5 Reformed Solas - The Foundation of Protestant Faith

Forgive like Jesus

http://bible.com/70/eph.4.32.GW

The first thing we receive from God is forgiveness and that should be the first thing we give others too.

Jesus and the Eye Witnesses - Richard Bauckham

https://youtu.be/0hsAEodyPnQ

Purpose of Redemption

"who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works."

http://www.bible.is/ENGESV/Titus/2/14

In this passage Paul  talks about the purpose of Redemption,  the reason why Jesus gave himself up for us on the cross.

1. Redeem us from all lawlessness
2. Purify for himself a people
     a. for his own possession
     b. zealous for good works

Lawlessness is one of the few Russian words I remember.  In Russian, it is called bez-zakoniye, bez - without and zakon - law. Imagine living in a town without law. You can do anything you want. The strongest and smartest and the meanest will survive. You can rape, murder, steal, lie, cheat and none of this will be considered wrong.

Now imagine a person who does not follow any law. He will do anything he wants to fulfill his desires. He will not have boundaries nor will he respect other's boundaries. In other words he will do whatever he wants, whatever he wishes. Stealing, killing, cheating, adultery, fornication, cursing, pedophilia  will not be considered wrong or sinful.

A lawless person is often a Godless person or followers of false gods which model, justify and promote lawless behaviour.
In India, there are many Hindu  gods which are good examples of lawlessness. A particular caste called 'Kallar' literally meaning "thieves" should at least steal once a year as an act of worship and devotion. Their god is azhagar or more commonly called Krishna, who is often depicted as a small child stealing butter. There are more extreme castes which were outlawed in British rule itself, because they practised murder and child sacrifice to goddess kali.
More recently, fundamentalist Islam with it's numerous outfits still go around killing, raping and looting towns like IS is doing in Iraq and Syria.
We can safely conclude that all false religions were designed by Satan to promote Godless and lawlessness as a law.

But Christ has come to purify for himself a people who are his own, who identify themselves as his followers, who understand themselves to be God's own possession, submitting their wills and motives and ambitions and lives to serve his purposes. A people who are zealous for good works. A people who are known for good works. Now Christians are known for education and health services. They also work among the downtrodden and afflicted, the oppressed and the destitute. They have started organisations like missionaries of charity, red cross, world vision, de-addiction and rehab centers and have changed the course of history for good.

The example of Dr. Ida Scudder, who started the Christian Medical College in Vellore is one such example. The examples are numerous.
What served as a backbone for all this good works is the example and teaching of Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, whose aim and purpose it was to create a community of people who are zealous for good works. His vision is being fulfilled in this world now more than ever. We are previlaged to be part of his people whom he bought and purified with his own blood, the redemption through his death on the cross and his resurrection from the dead.

Let us also invite others to be part of his family zealous for good works and let us continue to be people who are zealous for good works.

How to have a secure future and hope

https://quiettimesamz.wordpress.com/2015/07/28/your-future-will-be-determined-by-your-level-of-wisdom/
Click this link to visit my quiet time blog.

Homosexual Marriage

The Normalization and Legalization of Sin of Homosexuality does not make it not a sin.Just like abortion is sin and has been legalized . Just as lying is sin but is not normally considered criminal, homosexuality is also a sin, which even when legalized or criminalized remains a sin.

    A person may have a homosexual orientation, but it is not the orientation which is the sin, but the act itself when done or even longed after or the allowing of the desire for homosexuality to lead to it's action. Now when it comes to two people of the same sex marrying, it is not permitted by God but by particular states. Well, if the states permit it, the people who accept it are free to marry, but trying to obtaining religious sanction from a religion which opposes it or trying to change the teaching of the religion to fit thier sexual orientation is wrong. If they want to follow a particular religion, they can follow it. If they want to reject a particular religion, they can. But they cannot alter it to fit their sexual orientation nor can they force the pastor or priest to conduct a homosexual marriage. He is free to follow his conscience.

