God’s Existence and Nature

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

Truths of the Earliest Christianity that Mutated Leading to Formation of Later Divisions

Ian Johnson December 24, 2020 3 Comments

This is an outline of the first part of my attempt to link early errors of organized Christianity to the state of the modern world–specifically, in this part, by explaining some of the foundations of the earliest Christianity from which later errors diverged. Links will be added as future posts are written.

A God who Speaks, Adoption, Background Information, Church History, Islamic History and Secular History Interaction, Complex unity, Eternity Present, Free will, God Speaks to Us, God was never our enemy, God's Existence and Nature, God's purpose for us, God's sovereignty, His Children, His Friends, Historical Background, In the Church, Index, Meaning of Unity, Other Gifts of the Holy Spirit, Peril of Seeking Numbers, Peril of Seeking Power, Peril of Seeking Respectability, Prophecy, Purpose of the Church, Reconciliation, Regeneration, Restoration of God's Image, Salvation, Show us the Way of Truth, Sin, Sins versus sin, The Invisible God's Self-Existence, The universal Church and local churches, Through others, Through the church, To be his ambassadors, To be in his image, Topic Index, Trinity, What is God's Word, What is sin?

Christian Teachings, doctrine, Earliest Christianity, evangelism, Holy Spirit, Index, Jesus, Monotheism, pacifism, social order, war

From Early Christianity to Islam and Back–2. Negative Developments in Christianity Before Muhammad

Ian Johnson July 14, 2020 7 Comments

Between the end of the First Century CE and the end of the Sixth Century, Christianity grew but also deteriorated in a number of ways. The deterioration arose mainly from the infiltration of Greek philosophy, a change in emphasis to mass evangelism and the politicization of Christianity, followed by the questionable conversion of Constantine. These changes set up many of the specific parts of Christianity that Islam either adopted, or reacted strongly against. They also set up mucj of later European history.

A God who Speaks, Church purpose versus church growth, Compulsory Christianity, God Acts by Speaking, God Never Stopped Speaking, God Speaks to Us, God's Voice, Heresy, Historical Background, Injustice and Lawsuits, Islam and Christianity, Jesus the Son, Other Gifts of the Holy Spirit, Our Oneness in Christ book revision, Peril of Seeking Numbers, Peril of Seeking Power, Peril of Seeking Respectability, Religious violence and persecution, Replacing Relationship with Morality, Social control and statecraft, Son of Man, The Bible, Through the church, Trinity, Unity, Wars as consequences, What Islam borrowed from Christianity

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From Early Christianity to Islam and Back — 1. The Earliest Christianity

Ian Johnson July 13, 2020 6 Comments

This post is the first in a series of six outlining a broad view of how things in the Church and the world got to be as they are now, including contributions early Christianity and Islam made to each other. This post attempts to outline the basic positions of early Christianity. Comments are invited!

A God who Speaks, Adoption, Background Information, Church purpose versus church growth, Complex unity, Conversation with God, Desire to have our own way, Emotions, Eternity Present, Free will, God Acts by Speaking, God Never Stopped Speaking, God Speaks to Us, God was never our enemy, God's Existence and Nature, God's purpose for us, God's rationality, God's sovereignty, God's Voice, His Children, His Friends, Historical Background, Human Rationality, Is forgiveness of sins the focus of salvation?, Jesus the Son, Knowing good and evil, Language and Speech, Logical thinking, Male and female, Other Gifts of the Holy Spirit, Prophecy, Reconciliation, Regeneration, Rejecting God, Restoration of God's Image, Salvation, Sin, Sins versus sin, Son of Man, The Bible, The Invisible God's Self-Existence, Through the church, To be his ambassadors, To be in his image, To live in unity, Trinity, Unity, What is God's Word, What is sin?

Christian history, Christianity, Christianity and Islam, doctrine, Early Christianity, History of Christianity, New Testament, New Testament Christianity

About Racism

Ian Johnson June 15, 2020 4 Comments

The ultimate solution to our national racisms lies in the Church, in who we are in Christ. We are not called to uncritically support the current social order, no matter how unjust. We are called to show how social divisions are overcome by the Holy Spirit among us.

An abuse of God's image, Christianity and Social Evils, Church purpose versus church growth, Complex unity, Compulsory Christianity, Divisions in the Church, Emotions, God's sovereignty, Human Rationality, Injustice and Lawsuits, Peril of Seeking Power, Peril of Seeking Respectability, Racism, Rejecting God, Replacing Relationship with Morality, Restoration of God's Image, Show us the Way of Truth, Social control and statecraft, The Bible, Through the church, To be his ambassadors, To be in his image, To live in unity, Uncategorized, What is sin?

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Our Oneness in the Body of Christ and the Consequences of Ignoring It

Ian Johnson June 8, 2020 2 Comments

What happens to you affects me. If we choose to work together, the Body of Christ is healthy and effective. If we choose not to recognize each other, we are still one, but the Body of Christ os diseased.

Complex unity, In the Church, Meaning of Unity, Our Oneness in Christ book revision, Purpose of the Church, Regeneration, Restoration of God's Image, To live in unity, Unity

Body analogy, Body metaphor, Body of Christ, Church, disease, disease in the Body of Christ, disunity, division, peace, Solovyov, Unity

We Are Called to Live Out the Truth of Our Oneness

Ian Johnson June 8, 2020 2 Comments

We are called to live out the unity of the Body of Christ. The Body is already one, but we have a role in making that oneness effective in the world.

In the Church, Meaning of Unity, Our Oneness in Christ book revision, Purpose of the Church, The universal Church and local churches, To live in unity, Unity

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Humans “Male and Female” and Marriage as Pictures of God’s Unity in Diversity

Ian Johnson June 4, 2020 6 Comments

The creation of humans as male and female, marriage and reproduction are all a part of the image of God in human beings, and are all an intelligible picture of God’s unity in diversity. They also point to our unity iwith each other and God n the Church.

Complex unity, God's Existence and Nature, God's purpose for us, Male and female, Marriage, Marriage, Marriage and Reproduction, Our Oneness in Christ book revision, Purpose of the Church, To be in his image, To live in unity, Trinity, Unity

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The Human Being as a Picture of God’s Complex Unity

Ian Johnson June 2, 2020 4 Comments

Human beings are made in God’s image, a picture of his complex unity. Body and spirit must be united to form a soul. Each of the faculties of the soul and parts of the body together form a single, unified person.

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Unity in Diversity as an Attribute of God

Ian Johnson June 1, 2020 6 Comments

God is a complex unity–Three in One by nature–and is also one with us who believe, by adoption. He is not an absolutely simple unity, as is often taught. This false teaching comes from early efforts to make the Gospel more acceptable to the upper classes of Roman society by introducing Neoplatonist philosophy into it. But it instead destroys the Gospel by making God incapable of having any real unity with his children.

Heresy, Our Oneness in Christ book revision, Peril of Seeking Power, Peril of Seeking Respectability, Social control and statecraft, To be in his image, Trinity, Unity

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

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From Early Christianity to Islam and Back–2. Negative Developments in Christianity Before Muhammad

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From Early Christianity to Islam and Back — 1. The Earliest Christianity

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Our Oneness in the Body of Christ and the Consequences of Ignoring It

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We Are Called to Live Out the Truth of Our Oneness

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Humans “Male and Female” and Marriage as Pictures of God’s Unity in Diversity

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The Human Being as a Picture of God’s Complex Unity

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Unity in Diversity as an Attribute of God

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God’s Existence and Nature

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