Faith in the News

[tuttle]

Asia Bibi: Pakistan acquits Christian woman on death row

Asia Bibi was convicted in 2010 after being accused of insulting the Prophet Muhammad in a row with her neighbours.

She always maintained her innocence, but has spent most of the past eight years in solitary confinement.

The landmark ruling has already set off violent protests by hardliners who support strong blasphemy laws.

[Thoth]

‘God Is Going to Have to Forgive Me’: Young Evangelicals Speak Out
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/01/us/y ... terms.html

[UncleBob]

Good News – and bad – in New Zealand faith and belief study

A nationwide study of faith and belief in New Zealand “has revealed both challenging and encouraging results for the public perception of Christianity in Aotearoa New Zealand”, Anglican Taonga reports. Its findings support the disputed words attributed to St Francis of Assisi: “preach the Gospel at all times. When necessary, use words”, as it finds that the most effective form of evangelism in New Zealand is by Christians who demonstrate Christian actions first, before sharing their faith in words.

Of the New Zealanders who completed the survey, 59 per cent thought they would most likely be influenced to investigate faith by seeing others live out their faith. And if that faith was lived out while caring for people suffering from a personal trauma or life change, the impact of that Christian love and care went up. The survey also found that 54 per cent of Kiwis were open to changing their religious views or exploring other beliefs, Anglican Taonga said.

The “Faith and Belief in New Zealand” report came from a Wilberforce Foundation commissioned survey carried out by Australian communications company McCrindle Research. It draws on national census records of religious affiliation and used online questionnaires to establish patterns of perception and belief across a group of 1007 respondents.

Just under half of those who completed the questionnaire (46 to 47 per cent) said spirituality was important for wellbeing and mental health, and in the 18-25 age group that edged up to 50 to 52 per cent, making it the majority view for the youngest age group surveyed.

The survey pinpointed what the Wilberforce Foundation termed “belief blockers” – those aspects of behaviour, belief or reputation that turned people off from pursuing faith. The biggest belief blocker was sexual abuse that had occurred within the church, which was cited by 76 per cent of respondents. Others included hypocritical attitudes or behaviour (69 per cent), negative attitudes on homosexuality (47 per cent) and “the perceived mismatch of proclaiming a loving God that would nonetheless send sinners to hell” (45 per cent).

The Study

[Nature of a Man]

“the perceived mismatch of proclaiming a loving God that would nonetheless send sinners to hell” (45 per cent).

Regarding this, a way I describe it is "allowing" sinners to go to hell, similar to the concept of people having a "right to fail" in life - if people were "forced" to go to heaven, much as if a government tried to "force" people to be perfectly moral individuals, it wouldn't be genuine love or repentance.

[UncleBob]

America’s Epidemic of Empty Churches

[hugodrax]

America’s Epidemic of Empty Churches

All you have to do is let the money changers back into the temple.

[UncleBob]

America’s Epidemic of Empty Churches

All you have to do is let the money changers back into the temple.

Yeah, I suppose.

[hugodrax]

[https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.daily ... sages.html

Remember, the Bible is anti-Semitic.

[Sir Moose]

[https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.daily ... sages.html

Remember, the Bible is anti-Semitic.

URL repair:
Jewish leaders call for new editions of the Bible and the Koran to carry trigger warnings highlighting anti-Semitic passages

[hugodrax]

[https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.daily ... sages.html

Remember, the Bible is anti-Semitic.

URL repair:
Jewish leaders call for new editions of the Bible and the Koran to carry trigger warnings highlighting anti-Semitic passages

How you do that?

[Sir Moose]

[https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.daily ... sages.html

Remember, the Bible is anti-Semitic.

URL repair:
Jewish leaders call for new editions of the Bible and the Koran to carry trigger warnings highlighting anti-Semitic passages

How you do that?

open bracket, URL=(insert URL here), close bracket, visible text, open bracket, /url, close bracket
For an example, quote my response and scroll up to the successful URL insertion and take a gander.

[hugodrax]

[https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.daily ... sages.html

Remember, the Bible is anti-Semitic.

URL repair:
Jewish leaders call for new editions of the Bible and the Koran to carry trigger warnings highlighting anti-Semitic passages

How you do that?

open bracket, URL=(insert URL here), close bracket, visible text, open bracket, /url, close bracket
For an example, quote my response and scroll up to the successful URL insertion and take a gander.

Thanks very much.

[UncleBob]

The Return of Paganism: Maybe there actually is a genuinely post-Christian future for America.

[hugodrax]

The Return of Paganism: Maybe there actually is a genuinely post-Christian future for America.

Be honest, Bob. You hex Trump while wearing a puddy hat, don’t you? I bet you don’t even OWN a gun.

[UncleBob]

The Return of Paganism: Maybe there actually is a genuinely post-Christian future for America.

Be honest, Bob. You hex Trump while wearing a puddy hat, don’t you? I bet you don’t even OWN a gun.

[hugodrax]

The Return of Paganism: Maybe there actually is a genuinely post-Christian future for America.

Be honest, Bob. You hex Trump while wearing a puddy hat, don’t you? I bet you don’t even OWN a gun.

I thought as much. I hear good things about Bud's gun shop.

[tuttle]

Ukraine moves to create its own Orthodox church out of Russia's orbit

[hugodrax]

Ukraine moves to create its own Orthodox church out of Russia's orbit

Yeah, that’s an ugly situation. From what I’ve read, the Russian Patriarch broke communion (not sure of the right words, don’t want to insult anyone) with the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. It’s really sad, and it has to be difficult for all of the Orthodox Churches that are now in the untenable position of being simultaneously in communion with both the Russian and Ukrainian churches. It all has the appearance of being politically motivated over temporal power. I hope it all gets righted very quickly.

[UncleBob]

Russian church head: Smartphones could precede Antichrist

[Cleon]

Russian church head: Smartphones could precede Antichrist

I don't know much about Orthodox eschatology. This sounds more like evangelical dispensational stuff al la Left Behind. I'm surprised.