   Christians  are to love and accept homosexuals, even if do not agree with their homosexual promiscuity, just like you have heterosexually promiscuous friends, lying friends and Christians themselves may have some pet sins or habitual sins in which you are struggling. It is their country which has given them the right to practise it or to even marry in a homosexual way. As Christians let us focus on presenting Christ to everyone, homosexual or not and let God convict them and transform them in accordance with his word and power.

This does not mean we accept homosexual acts as normal or NOT sin anymore. We may have habitual sins, but we still consider them sins; we try to avoid them and when we end up falling sometimes, we seek God's forgiveness and not his sanction exactly because we still consider them as sins.

But when it comes to homosexuality, what a homosexual is claiming is not repentance but sanction. He is not willing to accept it is a sin as sin, therefore is at odds with God. All he has to do is accept it as sin and then repent and ask God to forgive him and he will be forgiven for Christ's sake. Then God will deliver him and keep him from committing homosexual acts even if he has the desire or the temptation. Even if he falls, and if he seeks forgiveness, Jesus will forgive him and give him clean conscience so that he can learn not to commit that sin again. Most of the time it is a process of learning to resist a particular sin, in this case homosexuality, which God graciously will teach. Some cases sudden immediate deliverances so happen. God decides how he wants to go about delivering someone. Sure it is a hard discipline to start with like any discipline. But with God's grace any person including a homosexual can be transformed. God loves the homosexual too, even if he hates that particular sin.

Homosexual marriage, the big fuzz nowadays is a state sanctioned marriage, not a religion sanctioned one. Homosexuals are free in countries where they are allowed to marry to have civil union. Let them have it. It is definitely a mistake on the state's part to have allowed it, but they will answer for it, for God will surely judge them.

I still wonder why anyone would label themselves as homosexual. It is a private individual choice, a private sin at worst. But homosexual marriage is the consequence of passage of society in secular mode. When the Roman empire was pagan, homosexuality was normal; so was pedophilia ;so was temple prostitution; so was slavery. When Christianity came it changed, for the better. All the above mentioned were criminalized to protect the weak and innocent, especially children from being exploited. Even when Roman Catholic priests were charged with sexual abuse, they did not sanction it or make it part of the Catholic faith. It was an error, a sin which went unchecked and the Catholic church accepted it.

Homosexual were homosexuals, especially in private, but they want to come out now and make it look decent and accepted. Well, that is not at all surprising with the de-christianization of Western society. I use de-christianization rather than secularization because America was founded as Christian nation and only the monotheistic religions forbid homosexuality, not Hinduism or Buddhism. Islamic states will even behead homosexuals if they were in accordance with Sharia law. A Hindu or Buddhist society may still allow homosexual marriage and consider it part of their religion, just like the Greeks and Romans did.

Eliminativism and Naturalism

Elimination and naturalism are two too closely bonded ideas. Naturalism in order to establish it's supremacy and dominance claims that a lot of phenomenon that does not fit with the thesis of naturalism does not exist i.e it just eliminates it. This act of naturalism to use elimination as an explanation to prove itself is baseless eliminativism.

"If therefore he comes across some phenomenon that is hard to account for in materialist terms, he often ends up by denying its very existence. For instance, many materialist philosophers deny that there is any such thing as subjective experience. Philosophers call this view 'eliminativism'. What cannot be explained by theory is eliminated from consideration."  - Stephen Barr, Modern Physics and Ancient Faith.

Understanding Reality: Science or Religion

Many times in contemporary culture and media, science is pitted against religion in a effort to prove the superiority of science and undermine the influence and hold of religion over society. Many popular programs in Discovery Science and National Geographic produce programs like 'Cosmos', where scientists like Neil deGrasse Tyson, present programs which explain the history of science and the influence of science as something which has nothing to do with religion and religion to have nothing to do with reality. Though these pronouncements are made subtly as part of a greater argument, yet it is clearly made in a way which you will not miss out.

But the fact of the matter is that Science has it's foundation firmly on Christian ideas like the operation of laws in the universe, the reality of the external world, the consistency of the laws of the universe, the comprehensibility of these laws by man and the beauty in the laws and equations describing the universe. Rationality used in any scientific endeavor cannot be explained by science. Science can explain the rationality in humans but not the rationality out there, including the laws of mathematics and laws of logic. Science which explains 'How' things work in the universe does not explain itself. The scientific method is a philosophical idea, which when applied becomes the method for scientific investigation to detect the 'truth'. The idea of 'truth' itself is a theo-philosophical idea and not a scientific one.

