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Doctrines

The Vulnerability of God

Love4
Why are we Christians? We are Christians simply because of Christ. We have recognized in His humanan nature the perfect embodiment of God which was expressed through His actions, reported by His closest friends while He was among us. The highest revelation of God through the history of communication between Him and us, was when He revealed Himself in human flesh. It is the culmination of God's revelation, where He tried to tell us one important thing, namely about His exceeding love for the dignity of our human nature, which was created in His image. Through God's revealed love we get to know a God who is ready to sacrifice himself and suffer for us. Through Christ's crucifixion, God has revealed Himself to be vulnerable and showed us that He can experience pain. In this article, we represent reflections on God's Vulnerability taken from J. R. Lucas' article "The Vulnerability of God."

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The End of Charismatic Gifts

 

dove.2In this article, we will examine the validity of the charismatic belief, that is, whether the charismatic gifts of the Holy Spirit are still present in the Church of Christ. The charismatic belief affirms that the gifts of the Holy Spirit are still present, and have never ceased to be in operation from the birth of the Church on the day of the Pentecost until the present. The gifts will continue to exist until Christ's return. The charismatic belief is referred to as the continuationist view, or continuationism, while the opposite view is known as the cessationist view, or cessationism. We will show that continuationism is incorrect by examining the important arguments that are present in the issue.

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House Churches

House Church1

This article deals with a biblical justification for the necessity and sufficiency of the house meetings in our Christian gatherings. First, we will give a brief historic perspective on house churches. Then, in the second part, we will examine various passages that are relevant for the topic on house churches. This examination will be the most important one, and consequently a long one. These passages are divided in five groups according to their clarity with respect to the relation between the Church and house. The second part will, thus, be divided into five sections according to the type of passages into consideration. The third and fourth part are concerned with the leadership and the autonomy of a local church.

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Early Church Practises

EarlyChurch

Pre-Constantinian Church

In this section we are going to look at just some of the practices of the early church believers for approximately the first 250 years of the church. In 313, Constantine issued the Edict of Milan legalizing the practice of Christianity. We have many today that refer to the church fathers as being from this time forward but really the church fathers were the 11 Disciples and Paul, with many co-laborers, not for instance St. Augustine, St. Athanasius, or Gregory of Nazianzen, let alone theologians such as Luther or Calvin.

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The Scriptural Law of Worship

bible prayer3w.2The offering of spiritual service to God in the celebration of His Holy Person is one of the highest, noblest employments in which man can engage, the supreme reach of the soul. (...) The worship of a Supreme Being seems to be a universal instinct, and because of the sovereignty, majesty, and holiness of God, must be surrounded by such safeguards, restrictions, and sanctities as will preserve the divine honor and secure the acceptance of the worshiper and his worship. (...) Rather than incur the wrath of heaven by a form of worship that is dishonoring and displeasing to God we should, instead of allowing ourselves ignorantly to worship, seek some divine message declaring what the mind of the Lord is, and follow it.

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On Which Days Did Jesus Die and Rise?

The Biblical Case for Wednesday Crucifixion and Saturday Resurrection

empty-tomb

The death and resurrection of Jesus Christ stand at the heart of the Christian faith. To deny their historicity is to deny Christianity itself. Yet within this central confession lies a question often overlooked: on which days did Jesus die, and on which day did He rise?

Most Christians assume Friday crucifixion and Sunday resurrection, but careful study of the Gospel record points instead to a Wednesday crucifixion and a Saturday resurrection. This article explains why that chronology alone fits the biblical testimony.

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The Sabbath in Church History

A historical overview of Sabbath observance in the Christian church

mozaik

What did early Christians actually do with the Sabbath? Across two millennia of church history, Christians have observed both the seventh day (Saturday) and the first day of the week (Sunday) in surprisingly diverse ways. This overview gathers testimonies from early church writers, medieval chroniclers, and Reformation-era historians, to show how Sabbath observance was practiced, debated, preserved, and transformed across the centuries. The goal is not to prove a thesis, but to give readers a clear window into the historical record.

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Inclusivism

tribe.2Can the unevangelized be saved? The unevangelized are people who have never heard about Christ or have insufficient information about Him. Can they be saved even though they have no opportunity to hear about the Gospel?

We believe that they can, and such a view is known as Inclusivism. Inclusivism teaches "that the unevangelized are saved or lost on the basis of their commitment, or lack thereof, to the God who saves through the work of Jesus. They believe that appropriation of salvific grace is mediated through general revelation and God's providential workings in human history. Briefly, inclusivists affirm the particularity and finality of salvation only in Christ but deny that knowledge of his work is necessary for salvation. That is to say, they hold that the work of Jesus is ontologically necessary for salvation (no one would be saved without it) but not epistemologically necessary (one need not be aware of the work in order to benefit from it)" (John Sanders, No Other Name, p. 215, emphasis added).

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