#protestant
inb4 both jump on this to prove my point beautifully
The inside of yet another gorgeous church in Dresden, Germany. How I miss this trip…
May 2012|Pentax MX|film
Post link
Massacre of St. Bartholomew’s Day
Welp It’s That Time Again
#OTD in 1929 – Death of historian and nationalist, Alice Stopford Green, in Dublin.
#OTD in 1929 – Death of historian and nationalist, Alice Stopford Green, in Dublin.
Born Alice Sophia Amelia Stopford in Kells, Co Meath, she lived in London where she met the historian John Richard Green. They were married in Chester on 14 June 1877. He died in 1883. John Morley published her first historical work Henry II in 1888.
In the 1890s she became interested in Irish history and the nationalist movement as a result of her friendship with John Francis Taylor. She was…
St. Elizabeth Ann Seton lost a lot when she converted. Numerous friends and family deserted her. Her husband’s death left her struggling to provide for their five children. Thankfully, she was invited to “found a school in Baltimore” which gave her a way to provide.
Raised in a well-to-do Episcopalian home, Elizabeth’s life outwardly looked worse after becoming Catholic. Life was hard and I imagine lonely at times.
But… her conversion gave her the greatest gift — Christ in the Blessed Sacrament. In reality, she had gained so much and she knew it.
“There is a mystery, the greatest of all mysteries: not that my adored Lord is in the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar — His word has said it, and what is so simple as to take that word which is truth itself? — but that souls of His own creation, whom He gave His life to save, should remain blind, insensible. He has given the free, the bounteous heavenly gift [so that we] shall approach His true and holy sanctuary, taste the sweetness of His presence, feed on the Bread of Angels. My poor soul is lost in wonder at His forbearing mercy.”
- Exploit influence over mindless followers to gain political power
- Hang, draw, and quarter people for their religious beliefs
Fordham’s Kimberley Casteline talks to local reporter Liz Dahlem about churches using high tech to reach their congregations.
Hey all,
This can be a touchy subject, so feel free to keep scrolling.
I grew up pretty sheltered as far as religion goes, and I’d like to understand more of what’s out there. Not that I’m looking for a new church or wanting to convert anyone—though if anyone is looking for a church, please feel free to message me anytime—I just want to educate myself on what other people believe, and I’d love to hear if you’ve had any cool spiritual experiences that you’d be comfortable sharing. Even if you just reply with a link to a website that explains your beliefs like I did below, I’d rather that then try to find the right websites on my own.
I have a few specific questions under the cut if you’d like some ideas of where to start. This is an open invitation, even if you’re not religious, but please be respectful of others. I’m not looking to start arguments, just to learn.
(Throwing in some tags for a couple folks who I know like to talk about religion)
@kanerallels@accidental-spice@getting-used-to-different
Link to my church for those who are curious: https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/comeuntochrist/believe
ok ok first i need to apologize that it took me this long to reply, it’s not because i didn’t want to respond, i just knew that I wanted my answer to be thoughtful and then my perfectionist tendencies took over and I never did it - my bad!
also, anyone who doesn’t want to read a l o n g statement of faith post feel free to keep scrolling lol
oh, and one more quick thing: I’m not ashamed of my faith at all but i really don’t want to argue with people on the internet about it. debating is not really my style so if you (and i just mean people in general, not OP) want an argument i’ll probably just ignore you. that said, if you want to ask me any genuine questions/what i said in this post doesn’t make any sense please message me and we can have a conversation :)
my faith background is “Apostolic and Pentecostal”…I used to just say “I’m apostolic pentecostal” when people ask about my faith background but i’ve come to learn that there are a lot of apostolic and/or pentecostals who believe things that I don’t, so I’d rather people just ask me what I believe - like you did, OP!
- What do you believe about God/deity?/What do you believe about Jesus Christ?
My basic answer is: i believe what the Bible says about God. and that may sound a little pretentious but i don’t mean “i have the right interpretation of the Bible and no one else does”, i’m just saying that i am constantly learning. Like, I know that God is loving and kind, but also just and fair. I believe that there is only one true God, and that He cares about me, personally, everyone else too.
that would bring me to the second question, “What do you believe about Jesus”. Well, I believe that Jesus is God in the flesh. Jesus and God and one and the same. There are a lot of scriptures that support this for me, but John 10:30 and 1 Timothy 3:16 are a few big ones.
but while I know and believe all this for sure, i think it’s really silly and vain to think that we, the flawed human beings we are, can truly understand the full essence of God using our human reasoning. In fact, I think the Bible straight up says “we don’t fully understand God right now” (1 Corinthians 13:9-10, 12). there are things that i’m still struggling to understand, and that’s ok. that’s where faith comes in.
I could go on all day about the “one-ness” of God, but if it seems confusing i would really recommend this video from the Bible project about how to understand the Bible saying “God is one” but also describing Jesus as God’s son, etc.
- What do you believe about baptism/ordinances/rituals?
I believe that being “water-baptized” should be your own choice, so my church doesn’t really do infant baptisms because they aren’t really old enough to decide, and we don’t force anyone to get baptized (or become a Christian at all, for that matter) because it absolutely must be a choice. I believe in being baptized in Jesus’ name because that’s how it was done in the Bible (especially the book of Acts.)
and I also believe in the baptism of the Holy Spirit as described in Acts 2, and the “gift of tongues”. I know for a fact that it’s still happening today because, well, I’ve experienced it for myself and seen in happen many times in others. this is where a lot of people might zone out and label me as a “crazy charismatic” but what can i say? how can I deny that it’s real when i’ve witnessed it myself? I believe receiving the Holy Spirit is an important part of becoming a Christian (see: acts 2:37-38) and it’s freely available, it’s not some exclusive gift that only a few people have access to (see: Acts 2:39).
can you tell that Acts chapter 2 is a pretty big deal for me? lol
- What do you believe about the afterlife?
New Heaven + New Earth where we (God’s people) will reign with God. what does that mean exactly? not sure, still learning.
- Do you have any books of scripture?
The Bible - for me that would be the Old and New Testaments without the apocrypha, just the 66 books.
- What do you believe about prayer?
very important part of being a Christian, gaining peace, and just existing honestly. but other than the few things that Jesus mentions (don’t pray just to look good in front of others, etc.), i don’t think there are very many rules. The point is that God wants to hear from you and He has things to say to you too!
- How is your church structured/organized? (i.e. who are the leaders? How did they get there?)
here’s the thing: outside of what’s specifically outlined Bible, I don’t think any specific structure is right or wrong. this is also a cultural thing because my ethnicity is often associated with a certain way of “doing church” but that’s not what really matters. anyway, i guess this is a long way of saying that i’ve seen to a lot of churches with different structures/the structure of my church has changed a lot over the years so i’m not attached to any specific structure
- Do you have any other beliefs or personal experiences you’d like to share
gosh, so many! but this post is so long already and i’ve been typing for longer than i meant to (why is it so easy to write tumblr brain-dumps, but so hard to write academic essays?) so if you made it this far, please message me if you want to know more! and thank you for asking, OP!
