Guest Posted January 24, 2005 Share Posted January 24, 2005 I see so much in decoys and distractions ... WAR, , TERRORISM, POLITICS, SPORTS, TV, MOVIES, NEWS...WEATHER, DISASTERS.. Sermons are shallow and cheapo...hardly anyone wants to study the sabbath school lesson...in church.. Church is a noisy spectator religious entertainment facility.... ok..make sure you don't miss extreme makeover... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nicodema Posted January 24, 2005 Share Posted January 24, 2005 JimBob I was reading Desire of Ages chapter 2 earlier today. It talked about the condition of the nation of Israel at the time of Christ's birth, and I found many parallels to the state of Christianity today. "Spiritual apathy" was actually listed as one of four things "eating out the heart of the nation" at that time, in this paragraph taken from page 30: Quote: At the time of the birth of Christ the nation was chafing under the rule of her foreign masters, and racked with internal strife . The Jews had been permitted to maintain the form of a separate government; but nothing could disguise the fact that they were under the Roman yoke, or reconcile them to the restriction of their power . The Romans claimed the right of appointing and removing the high priest, and the office was often secured by fraud, bribery, and even murder. Thus the priesthood became more and more corrupt. Yet the priests still possessed great power, and they employed it for selfish and mercenary ends. The people were subjected to their merciless demands, and were also heavily taxed by the Romans. This state of affairs caused widespread discontent. Popular outbreaks were frequent. [:"red"]Greed and violence, distrust and spiritual apathy,[/] were eating out the very heart of the nation. So we have: greed violence distrustand [:"blue"]spiritual apathy[/] just before the First Coming of our Saviour, which are rotting the core of God's chosen people in that day. Note how these progress either as pairs or one to another. As pairs, greed breeds violence; distrust breeds spiritual apathy. One to another: greed can give rise to violence; the presence of both breeds a general atmosphere of distrust between people, and the deterioration of society and human relationships, along with the general malaise of living in conditions which are emotionally hostile on a daily basis, leads to spiritual apathy. Is there a parallel from that day's Israel to this day with Christendom in general? How about with the SDAc in particular? What about a parallel with America (since there are some, though I'm not among them, who believe America is God's "chosen nation" on earth today because of her wealth and power)? Quote "After such knowledge, what forgiveness?" -- T.S. Eliot Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cricket Posted January 24, 2005 Share Posted January 24, 2005 [:"blue"]Is there a parallel from that day's Israel to this day with Christendom in general?[/] Waiting for the little triangular-dice-thingy to rise to the surface of my 8-Ball... Ah! The answer is decidedly so! In all seriousness, yes, there is so much parallelism between the Israelites and now. I see it within my own circle of Christendom; I see it within my own heart. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 26, 2005 Share Posted January 26, 2005 See the interview of Don Schneider in the recent Adventist Review. Uh, Don... How about addressing NFDMTTS? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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