Protestantism: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 14:56, 17 April 2024

At the heart of American society is Reformed Protestantism, specifically Calvinism, and its tendency toward Old Testament theocracy.
Baptists, a Reformed Protestant sect, are the largest religious body in America.

Baptist Origins

See — Reformed Protestant “Prophecy”, The Bruderhof

How Rome gave birth to Protestantism
How Martin Luther’s protest failed him
How Zwingli’s radicalism shaped Evangelical worship
How Calvin thought to reinvent God

U.S. Protestants Are Not Defined by Reformation-Era Controversies 500 Years Later | Pew Research

The UnReformed Truth
On Predestination

Where Have All the Cowboy Churches Come From?

Charlatans, False Prophets and Flimflammers

What is the origin of the belief that God will not destroy the world but use the current one?

Blue Letter Bible

Orthodox Road —

[W]e have...to begin any discussion of the meaning of the life and teaching of Jesus with a look at this thorny question of authority, and especially the authority of holy scripture. Because (in this country in particular) there are an enormous number of people who seem to believe that the Bible descended from heaven with an angel in the year 1611, which was when the so-called King James (or, more correctly, authorized) version of the Bible was translated into English. I had a crazy uncle who believed that every word of the Bible was literally true, including the marginal notes. And so, whatever date it said—it said in the marginal notes that the world was created in 4004 B.C.—and he believed as the word of god. Until one day he was reading, I think, a passage in the Book of Proverbs and found a naughty word in the Bible. And from that time on he was through with it. You know, how Protestant can you get? 
— Alan Watts

Reformed Protestantism
History of Calvinism | Wikipedia
Arminianism | Wikipedia
Antinomianism | Wikipedia
Congregationalism in the United States | Wikipedia

Revival

Experimental Religion
Experimental religion insists on perfectionist, enthusiastic, emotional "proof" of conversion, which is indicative of the rationalism of Reformed Protestantism that rejects the mystery of sacraments, the sacramental life and sacramental living. Such insistence on "proof" is in itself lack of faith not faithfulness, as Holy Writ explicitly proclaims that “faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Heb 11:1
Recovering Experimental Religion
— Experimental religion, which once was a vital part of the Reformed tradition of preaching and spirituality, has in a large measure been lost sight of in our day. Even use of the term experimental in connection with religion is no longer customary, it being more commonly associated with the natural sciences, where a method of probing and investigation leads to an understanding of reality. The older Reformed writers used the word to indicate that we not only read and confess what Scripture teaches, but also are enabled by the Holy Spirit in our own experience to prove and enter into those truths. The propositions of Scripture are true regardless of our experience of them. But in those who belong to Christ, there is a work of the Holy Spirit to persuade them of those truths, so that they taste and feel the power of them in their own souls. To tremble when we discern our guilt before God, and to be driven to seek covering in the blood of Christ, is to gain an experimental knowledge of realities revealed in Scripture. Such experiences are not like the groping of the heathen, who reflect on the mystery of their own hearts, trying to understand themselves, and pondering what God might be like and how he might relate to the world. Experimental religion in the Reformed tradition entails an experience which arises from being confronted with the testimony of Scripture, and in which the prime mover is God the Holy Spirit, driving home to heart and conscience the truths of the Word of God.
See — Psychopathology
Experimental Religion and Experimental Science in Early Modern England
Experimental Religion
The Experimental Method and Religious Beliefs

Revival preaching of experimental religion has historically often led to Psychopathology.

Psychopathology

Reformed Protestant revivalist preaching of religious experience has tendency toward production of psychopathology, due to perfectionist, enthusiastic, emotional, subjective technique of inward conversion (inward light, believer‘s baptism, “born again” experience, etc.) and subsequent requirement for "proof" of conversion, of being one of the "elect", in rejection of objective, outward historical Christian use of word (Holy Writ) and sacraments in The Church — Baptism, Chrismation, Eucharist (Holy Communion), Healing (Anointing with Oil), Marriage, Reconciliation (Confession), and Ordination, while also celebrating many other services of a "sacramental" quality (Great Blessing of Waters, Monastic Tonsure, etc.).

See — The Bruderhof, Religious Melancholy

Religious Melancholy and Protestant Experience in America
— “This original examination of the spiritual narratives of conversion in the history of American Protestant evangelical religion reveals an interesting paradox. Fervent believers who devoted themselves completely to the challenges of making a Christian life, who longed to know God's rapturous love, all too often languished in despair, feeling forsaken by God. Ironically, those most devoted to fostering the soul's maturation neglected the well-being of the psyche. Drawing upon many sources, including unpublished diaries and case studies of patients treated in nineteenth-century asylums, Julius Rubin's fascinating study thoroughly explores religious melancholy—as a distinctive stance toward life, a grieving over the loss of God's love, and an obsession and psychopathology associated with the spiritual itinerary of conversion. The varieties of this spiritual sickness include sinners who would fast unto death ("evangelical anorexia nervosa"), religious suicides, and those obsessed with unpardonable sin. From colonial Puritans like Michael Wigglesworth to contemporary evangelicals like Billy Graham, among those who directed the course of evangelical religion and of their followers, Rubin shows that religious melancholy has shaped the experience of self and identity for those who sought rebirth as children of God.”

