Ultimately, the cultural demise of evangelical Christianity and its loss of power to shape and influence people’s lives communally comes from this very type of thinking. That there is the unwritten, at least Biblically, set of rules of “we have to do…” rather than learning the laws of love that can be applied to any situation in life.

As a person who often engages people in the arena of apologetics & as a pastor once you allow people to use “religion” as the moniker that pilots any conversation regarding faith it is like playing a monopoly game where the rules are made up as you go along & the person debating gets to make up those rules. It is a loosing game. The main difference between “religion” and “Christianity” is this relationship! We have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ; He calls us friend & loves us. This above everything else is what distinguishes Christianity as unique.

Dr Gary Breadfelt from Moody Bible Inst.Sent on the TELUS Mobility network with BlackBerry

"The Son has come & you've been left behind" is from “I Wish We’d All Been Ready” by Larry Norman the recently deceased father of Christian rock not the very recent DC Talk. FYI.

Wow, the pitfalls & the highs & lows of walking that narrow rocky precipice of the "on line" world, “tongue n check” satire & the imitations of life that we create then try to find a ministry for them. Is it really any surprise that the leader of a church of 10, 000 people would loose any sense of connection or intimacy with someone he knows & threaten them on line (if he only destroys them on line is just a spiritual cyber crime?) Is it any surprise either that when writing a blog “on line” to faceless people that it is easier to treat them as less than people with our words or attitude? Real relationship requires intimacy, face to face, eye to eye and skin to skin interaction. Real relationships that touched lepers, prostitutes & sinners is where our Saviours heart is & where he calls us to be. Let’s make sure we keep it real by being real more than we are cyber.

THE number one rule, the story must never ever be about your wife unless you are unabashedly bragging about some godly virtue that she portrayed or how her godly wisdom taught you something.

How long it has been around isn't the issue. What is is Rice's fascination with the subject, her writing about it in a way that dramatizes and glorifies an evil (a human loosing their humanity and soul to embrace ultimate evil and damn others that they prey upon to a soulless future). Are you kidding me? Do we really need to write novels about this stuff and make it main stream? I am not condemning Rice. Please see my other posts answering the Biblical difference between judgement that condemns and judgement that discerns. That is the way God judges us!

No they are not! In the New Testament the key to understanding "judging" comes from Jesus' teaching where he says "judge not least ye be judges". The two uses of the word are judge as in condemn or pronounce judgment & judge as in discern or evaluate. We are admonished continually by Paul to do just that. Test the spirits, work out our salvation, evaluate & prove are some of ways he tells us to aware of what others do & say lest we be influenced or swayed towards sin. Sent on the TELUS Mobility network with BlackBerry

Maybe a little more time in study of the scripture & less in Rice novels & you would be familiar with the Biblical principles involved in forgiveness. They include repenting, making restitution where possible then doing a 180 & acting in a way consistent with the forgiveness received & the example Christ set. There are 3 distinct words in the Greek for this type of forgiveness & deal with the whole persona, mind, heart & spirit. Sent on the TELUS Mobility network with BlackBerry

He didn't write novels about it for profit. Once he was converted he remained loath about his past & eternally grateful for the forgiveness he received for his past then spent the rest of his life serving Christ. Sent on the TELUS Mobility network with BlackBerry