Religion, especially Christianity deals with the 'Why' of reality. It explains the following: Why we are able to do science? Because there is truth which God has put out in nature and we are rational beings created in the image of God who are endowed with the ability to think, experiment and detect the laws of nature. Why we should do science? To detect the thoughts of God hidden in the created universe which he has engineered and to establish dominion over earth and develop technology for the benefit of the people.Why are the laws of nature reliable? Because the one God has created it and sustains it with his power and wisdom, which makes these laws consistent over time. Christianity explains the concepts of truth, rationality and the laws of nature whose existence science can  detect and describe. But science cannot answer the reason or purpose why the universe is the way it is.

So we need God and science, to explain the 'Why' and 'How' of reality, which gives us a more fuller picture of reality than provided by science alone. So the fallacy dilemma created by the secularist and atheist that science makes religion or faith in God redundant is a fallacious claim. They also do not speak about the assumptions and limitations of modern science.

Reference:
John Polkinghorn;Quarks, Chaos and Christianity: Questions to Science and Religion.

Christianity and the Growth of Science

One of the important contributions of Christianity towards the de-divinization of nature including trees, rivers and most importantly Sun, moon and planets.

Polytheism and nature worship in many cultures included worship of Sun, moon, stars, rivers, fire, fertility, crop circles etc. This prevented the scientific study of these objects as they were considered gods. In many culture astrology controlled the major decisions of life. The stars were seen as controlling the life of the individual human beings. The scientific study of stars and cosmos i.e Astronomy or cosmology was not their interest. Astronomical calculations were made for astrological purposes and it stiffled the proper study of the objects concerned. This study was mostly included identifying and naming constellations and using it for astrology.

Indian systems like Ayurveda and Siddha medicine have a long history but their advances were nothing compared to western medicine and therefore even Indians go to allopathy practitioners most of the time rather than to their own medical systems.

With the advent of Christianity and the christian thought - theology and philosophy, the Jewish idea that God created the universe became predominant. That sun and moon are mere lamps providing light and the planets and elements like fire, water, earth, air, matter including both organic and inorganic matter and the minds of men and women were all created  and not divine. This idea was instrumental in Europe becoming the center of scientific progress rather than China or India. Even though India and China has significant scientific disciplines, the progress of science to the extent of what we have today would not have taken place in those cultures.

The main theme of genesis Chapter 1, the very chapter of the Holy Bible is the establishment of the fact that nature was created by God and is NOT to be worshiped. It is the creator who is worthy of worship and not nature. The God who made everything also instituted laws according to which the universe functions. These laws were not under the control of multiple gods who would change it for their own agenda, if and when a dispute arose with the any other god. But the one God, the creator and sustainer of the whole universe has made theses laws to be unchanging laws, reliable ones. He keeps them unchanging so that the universe can function the way it does. The belief that laws of nature do not change was a very important idea that enabled the study of nature to discover them and apply them. They also promoted the idea of 'scientific doxology' which is the worship of God through the study of science. Science helps us discover laws and equations and design in nature and helps us appreciate the wisdom and power of God, which in turn leads to worship of God in response.

 The de-divinization of nature freed up the human mind to study it without fear. The fact that God created everything and called it "good" made the study of science the study of goodness and the study of the truth about nature which God has created. It also revealed the mind of the creator who created it.

The mandate placed by God to humans to multiply and dominate and rule over the earth became the driving force behind technological development which were done by Christians both Protestant and Catholic, in Europe to fulfill this mandate and use the natural laws or the benefit of humanity. So they studied nature and discovered laws which they used to build machines, and develop medicines and vaccines and build dams and windmills.



