truth

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Nach dem ich das letzte Kapitel über die Kirche bereits so hoch gelobt habe kann ich diesen Trend gleich weiterführen, denn auch das Kapitel über Anbetung finde ich hervorragend, da es mich auf viele radikale, revolutionäre und vor allem biblische Grundsätze aufmerksam gemacht hat. Das ganze Kapitel kann hier als PDF heruntergeladen werden.

In ancient cultures social life revolved around sanctuaries, temples, and stadiums. There, various gods and goddesses were worshipped as people gave their time, talent, and treasure as sacrifices to the adoration of their deity. Even the buildings were built as acts of worship. Today little has changed. The temple of Ra, the sun god, has now been replaced with warm weather resorts and tanning salons where worshippers pay homage to their bronzing god. The temples of Ptah, the god of craftsmen, are today hardware stores and Craftsman tools. The Temples at Nemea, Olympia, Delphi and Isthmia included stadiums, which have now been replaced with soccer fields, baseball parks. football stadiums, and basketball arenas where pagan fans dress up-like they always have-as birds and animals to cheer for their gods as they score points. …. The temple of Aphrodite in Corinth where sex was part of worship has now done global with strip clubs and porn. The small shrines that filled ancient homes and required homage and financial sacrifice have long since been upgraded with home entertainment systems and high-speed Internet connections. Finally, Paul once said that our god is our stomach, and that god is worshipped by the gluttonous and obese at all-you-can-eat buffets. Indeed, when our culture is considered through the lens of worship and idolatry, primitive ancient paganism seems far less primitive or ancient.

[Doctrine : What Christians Should Believe, Crossway 2010, S.338]

Indeed, worship is not merely an aspect of our being but the essence of our being as God’s image bearers.

[Doctrine : What Christians Should Believe, Crossway 2010, S.339]

Be careful of making a good thing, such as marriage, sex, children, health, success, or financial stability, an ultimate thing , or what Jesus called our “treasure.” Avoid participating in any religious community where the clear truth-claims of Scripture are ignored while contemplatice and mystical practices are favored simply for their spiritual experience.

[Doctrine : What Christians Should Believe, Crossway 2010, S.346]

Western society, in turning away from Christian faith, has turned to other things. This process is commonly called secularization, but that conveys only the negative aspect. The word connotes the turning away from the worship of God while ignoring the fact that something is being turned to in its place.

[Herbert Schlossberg, Idols for Destruction: The Conflict of Christian Faith and American Culture (Wheaton, IL: Crossway 1993) as cited in Doctrine : What Christians Should Believe, Crossway 2010, S.349]

Es gäbe noch viel mehr zu schreiben (z.B.: auf gemeinsame Anbetung im Gottesdienst und heidnische Praktiken und Ansichten wird noch viel detaillierter eingegangen) aber dazu müsste ich wohl das ganze Kapitel zitieren.

SDG Mathias

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Dieses Kapitel gehört sicherlich zu den stärksten des Buches, da Marks Driscoll als Mitbegründer von Acts29 und Mars Hill Church, sowie als Autor von Vintage Church, viel Erfahrung auf diesem Gebiet hat und zusammen mit Mark Dever (9 Merkmale einer gesunden Gemeinde) sicher einer der führenden Denker auf diesem Gebiet ist.

The local church is a community of regenerated believers who confess Jesus Christ as Lord. In obedience to Scripture they organize under qualified leadership, gather regularly for preaching and worship, observe the biblical sacraments of baptism and Communion, are unified by the Spirit, are disciplined for holiness, and scatter to fulfull the Great Commandment and the Great Comission as missionaries to the world for God’s glory and their joy.

