Up to you, folks

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I get requests from lots of folks for links and reciprocal blogrolling. I guess it's kind of flattering. My blogroll is already quite long despite my periodic attempts to trim it down to size. I have limited time and lately it seems like there just aren't enough hours in the day, so I have been trying to focus on my personal priorities. I figure that if God has other stuff He wants from me, He knows how to get my attention (oh, boy, does He ever!)

Anyhow, I was recently approached again for blog linkage. I could probably (given the time) put in some valuable input here, but frankly, right now I don't hear a call to do what really seems needful here. I am going to post correspondance, links, a few thoughts, and then I will ask those of you who have time and/or interest to respond to this blogger. I think that she is seriously seeking the truth, otherwise I wouldn't have even done this much. So be nice even as you are sharing truth with her.


From: Vynette
To: ahuntley@interserv.com
Subject: The Race is Run Weblog
Date: May 6, 2006 6:59
Dear Ms. Huntley,
You may be interested in the subject matter of my new blog, The Race is Run.

THEME
A Challenge to the Christian Churches and Islam
Propositions to be addressed by the Christian Churches
1)There is no biblical basis for the doctrines of 'Virgin Birth' (Miraculous Incarnation), 'Trinity', or 'Transubstantiation'

2)There is no biblical basis for the various 'divinity' teachings about Jesus of Nazareth

3)There is no biblical basis for the teachings about 'heaven' and 'hell'

Propositions to be addressed by Islam:
1)The 'virgin' birth of Jesus through Mary is demonstrably false

2)The doctrine, being false, calls into question the Koran's supposed authorship by the God of 'Truth'.

3)The above doctrines and teachings will be subjected to critical examination and systematically proven false.
Warm regards,
Vynette Holliday
Australia
Book:
************************************************
Sent: 06 May 2006 12:21
To: Vynette
Subject: Re: The Race is Run Weblog
I looked over your blog briefly, and would like to know why you think that I might be interested in linking to it. You seem to be determined to undermine and challenge religion as a force in society. Why should I support your quest? Or have I misunderstood your propositions?
alicia huntley
************************************
Date: May 6, 2006 9:24 PM
Dear Alicia,
Thanks for your reply.

No, you did not misunderstand my propositions. The ultimate intent of the propositions is, however, to strip away the doctrinal accretions of centuries and lay bare the ‘truth’ or ‘essence’ of Christianity. They are not intended to undermine or challenge faith in the power of God.

The Gospel of John expresses my intentions far more succinctly than I so - ‘…the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship him in spirit and in truth, for the Father seeketh such to worship him.’ (John 4:24)

You include a quote from Christopher West in your post of May 6 - "When we reclaim the truth, we need to be prepared for a raging spiritual battle."

I am prepared – I hope
Regards
Vynette
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I think that Vynette has fallen prey to the illusion that we can only find authentic Christianity by returning to the so-called primitive church. I find it interesting that she addresses her questions to Christians in terms of Biblical authority - I wonder if she is aware that the authority of the Bible derives from the Church and not the other way around? (See such books as Mark Shea's "By What Authority" and "Making Sense out of Scripture".
The Biblical basis for the beliefs she questions are well documented in such places as the Catechism of the Catholic Church, Patrick Madrid's little handbook "Where is that in the Bible?" and John Martinogni's website and talks - the "Bible Christian Society".
But I will cite a few proof texts here.
1)Virgin conception of Jesus by Mary - Luke's Gospel, the Annunciation "How shall this be, since I know not man?"
Trinity - the Great Commission at the end of Matthew's Gospel "Go therefore and make disciples of all, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. "
Transubstantiation - It's the best explanation I've yet seen of the meaning of John 6 (bread of life discourse).
2) Divinity of Jesus - He claimed to be divine. The rabbis tried several times to stone him for the 'blasphemy' of claiming to be "The Son of God" and "I am" (YHWH). C.S. Lewis did the best job I have seen of elucidating this in his book "Mere Christianity"
3) The Bible mentions salvation and condemnation in several places - the parable of the sheep and the goats in Matthew is one that comes to mind right away. And is not the entire book of Revelation a description (both allegorical and otherwise) of Heaven? What teachings is she questioning?

Anyhow, that is all I have time for right now. And I don't have chapter and verse cited here, but they aren't that hard to find.


I'm not a student of Islam per se so I cannot comment on her questions there.

5 Comments

As you've probably guessed when visiting my site, I really don't see a lot of value in blogrolling, especially reciprocal blogrolling. There's this belief that if one visits a new site he/she likes, they may go down the list of sites referenced in it's blogroll and check them out as well. In my own experience, I rarely do, especially if it's an enormous list.

If one is going to blogroll, I like Danielle Bean's style where the items are clustered into categories. That's the way I used to do blogrolls years ago — half a dozen or so in each category.

I also suspect some folks blogroll just to 'portalize' their website and keep a list for themselves to remember the sites they want to visit. For that though, RSS aggregators do an infinitely better job. Certainly, that's how I came across this post… Bloglines said you had posted two new entries since my last scan and gave me the details when asked. It's a lot easier than clicking one by one through a blogroll and wondering whether Joe/Sue/whomever has posted anything new.

There's this belief that if one visits a new site he/she likes, they may go down the list of sites referenced in it's blogroll and check them out as well. In my own experience, I rarely do


I do. All the time. I see it as an endorsement and if a blogger I like likes a certain blog, I think it's worth checking out. Different strokes for different folks I guess.

Vynette, there is also no biblical basis for a "bible only" approach to Christianity.

It's impossible to approach such a broad brush argument in comboxes.

Vynette is on the money in every respect.

If the church teachings have no scriptual basis for the assertions [i.e. virgin birth, trinity etc] then those teachings should be discard because they place a barrier between the real Jesus and mankind.

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This page contains a single entry by alicia published on May 7, 2006 10:29 PM.

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