians at a sportsmen’s banquet at Liberty Baptist Church in Hartwell when he made the statement. In addition to talking to the gathering about his experiences in hunting, he referenced his belief in the Creator.

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Scalia Says Abortion, Gay Rights Are Easy Cases

Justice Antonin Scalia is on a book tour. Recently he told hundreds of people who came to buy his book and hear him speak that he is a “textualist” which means he applies the words in the Constitution as they were understood by the framers. For him, the hotly disputed cases that come before the court are some of the easiest to resolve:

The death penalty? Give me a break. It’s easy. Abortion? Absolutely easy. Nobody ever thought the Constitution prevented restrictions on abortion. Homosexual sodomy? Come on. For 200 years, it was criminal in every state.

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