[Doctrine : What Christians Should Believe, Crossway 2010, S.307]

Diese Defintion steht am Anfang des Kapitel und im weiteren arbeitet er die einzelnen Aspekte heraus. Die einzelnen Ämter in der Kirche (Älteste/Pastoren, Diakon, Gemeinde Mitglied) werden erklärt und ihre Aufgaben aufgezeigt. Auch der Abschnitt ist sehr ausgewogen und herrausfordernd geschrieben. Zum Schluss gibt er 10 Gründe warum man einer Gemeinde beitreten sollte. Hier nur der Erste:

1) Salvation means forgiveness and new life in the community of the Spirit on mission with Jesus. Salvation is not merely a personal relationship with Jesus that allows us to go to heaven we die. It is also a communal relationship with the church to live on mission for Jesus’ kingdom in this life. And the kingdom begins its reign in the church.

[Doctrine : What Christians Should Believe, Crossway 2010, S.333]

We are to preach the Word of God, the good news of what God has donw, not merely good spiritual advice for better living (1 Thess 2:13; 1 Pet 1:12, 23-25; 2 Pet 1:19-21). It has the power to save and bring people to maturity (1 Thess 1:5). The power of preaching does not come with clever stories or rhetorical devices but with the power of the Spirit (1 Cor 1:17-2:7; 2 Cor 1:12; 2:17; 4:2; 1 Thess 2:5) and the answer to prayer (Eph 6:18-20; Col 4:3). Preaching brings faith for hearers (1 Cor 2:4-5) and is spiritual food to nourish people (1 Pet 2:2).

[Doctrine : What Christians Should Believe, Crossway 2010, S.323]

When speaking of the church, it is helpful to distinguish between the universal and the local church. The universal church is all God’s people in all times and places. Someone becomes a member of the universal church by virtue of being a Christian. Local churches are smaller gatherings of the universal church where Chritians assemble as God’s people. In fact, the word for church in the Greek New Testament (ekklesia) means “gathering,” “meeting,” or “assembly.”

[Doctrine : What Christians Should Believe, Crossway 2010, S.307]

In his magnificient high priestly prayer (John 17:15-18), Jesus prayed that we would become neither syncretistic liberals who sin by going too far into culture and act worldly nor separatistic fundamentalists who sin by not going far enough into culture and acting pharisaically.

[Doctrine : What Christians Should Believe, Crossway 2010, S.314]

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Simon Greenleaf, professor of law at Harvard University and a worldrenowned scholar on the rules of legal evidence, said that it was “impossible that they could have persisted in affirming the truths they have narrated had not Jesus actually risen from the dead, and had they not known ths fact as certainly as the knew any other fact.” [Simon, Greenleaf, The Testimonyof the Evangelists: The Gospel Examined by the Rules of Evidence Administerred in Courts of Justice (Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel, 1995), 32)]

[Doctrine : What Christians Should Believe, Crossway 2010, S.292]

Therefore, the resurrection is proof that Jesus’ teaching was and is truth that we can trust. Practically, Jesus’ resurrection gives us confidence in his other promises that we are waiting to see fulfilled, such as his returning one day to judge sinners (John 3:16, 18, 36; 5:25-29) and reward saints. (John 14:3)

[Doctrine : What Christians Should Believe, Crossway 2010, S.302]

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Da mein Blog immer wieder einzuschlafen scheint, werde ich ihn in Zukunft dazu benutzen Zitate aus meiner momentanen Lektüre festzuhalten. Momentan lese ich Doctrine: What Christians Should Believe von Mark Driscoll und Gerry Breshears. Das ganze Buch ist aus einer Predigtreihe entstanden die man sich auf der Seite zum Buch ansehen kann. Ich befinde mich derzeit in Kapitel 8 und fange direkt mit einem Zitat an.

God feels angry because God hates sin. (Prov 6:16-19; Zech 8:17) Sadly, it is commmonly said among Christians that “God hates the sin but loves the sinner.” This comes not from divinely inspired Scripture but instead from the Hindu Ghandy who coined the “Love the sinner but hate the sin” in his 1929 autobiography.

The Bible clearly says that God both loves and hates some sinners. (Ps 5:5; 11:4-5; Hos 9:15; Rom 9:13 cf. Mal 1:2-3)

[Doctrine : What Christians Should Believe, Crossway 2010, S.258]

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