I've heard many people consider Christianity as an enemy of science. This view is an erroneous one, based on false propaganda and is entirely contrary to the truth. The rise of modern Atheism can be contributed more to the ignorance of history of science, philosophy and theology, than to scientific advancement. The oft quoted Galileo episode was an anomaly and an exception but has wrongly come to be understood as Christianity being against science. Galileo himself was a Christian and  the whole 'Galileo affairs' has not been completely and deeply studied by many. There were lot of issues in which Galileo was wrong in his scientific work, including the fact that he thought 'tides' were due to the movement of the earth. He also had a personal problem with the pope at that period of time. There were other explanations to the certain problems which the Ptolemaic model had and Galileo could not provide convincing proof. Moreover the Catholic church in which he was a part of was itself focusing on the Protestant reformation that was blazing through Europe. But once the catholic church was convinced and the confirmatory evidence was adequate, it changed it's position. After all you need good amount of evidence before you change an existing theory.

Christian scientists Kepler, Galileo, Newton, Mendel, Robert Boyle, Blaise Pascal, Faraday, Priestly, Jenner, Polkinghorn were trailblazers in their areas of scientific study which they considered as 'Calling of God'.  The father of the scientific method, Francis Bacon himself was a committed Christian who theological and philosophical works are well- known. Moreover, Copernicus whose theory Galileo proved through his work, was himself a part of the Church and was Canon of the Church, involved in ecclesiastical and theological matters.  They were not just scientists, they were also philosophers and theologians. It is ignorance of these facts which has misled many people.

The Church both Protestant and Catholic gave rise to a number of scientists who served humanity through their commitment to the discovery of truth in God's creation, advancement  of science and  the benefit of humankind for the glory of God. 

The Concept of God in Islam and Christianity | Dr.W.L.Craig

Atheism Fails

Evaluating Buddhism

Buddhism originated in the spiritual quest of Siddhartha Gautama, the prince of Kapilavastu in modern day Nepal. The prince saw “four sights”.  First sight was an old man, followed by a sick man, a corpse and finally a renouncer. He renounced his palace life and embarked on a spiritual quest. He obtained Nirvana(enlightenment) during a protracted period of meditation under a Bodhi tree. Buddha called his new path, the “middle way”. He delivered his first sermon called the ‘The four noble truths’ and then ‘The eight fold paths’.

A. Four Noble truths

1. Life is suffering/misery/sorrow

2. Craving is the cause of suffering

3. In order to end suffering one must end craving reach the state of sunyata (nothingness) is nirvana, where rebirth will stop.

4. The means to end craving is the noble eightfold paths.

B. The Eightfold path

I. Training in wisdom (Prajan)

1. Right Views

2. Right Intention

II. Training in Morality (Shila)

3. Right speech

4. Right action

5. Right livelihood

III. Training in Concentration (Samadhi)

6. Right effort

7. Right mindfulness

8. Right absorption

Scriptures

1. Vinaya-Pitaka (Basket of Order)

2. Sutra-Pitaka (Basket of Instructions)

3. Abhidharma-Pitaka (Basket of higher teaching) and thousands of other sutras written later.

Creed

Dhammam Saranam Gachchami (I take shelter in Dhamma<law>)

Samgham Saranam Gachchami (Samgha<group>)

Buddham Saranam Gachchami (Buddha<enlightened one>)

In Christianity, Salvation is a gift of God obtained by the work of Jesus on the cross. Buddhism denies the existence of both God and the Soul. Man is ‘anatman’, soul-less consciousness. Ultimate reality in Buddhism is Sunyata(nothingness) whereas in Christianity it is the Holy Trinity. Time and history in Christianity is linear whereas in Buddhism it is circular. Nirvana is the goal obtained by following the teachings of Buddha in Theravada Buddhism and with the mediation of Bodhisattvas in Mahayana Buddhism, the two major schools. Christ as mediator and Boddhisatvas as mediator form a bridge for communication as does salvation by faith in Pure Land Buddhism.

Evaluating Islam

Islam means submission to the will of Allah as revealed through their prophet Mohammed. It is a monotheistic faith based on the teachings of Mohammed, as compiled in their Holy Book ‘Quran’ and the traditions of their prophet called ‘Ahadis’. The Shahada (creed) of Islam: “There is no God but Allah and Mohammed is the messenger of God”. The Five Pillars of Islam includes 1.Recitation of Creed, 2.Prayer, 3.Fasting, 4.Almsgiving, 5. Pilgrimage

Quran is a word for word reception of the Word of God. The variations in the number of chapters in the various editions constitutes a problem to the claim that Quran has been preserved word for word. It plainly indicates it is not and therefore is corrupted.

