Background Information

You Are Not the One to Build, Part 6B: Spiritual Gifts: God Works through us for His Purpose

Ian Johnson September 4, 2023 1 Comment

The modern emphasis on first identifying my “gift” so that I may then “help” God develop it gets the matter exactly backwards. The important thing isn’t identifying my gift, it is offering my body as a living sacrifice so that the Spirit may exercise any gift He chooses through me. Then any gift I am observed to be actually exercising can be identified as my gift, and its exercise will be genuine and have God’s power.

A God who Speaks, Desire to have our own way, Disrespecting poor believers, Divisions in the Church, God Speaks to Us, God's purpose for us, Historical Background, In the Church, Meaning of Unity, Other Gifts of the Holy Spirit, Personal Background, Personality cults, Prophecy, Through others, Through teachers, Through the church, To be his ambassadors, To bear fruit, To live in unity

fruit, Fruit of the Spirit, gifts, gifts of the Holy Spirit, Gifts to the Church, Holy Spirit, Love, love one another, Spiritual Gifts

You Are Not the One to Build, Part 1: God’s Work, God’s Reputation, and My Acclaim

Ian Johnson July 9, 2023 4 Comments

The first of a series of videos about God giving people things to start which he does not then permit them to finish. God does this for his own glory, and, sometimes to protect his own reputation, as was the case in King David’s preparations to build a Temple–and also in my own life.

Background Information, Confession of Sin, Consequences, Desire to have our own way, God's purpose for us, God's rationality, Personal Background, Pride in accomplishments as our own, self-serving worship, Sin, To be his ambassadors, To bear fruit, To live in unity, Trusting sight over God's words, What is sin?

acclaim, God, God's glory, God's reputation, King David, King Solomon, reputation, Solomon's Temple

Postscript: “Sin” Words: Lexical Definitions

Ian Johnson August 21, 2021 7 Comments

The New Testament uses a number of different words to describe sin, its causes and its effects, in the context of confession, repentance and forgiveness. These words are not synonyms, and distinguishing them is important to understanding many of the contexts in which they are used.

God Speaks to Us, Linguistic Background Words and Phrases, Sin, The Bible, What is God's Word, What is sin?

debt, debtor, Definitions, fault, flaw, hamartanō, hamartia, hamartōlós, lawaless, lexical defnitions, lexicons, oopheílēma, opheilétēs, parabasis, parakoḗ, paráptōma, sin, trespass, unrighteous, unrighteousness, without law

The Problem with Sodom

Ian Johnson May 5, 2021 6 Comments

The problem with Sodom was its arrogant indifference to the poor and vulnerable, as shown by the violent hate crime it attempted to commit against two visiting angels. This arose, in turn, from its affluence and its sensual focus. All of these problems characterize the modern world, including the Church (where they lead to often-violent divisions). The traditional Christian interpretation of the Sodom story prevents us from seeing this.

An abuse of God's image, Christianity and Social Evils, Church purpose versus church growth, Desire to have our own way, Desire to have our own way, Disrespecting poor believers, Divisions in the Church, God's sovereignty, Greed, Historical Background, Our Oneness in Christ book revision, Racism, Rejecting God, Sin, To be in his image, Trusting sight over God's words, What is sin?

2 Peter 2, affluence, arrogance, Deuteronomy, Ezekiel 16:49-50, False believers, False prophets, false teachers, Gibeah, Gomorrah, indifference, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Jude, poverty, Prophets, rejection of the good, Sodom, unbelief

Brief Introduction to the Politicization of Christianity and its Consequences–From Jesus to 312 CE

Ian Johnson April 3, 2021 2 Comments

A brief summary of the course and causes of the transformation of Christianity from a faith that offered individual friendship with God into a politicized tool of social control up to 312 CE.

A God who Speaks, Background Information, Church purpose versus church growth, Compulsory Christianity, God Speaks to Us, God's Existence and Nature, Historical Background, Peril of Seeking Numbers, Peril of Seeking Power, Peril of Seeking Respectability, Purpose of the Church, Replacing Relationship with Morality, Social control and statecraft, Transcendence

allegorical interpretation, Apostles, Christianity, Crisis of the Third Century, Dualism, Errors, Greek philosophy, Impassivity, Jesus, Middle Platonism, Montaism, moralism, Neoplatonism, Origen, Platonism, Politicization, Politicization of Christianity, Politics, Relationship, Roman Religion, social order, Syncretism, Transcendence

Brief Introduction to the Politicization of Christianity and its Consequences (Outline)

Ian Johnson April 2, 2021 1 Comment

Introductory installment in a brief summary of a “big picture” overview of Western religious and political history, starting with Jesus and moving to the present. Overall thesis: Much of world history has been caused by the illegitimate politicization of Christianity.

