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Thanks Angelina, I just changed the settings. How daft of me not to have that sussed that out on my own! Please note that Peter’s statement is literally universal. No man shall be called unclean. The Spirit of Christianity is not that of an elite little club, but a spirit of inclusion: “ This...

Gandhi meditated daily on the Sermon on the Mount and put its teachings into practice. You said:: “Should we as Christians act on the Sermon on the Mount? No.” Jesus said: “Not everyone who keeps saying to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will get into the kingdom from[d] heaven, but only the person who...

Well Stranger, the enlightenment era is a product of the Protestant Reformation. My church is rather proud of the fact that it was Luther and the Reformers who paved the way to enlightenment’s “sapere aude” (dare to know/dare to think for yourself). Why do you think enlightenment is a bad...

Two swords are enough to start a war? Hardly! They are enough though to fulfill prophecy, which is what Jesus explicitly intents them for. Jesus says “No more of this” to violence ´. (Luke 22:51) Clearly He does not want us to use swords. The parallel passage in Matthew states: "Put your sword...

Sorry for the late answer Angelina. I only just noticed your reply. Maybe – if it is technically possible – it would be a good idea for the forum to notify people of replies to their posts like they are notified when they received a private message. In the portion above that in Acts:1015 God...

If it is so important to you, go on then and believe that Joshua conquered cities that weren’t even inhabited yet when these events supposedly took place! What makes our respective views on Scripture off topic, is that I’ve already stated that I’m totally willing to work under your assumption...

Well, not only is Karl Barth “often regarded as the greatest Protestant theologian of the twentieth century. Pope Pius XII called him the most important Christian theologian since St. Thomas Aquinas.” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Barth ). So it seems quite a lot of Christians don’t...

You noticed it is off topic, but yet you can’t let it go, can you? See, my faith was never threatened by academic Bible study (which my church encourages), quite the contrary: it was deepened. Rather than taking away from the Bible it has added to the wealth of divine truth I found in there...

The more accurate statement would be: “‘Best academics’ is used against your view of the Bible often”. I can but hope you are humble enough to see the difference. But you are right that discussing our different views of the Bible would be off-topic here. However, there’s no need to open a new...

So God doesn’t love His enemies but expects us to love ours? And He stopped loving the Israelites when they disobeyed Him, which they frequently did? Well, when Jesus was asked “And who is my neighbor?” (Luke 10:29b), the example He gave was of a person who was definitely not considered a...

No, it is because my church (good old German Lutheran/Reformed/United) takes the Bible seriously enough to throw its best academics at it to get a better understanding. We tend to accept their findings even when we happen to find them to contradict our traditions. In the case of the Book of...

Well, Born-Again, Charles Hodge most certainly did not use the word “progressive” in the way that it sounds like to you. I’m told many Conservative US Evangelicals and Fundamentalists are rather fond of his theological views: “Progressive revelation in Christianity is the concept that the...

Do you mean to ask why – given the theological claim that God is unchanging - the Bible often presents us with (seemingly) contradicting pictures about God and how we are to figure out which picture is more accurate? Well, I suppose most posters here would prefer an explanation such as that of...

I would suppose that God always wanted people to love their enemies, but most people didn’t realize this before God fully revealed Himself in Jesus Christ. I’m afraid many still don’t realize it. When Jesus taught His disciples how to read Scripture it was not the gruesome bits of the OT He...

I suggest you start reading the Bible with Christ at its center if you seriously think God approves of the death penalty. If you do that you’ll hear a big “But I say unto you …” . And one of the many things I love and respect my husband for is that the wish to kill is totally alien to him. It...

Yes, as a servant of the Prince of Peace I think a consequential reading of the Sermon on the Mount commands us to be pacifists engaging in peaceful resistance to the violent revengeful logic of worldly empire. Even if it means we have to follow Him on the cross, we are to be the light of this...

Christians are called to be martyrs if need be, not killers. And they are indeed to love their enemies and not to repay evil with evil.

I’m afraid I find your stance on this highly unbiblical. As far as I’m aware of the only time the Bible ever mentions marriage between Christians and unbelievers Paul solely points us to the possibility that the unbelieving spouse might be sanctified by the believing one. Nowhere does he warn...

Please don't ever pray for anybody's death! “You have heard that it was said, ‘You must love your neighbor’[a]and hate your enemy. 44 But I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so that you will become children of your Father in heaven, because he makes his...

Please note that this passage is about idol worshipping, not marriage. There are millions of inter-faith families who manage to bring up their children just fine. IMHO it’s our job to help them overcome possible conflicts, not to bring their relationships into disrepute.