In Christianity, the monotheism is more qualified and sophisticated technically called Trinitarian Monotheism, where God is a fellowship of three as compared with Islam where God is absolute oneness. Islam also differs from Christianity in that it treats Jesus as just another prophet, calling him Isa, even though he is according to the Quran virgin born, performed miracles including raising the dead and will return a second time before the final judgment. But the Quran vehemently denies the death of Jesus on the cross and his subsequent resurrection which have been established as a facts of history. Salvation in Islam is based on merit and God’s election as opposed to Christianity where it is based on grace. Jesus is the Saviour in Christianity whereas Muslims have to save themselves by their deeds.

Christians consider Mohammed a false prophet for the following reasons: 1. The certainty of Mohammed when he first received his revelations that it was a demonic attack and the convincing given by first wife Khadija that it was divine revelation 2. His bowing down before the idols of the Quresh tribe and even claiming that their gods were intercessors with Allah. 3. Multiple wars and executions  4. Mutiple marriages with females from all age groups ranging from 4 year old child to older women and even his own daughter-in law divorced by his adopted son based on special divine revelation. 5. Preaching a different Gospel (Galatians 1:8 [1]).

Reference:

[1]Galatians 1:8 but even if we or a messenger out of heaven may proclaim good news to you different from what we did proclaim to you -- anathema let him be! (Young’s literal translation)

Galileo's Faith - Was he a Christian?

Galileo argued that if his scientific "doctrine were proved, then it could not contradict the Scriptures when they were rightly understood." He recognized "that it is very pious to say and prudent to affirm that the holy Bible can never speak untruth-whenever its true meaning is understood." But for "discussions of physical problems we ought to begin not from the authority of scriptural passages, but from sense-experiences and necessary demonstrations." Galileo advised Catholic officials not to take formal action against Copernican theory while new evidence from the telescope was still coming in. He advocated metaphorical rather than literal interpretation of biblical passages in which the sun seemingly moved." ---http://www.aip.org/history/cos...

Galileo believed - Bible cannot speak untruth. He was a Christian because even though he differed with the pope he believed in Christ for his salvation.

“The Bible tells us how to go to Heaven (spiritual dimension), not how the heavens(cosmos) go.” - Galileo.

Critique of Swami Vivekananda's 'Christ - The Messenger'

Swami Vivekananda (SV) delivered a speech at California on January 7, 1900. His topic was CHRIST ,THE MESSENGER. Though Swami Vivekananda had some grasp of some of the main ideas of Christianity, his presentation of Christ and his teachings is incomplete, erroneous and misleading. It is for this reason that a good critique to show his errors is needed.

1. “The voice of Asia is the voice of religion . The voice of Europe is the voice of politics. The voice of Europe is Greece…….. In Asia ,even today , birth or color or language never makes a race.That which makes a race is it’s religion…. We see therefore in the life of the messenger of life , the first watchword: Not this life but something higher; and, like the true son of the orient, he is practical in that.” -Swami Vivekananda.
Here Swami Vivekananda does a service to us by portraying Jesus as a true son of the orient. Many times the Hindus decry Christianity as foreign, but Swami Vivekananda doesn’t do that he actually finds common ground and looks at Jesus and the culture from which he came as something compatible, similar and familiar. But Swami Vivekananda doesn’t stop there . He attributes the spirituality of Jesus, the other worldly teaching of Jesus as coming because of his location in Asia. Swami Vivekananda concept is , “He is Asian , so he is religious”. Jesus’ teachings do not find their source in location or culture. John 7:15 The Jews were astonished and remarked, “How can this man be so educated when he has never gone to school?” John 7:16 Jesus replied to them, “My teaching is not mine but comes from the one who sent me. John 7:17 If anyone wants to do his will, he will know whether this teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own. God was the source of Jesus’ teachings and it was not his orientalism as Swami Vivekananda suggests in his writings.