Background Information, Church History, Islamic History and Secular History Interaction, Compulsory Christianity, Historical Background, Index, Islam and Christianity, Peril of Seeking Numbers, Peril of Seeking Power, Sins versus sin, Social control and statecraft, Topic Index, What Christianity borrowed from Islam, What Islam borrowed from Christianity

Christianity, Errors, Islam, Muhammad, Politicization, Politics, power, Statcraft, war

Disclaimer About “Sacred” or “Church” History

Ian Johnson February 2, 2021 0 Comments

The reasons I reject the distinction between “Sacred” or “Church History” and secular History.

Background Information, Church History, Islamic History and Secular History Interaction, Historical Background, Index

Church History, History, History of Christianity, political history, Secular History

A Poem and a Hymn About Futility, Death and Hope

Ian Johnson January 18, 2021 1 Comment

I am posting a new poem I recently wrote, the most complete text I am able to find of an old Isaac Watts hymn, and some related scriptures, all on the subjects of death and the futility of “success” in this life. God is our only hope.

Background Information, Eternity, Peril of Seeking Numbers, Personal Background, The Invisible God's Self-Existence, Victory

Death, Futile, futility, hope, Hope in God, hymn, Ian Johnson, Isaac Watts, O God Our Help in Ages Past, poetry, resurrection

The Effect of Organized Christianity’s Early Departures from its Roots Upon the Rise of Islam

Ian Johnson December 26, 2020 1 Comment

This is an outline of the third part of my attempt to link early errors of organized Christianity to the state of the modern world–specifically, in this part, by showing how they influenced Islam. Links will be added as future posts are written.

Background Information, Church History, Islamic History and Secular History Interaction, Church purpose versus church growth, Divisions in the Church, Historical Background, Islam and Christianity, Islam as a Consequence, Peril of Seeking Numbers, Peril of Seeking Power, Replacing Relationship with Morality, Social control and statecraft, Topic Index, What Islam borrowed from Christianity

antifeminism, Christian division, Christian errors, Divine Simplicity, Influence of Christian Errors on Islam, Islam, Jihad, Judgment, Monotheism, moralism

The Departure of Organized Christianity from its Roots, Second through Sixth Centuries CE

Ian Johnson December 25, 2020 1 Comment

This is an outline of the second part of my attempt to link early errors of organized Christianity to the state of the modern world–specifically, in this part, by showing the origins and entrance of specific errors before Muhammad which profoundly affected subsequent history. Links will be added as future posts are written.

A God who Speaks, Adoption, Authority Contests, Background Information, Church History, Islamic History and Secular History Interaction, Church purpose versus church growth, Complex unity, Compulsory Christianity, Discipline or Correction, Disputes about words, Disrespecting poor believers, Divisions in the Church, Forgiveness and Unforgiveness, Free will, God Never Stopped Speaking, God Speaks to Us, God's Existence and Nature, God's purpose for us, God's sovereignty, God's Voice, Greed, Heresy, Historical Background, Index, Injustice and Lawsuits, Jesus the Son, Leaving Our First Love, Male and female, Marriage, Marriage and Reproduction, Merit, Other Gifts of the Holy Spirit, Peril of Seeking Numbers, Peril of Seeking Power, Peril of Seeking Respectability, Prophecy, Purpose of the Church, Quarrels, Regeneration, Religious violence and persecution, Replacing Relationship with Morality, Salvation, Sin, Sins versus sin, Site Index Page, Social control and statecraft, Son of Man, The Bible, Through the church, To be in his image, Trinity, Unity, Wars as consequences, What is God's Word, What is sin?

Christian Divisions, Fifth Century Christianity, Fourth Century Christianity, Hellenistic Phiolosophy, heresy, Heresy hunting, Index, Just War Theory, Monotheism, Roman Law, Roman Law and Jurisprudence, Roman Religion, Rome, Second Century Christianity, Sixth Century Christianity, Syncretism, Third Century Christianity

You Are Not the One to Build, Part 6B: Spiritual Gifts: God Works through us for His Purpose

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You Are Not the One to Build, Part 1: God’s Work, God’s Reputation, and My Acclaim

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Postscript: “Sin” Words: Lexical Definitions

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Brief Introduction to the Politicization of Christianity and its Consequences (Outline)

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Disclaimer About “Sacred” or “Church” History

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A Poem and a Hymn About Futility, Death and Hope

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The Effect of Organized Christianity’s Early Departures from its Roots Upon the Rise of Islam

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The Departure of Organized Christianity from its Roots, Second through Sixth Centuries CE

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