Restoration of God’s Image

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

Rejection of Unity Makes Us Vulnerable to Divisive Leaders and their False Teachings

Ian Johnson July 5, 2020 2 Comments

Our disunity also leaves us vulnerable to exploitation by false teachers and their distorted religious teachings, with which they seek to win a personal following for their own gratification or profit. proper recognition of the oneness of the Body, and of the importance of living in oneness, protects against divisive people.

Divisions in the Church, Heresy, Our Oneness in Christ book revision, Religious violence and persecution, Restoration of our Relationships, Wars as consequences

Church unity, division, divisiveness, false teachers, false teachings, greed, heretic, profit

God Provides for Our Needs through Our Unity

Ian Johnson July 3, 2020 3 Comments

God’s pattern shown in the Early Church was to provide for the needs of its members through its unity. In unity, we regard ourselves and everything we own as God’s, and give unselfishly to the needs of others, as he directs us. This gives the world a picture of God himself.

A God who Speaks, God Speaks to Us, In the Church, Meaning of Unity, Other Gifts of the Holy Spirit, Our Oneness in Christ book revision, Restoration of our Relationships, The universal Church and local churches, Through others, Through the church, To live in unity

Church History, Church together, Church unity, early Church, Generosity, Giving, Holy Spirit, Money, Provision, Spirit filed

“Greater Works than These” was a Promise to the Apostles Together and Victory is Promised to the Church Together

Ian Johnson June 29, 2020 5 Comments

The promises of victory, of spiritual gifts, and of works greater than those Jesus did, were not made to us individually, but as members of a functioning Body. They are given for the express purpose of building us up together, in unity, and so revealing Christ to the world. They only function properly in that context.

A God who Speaks, Church purpose versus church growth, God Acts by Speaking, God Speaks to Us, In the Church, Meaning of Unity, Other Gifts of the Holy Spirit, Our Oneness in Christ book revision, Prophecy, Purpose of the Church, Restoration of God's Image, The universal Church and local churches, Through the church, To be his ambassadors, To live in unity, Victory

Apostles, Body of Christ, Church, Church together, Church unity, greater works than these, head, Holy Spirit, Jesus, Pentecost, under his feet, under our feet, victory

Do We Want the Peace and Restoration of Unity and Mutual Forgiveness, or the “Torturers” of Mental Illness?

Ian Johnson June 28, 2020 7 Comments

Our peace, joy and effectiveness are dependent on our unity as shown by forgiveness and the resolution of offenses between us, God takes division and unforgiveness so seriously because it damages all parties to the offense and limits the Body of Christ. When we neglect this, we are given over to the tormentors–guilt, fear, anxiety and mental illness.

Church purpose versus church growth, Divisions in the Church, Forgiveness and Unforgiveness, Illness as a Consequence, Our Oneness in Christ book revision, Purpose of the Church, Restoration of God's Image, Restoration of our Relationships, Sins versus sin, To live in unity, Uncategorized

anxiety, Body of Christ, Church, division, fear, forgive, forgiveness, guilt, mental illness, oneness, restoration, shame, torment, tormentors, torture, torturers, unforgiveness, unforgiving servant, Unity, Unity of believers

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?

#AllLivesMatter, #BlackLivesMatter, change, Christ, Christianity, Dallas Willard, divisive language, equality, favoritism, God, heart change, Holy Spirit, human heart, Jacques Ellul, Jesus, peace, Racism, repent, repentance, Unity

God’s Promises for the Church Together as One

Ian Johnson June 9, 2020 5 Comments

Many of God’s promises to us are given to the Church together, collectively. They become effective for us individually only as we are living in love, as a functioning part of the Body of Christ.

Complex unity, In the Church, Meaning of Unity, Our Oneness in Christ book revision, Promises, Restoration of God's Image, Through the church, To be in his image, To live in unity

Church together, collective, commandments, Love, love one another, new commandment, personalize, Promises, Unity

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

The Trinity in Which We Share

Ian Johnson May 31, 2020 6 Comments

The three persons who eternally and inseparably comprise the One God are God the Father, Jesus the Son and the Holy Spirit. The Father is God. In John 6:31, Jesus called him “God the Father.” In John 4:21-23, Jesus identified “the Father” as the God the Jews and Samaritans both worshipped. Jesus also prays to his “Father” in numerous places1–2,…
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Adoption, God's Existence and Nature, Jesus the Son, Other Gifts of the Holy Spirit, Our Oneness in Christ book revision, Reconciliation, Show us the Way of Truth, To live in unity, Trinity, Unity

complex unity, Father, God, God the Father, God the Holy Spirit, God the Son, Holy Spirit, sharing, Trinity, Unity

Jesus’ Words about Dependence on God in the Sermon on the Mount

Ian Johnson May 30, 2020 5 Comments

The Sermon on the Mount taught complete dependence on the Father, which Jesus’ life on earth also exemplified.

Is forgiveness of sins the focus of salvation?, Jesus the Son, Show us the Way of Truth, Son of Man, To be his ambassadors, Trinity

Beatitudes, dependence, dependence on God, humanity, Jesus, prayer, Sermon on the Mount, Son of Man

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

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Rejection of Unity Makes Us Vulnerable to Divisive Leaders and their False Teachings

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God Provides for Our Needs through Our Unity

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“Greater Works than These” was a Promise to the Apostles Together and Victory is Promised to the Church Together

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Do We Want the Peace and Restoration of Unity and Mutual Forgiveness, or the “Torturers” of Mental Illness?

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God’s Promises for the Church Together as One

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

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Jesus’ Words about Dependence on God in the Sermon on the Mount

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Restoration of God’s Image

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