2. “The best commentary on the life of a great teacher is his own life . ‘Foxes have holes , birds of the air have nests , but the son of man has no place to lay his head’.That is what Christ says as the only way to salvation; he lays down no other way. Let us confess in sackcloth and ashes that we cannot do that . We still have fondness for ‘me and mine’.We want property ,money and wealth. Woe unto us!” Swami Vivekananda
Again SV startles me with his grasp of the central concept which even many Christians have not learned. He rightly quotes Jesus , then he says something which Jesus did not say and then gives a good comparison with a humble confession that ,we are not like that. The problem is with the underlined part. Jesus did say “self denial” is the only way anyone can become his disciple and be saved but he said so much more which leaves SV providing incomplete information .

3.
What important things did Swami Vivekananda leave out about Jesus’ teaching on salvation? John 6:40 For this is my Father’s will, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him to life on the last day.”
John 6:28 Then they said to him, “What must we do to perform the works of God?” John 6:29 Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God: to believe in the one whom he has sent.”
John 8:24 That is why I told you that you will die in your sins. For unless you believe that I am he, you will die in your sins.”
John 11:25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The person who believes in me, even though he dies, will live. John 11:26 Indeed, everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe that?”
In all these passages the central teaching is very obvious.Jesus is asking people to believe in him as the messiah, to obtain eternal life.

   Swami Vivekananda says in the same book , ‘Suppose Jesus of Nazareth was teaching, and a man came and told him,
“What you teach is beautiful. I believe that it is the way of perfection, and I am ready to follow it; but I do not care to worship you as the only begotten son of God.” What would be the answer of Jesus of Nazareth ? ‘Very well , brother, follow the ideal and advance in your own way’’. Swami Vivekananda clearly articulates things contrary to the teachings of Christ. Jesus very clearly preached himself as the messiah, the ‘Son of God’. He very clearly taught that believing him as the messiah is the first prerequisite for having eternal life.Now after believing that Jesus is messiah one should follow his other teachings also . But without accepting Christ as Lord and worshiping him no salvation is possible.

Swami Vivekananda on the message and mission of Jesus Christ

“He had no other occupation in life , no other thought except that one, that he was a Spirit. He was a disembodied , unfettered, unbound spirit. And not only so, but he with his marvelous vision, had found that every man and woman, whether Jew and Gentile, whether rich or poor, whether saint or sinner, was the embodiment of the same spirit as himself. Therefore, he one work of his whole life showed was to call upon them to realize their own spiritual nature. Give up he says, these superstitious dreams that you are low and that you are trampled upon and tyrannized over as if you were slaves , for within you is something that never can be tyrannized over , never be trampled upon , never be troubled and never be killed. You are all  Sons of God , immortal spirit. ‘Know’ , he declared , ‘the Kingdom of God is within you’. ‘I and my father are one’……………………………he wants to get rid of the whole world as it is a, give it a push and drive it forward and onwards until the whole world has reached to the effluent light of God, until everyone has realized his spiritual nature, until death is vanished and misery banished.”

Let me at the outset inform you that swamiji did something he should not have done. It is a big mistake and error to say that “but he with his marvellous vision , had found that every man and woman, whether Jew and Gentile , whether rich or poor , whether saint or sinner , was the embodiment of the same spirit as himself.” Swamiji by saying so has read advaitha, monism and vedanta into Jesus .What I mean is he has made Jesus say what Jesus did not say or mean. This is not the biblical Jesus, this Jesus is a product of Vivekananda’s mind and imagination.

If so then what did Jesus say that makes me make these conclusions.

 John 8:23  He said to them, “You are from below, I am from above. You are of this world, but I am not of this world.

John 8:24  That is why I told you that you will die in your sins. For unless you believe that I am he, you will die in your sins.”

Jesus says very clearly , he is from above , they are from below. He continues that they will die in their sins if they do not believe in him as their messiah.He does not say heand his hearers are in the same spiritual state or have the same spirit.He commands faith in him , which means , he is of different spiritual state which is higher than theirs.

John 8:33  They replied to him, “We are Abraham’s descendants and have never been slaves to anybody. So how can you say, ‘You will be set free’?”

John 8:34  Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly I tell you that everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin.

John 8:35  The slave does not remain in the household forever, but the son does remain forever.

John 8:36  So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed!”

Jesus in the passage which continues and which is quoted above gives his diagnosis of humans. He says very clearly that 1.They are , “slaves of sin”. 2. They should become his disciples and be set free from their sinfulness .

This clearly shows Jesus’ teaching that he is the savior who will save them and us and Vivekananda from our sins. But Swami Vivekananda  has missed his chance.

John 5:24  “Truly, truly I tell you, the one who hears my word and believes in the one who sent me has eternal life and does not come under judgment, but has passed from death to life.

Here Jesus very clearly teaches that anyone who believes in him as the messiah will not come under the judgement of God , will have eternal life.

So Jesus did not teach that the people have the same nature as himself. He very clearly and repeatedly taught that they are sinners and he is their and our only savior which is the exact opposite of what swamiji suggested.

“Therefore , the one work of his whole life showed was to call upon them to realize their own spiritual nature.” –S.Vivekananda

This is not what Jesus called people to do . The eyewitnesses very clearly record what Jesus called people to

“The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is near! Repent, and keep believing in the gospel!” mark 1:15

Jesus never called people to realize their spiritual nature. Jesus always called  them to repentance and faith. This goes in line with the biblical teaching that people are sinners. So Jesus never did what Swamiji claims he did .

Swamiji quotes bible verses to substantiate his teachings .

He quotes , “Know the kingdom of God is within you” and “I and the father are one”

It is very tragic that someone of the stature of swamiji has got it all wrong . But what is more tragic is more people will  also get it wrong through him.  Swamiji rips these two lines out of context from the bible to make Jesus look like an advaitin, preaching what Vivekanada and Ramakrishna Paramahamsa would preach i.e Vedanta.

Jesus said , “I and the father are one” but he never said , “You and the father are one”. Jesus never compared people with the father or himself. Here  again Swamiji goes grossly wrong on an important theme.

The kingdom of God is within you means that God wants to make his rule, as a king in the hearts of the believers. This happens not by self realization as Swamiji suggested but by submission to God through obedience to his commands.

Swamiji’s depiction of Jesus is pathetically incomplete, grossly wrong  and highly misleading. He should not put his philosophy into the mouth of Jesus . It is in no way correct or compatible. So Swamiji through these teachings has mislead millions  away from the real Christ of history, who is the biblical Jesus, our only God and Savior.

Reformed Epistemology - A Brief Introduction

Reformed Epistemology (RE) is  a branch of Philosophy of Religion. Reformed denotes Protestant Reformation. Epistemology (episteme-Knowledge, logos-reason/study) is the study of knowledge. It answers the question “How do you know what you know is true?” Reformed Epistemology is the answer of some Protestant (Reformed) Christian philosophers like Thomas Reid, John Calvin and Alvin Plantinga to the question “How do you know what you know about God is true?”

Foundationalism is the theory of how beliefs are justified. Beliefs can be inferential (deduced from proposition or evidence which justifies it) or non-inferential (which is believed without evidence but still justified). Justification for non-inferential beliefs can be pushed back but not infinitely. For example, my justification for believing the time in my watch is based on the fact that I timed it with a TV news channel. Then your next question would be “Can you justify the time shown in the TV channel as correct time?” Answer is “No”. If “Yes” further evidence would be required for it’s further justification and so on. But we cannot regress infinitely. We just stop and believe it is the right time. Most people would. This is a non-inferential belief. This is not based on evidence but it is still a justified belief.

A properly basic belief would be a self-evident belief, like belief about self and others. For example, we don’t pinch every time we see someone in order to obtain knowledge that they are true i.e. self-evident. Properly basic beliefs are also non-inferential beliefs.

According to RE, God has endowed all humans with sensus divinitatis. Just like seeing is a sense using the eye to perceive the physical world, sensus divinitatis is the sense to perceive the divine. It is the innate ability/mechanism by which humans can perceive the divine. Just like we see other people with our eyes and believe them to be true without testing or evidence, senses divinitatis enable humans to perceive God as God when he reveals himself to them. Therefore belief in God is self-evident based on subjective experience of the divine i.e. personal encounter with Christ as perceived by sensus divinitatis. It does not require objective evidence or propositional arguments.

References:

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/190219/epistemology

http://www.philosophyofreligion.info/theistic-proofs/reformed-epistemology/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reformed_epistemology

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outline_of_epistemology

http://www.thesaurus.com/browse/inferential

http://www.iep.utm.edu/relig-ep/

Answering the Greatest Objections to Christianity - Ravi Zacharias

Why I'm a Christian and no longer a Muslim

Why has Jesus not worked for you? Ravi Zacharias

My Passion in Life

Jesus and Hakuna Matata

Debate: What is God Really Like: Tawhid or Trinity? Dr. Shabir Ally and Dr. Nabe...

Argument from Divine Love

Four Types of Sins

SIN - WORD STUDY

Listening to the Holy Spirit when making Decisions

Lee Strobel - The Case for the Resurrection

2 John (Part 1)

2 John (Part 2)

2 John (Part 3)

2 John (Part 4)

WHO PUT JESUS ON THE CROSS?

Episode 2 - "General Objections: Why don't more Jews believe Jesus?"

Episode 1 - "An introduction to Jewish objections to Jesus."

The Earliest Prophecies of the Messiah

Learning from Job : I will just shut up

Completed all 42 chapters. Getting some idea about the issues from the arguments offered for and against Job. The comforters were accusers. It is presumptuous to judge why bad things happen to anyone. God only knows. As Job did after hearing God let us also "shut up" (I lay my hands on my mouth. Job 40:4)

First lesson then is "Just shut up" . Humble myself and accept my finitude. Infinitesimal-ness describes our knowledge and understanding best.

All the friends of Job reason typically like us. God declares they are wrong. It means we are also wrong. Again "just shut up".

I should learn to "shut up" and not try to explain "everything" with my infinitesimal knowledge, understanding, wisdom and experience.

It was a really humbling experience. "I lay my hands on my mouth". Job 40:4.

Overview of Epistle to Romans [Part 1]

Thank you Jesus for this new year and new week and new day. 

Meditated on how Romans deals with contrasting concepts and brings out the good news by contrasting it with the bad. 

Chaper1 good news + faith vs unbelief + judgment. Root prob - Sin of unbelief + wrong belief. 

Chapter 2 Jewish identity + moral law vs pagan morality from conscience - both cannot save - damned. 

Chapter 3 All have sinned + nobody good (condemnation) vs grace + faith ( justification). Weight of sinfulness vs the richness of free grace. Justification by faith in Christ. 

Chapter 4 Faith of Abraham vs circumcision. Justification by trusting the Gospel promise. Law of work + boasting vs Law of faith + humility + glorifying God the Saviour. 

Chapter 5 Consequences and benefits of Justification. Gives Hope through Holy Spirit. Part 2 Answers why we sin. Adamic nature. Adam's doing undone by Christ. Adam vs Christ. First Adam vs Second Adam. Root problem - Spiritual death.

Chapter 6 New nature and identity - Say no to Old sin nature vs be alive in Christ and yes to new nature. Choice: Slave of sin vs Slave of righteousness. Death as rightful Wages of Sin vs Gift of Eternal life in Christ.

Chapter 7 Struggle between new vs old nature. Mindset of of sinful nature vs spiritual nature. Struggle in Christian between Carnal vs Spiritual nature. Ending with the agonizing question: Who will deliver me from this body of death or Sinful nature? 

Chapter 8 Starts with the Answer : Jesus Christ has delivered me from the law of sin and death i.e. sinful nature. There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Now we have an obligation: to live according to the Spirit or new nature. Life by putting to death the carnal nature by the Spirit vs Spiritual death if we don't. Inheritance in Christ: Heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ if we suffer with him. Suffering + Glory vs Compromise + shame. Nothing can separate us from the love of Christ if we have been justified and are actively putting to death the Carnal nature through the power of Holy Spirit. Those who are led by the Spirit of God are God' Children, heirs and co-heirs with Christ.