Schmemann’s Vision of a Sacramental World and the Reformed Tradition
The Earth as Sacrament: Insights from Orthodox Christian Theology and Spirituality
For the Life of the World — Alexander Schmemann
The World As Sacrament: The Theological and Spiritual Vision of Creation
The World as Sacrament: The Eucharistic Ontology of Maximus Confessor
On the World as Sacrament
What is a Sacrament?
The Sacramental Life of the Orthodox Church
Understanding the Sacraments of the Orthodox Church

Puritans

The New England Mind: The Seventeenth Century
Jonathan Edwards

Paul Krause
The Puritan Origins of American Progressivism
[T]he left-right divide in America is the schizophrenic vision of America rooted in her very foundation: one puritanical and moralist, the other cavalier and individualist.

Puritanism and the Utopian State of Mind
In the History of England, David Hume opined that Puritan “theology” was the world’s first false philosophy – that is, the world’s first systematic political ideology. More recently, from sociologists like Max Weber that the Calvinist ethos produced the spirit of capitalism, to Talcott Parsons arguing that Puritanism was, at its a heart, an “activist” movement, to historians like George McKenna who explained the relationship between Puritanism, Progressivism, and American messianic patriotism, and George Marsden who – in his award winning biography of Jonathan Edwards – declared Edwards and the Puritans as the progenitors “of the party of progress,” the link between progressivism and puritanism has been widely attested to in academic scholarship.

Puritans were more Jewish than Protestants
The Puritans were obsessed with the Bible and came to identify their political struggle against England with that of the ancient Hebrews against Pharaoh or the King of Babylon. Because they identified so strongly with ancient Israel, they chose to identify with the Old Testament (Hebrew Bible). ...
Puritan obsession with the [Hebrew] Bible led them to try and incorporate many aspects of the Jewish commandments into their lifestyle based on their literal interpretation of Hebraic laws.

Perfectibility—Possible among the Puritans
Knowing the Puritan obsession with perfection, Nathaniel Hawthorne portrayed the Puritans of The Scarlet Letter in just that way—obsessed. He played up their hypocritical and false premise. Hawthorne emphasized that law and religion were inseparably connected in their community. Fanatically so.

Lutheran vs. Reformed

Theology of the Cross | Wikipedia
— “a term coined by the German theologian Martin Luther to refer to theology that posits "the cross" (that is, divine self-revelation) as the only source of knowledge concerning who God is and how God saves. It is contrasted with the [Calvin‘s] "theology of glory" (theologia gloriae), which places greater emphasis on human abilities and human reason.”

On Being a Theologian of the Cross: Reflections on Luther's Heidelberg Disputation, 1518 | Google Books
Luther's Theology of the Cross: Martin Luther's Theological Breakthrough | Amazon

The Creedal Imperative - Carl R. Trueman | Amazon
Luther on the Christian Life: Cross and Freedom - Carl R. Trueman | Amazon

Keep It Simple Stupid: Martin Luther on the Christian Life
Did Luther Really Tell Us to ‘Love God and Sin Boldly’?
Sin Boldly?

The Religious Bodies of America — F. E. Mayer (1892-1954) 4th edition revised by Arthur Carl Piepkorn (Second Edition - Archive.org)
PART FOUR - The Reformed Bodies
SECTION I - Introduction ...
Basic Differences Between Lutherans and Reformed ...
3. In America more so than in Europe, revivalism resulted in deep and essential changes in Reformed theology. In particular, revivalism set in motion a reaction against the Calvinistic doctrine of God's absolute sovereignty and His decree of a double election. This is true especially of the great revival of 1734, which marked the beginning of New England theology. In the Great Awakening of 1800, "Deeds rather than creeds" was the shibboleth. ...
4. ...Modernism seeks to magnify the glory of God in a social and economic revolution; fundamentalism in the establishment of a millennial kingdom.
5. The theological revival in its American form appears as a determined effort to steer a middle course between the prewar modernism and fundamentalism. ...
SECTION II - Genetic History of Reformed Theology ...
Calvin's Theology
...The basic principles of Calvinism still are the very lifeblood of the historic Calvinistic churches. Likewise fundamentalism has its taproots in the soil of Calvinism. Even in liberalism certain principles of Calvinism can be detected. It is generally admitted that neo-orthodoxy to a very marked degree moves in the thought patterns of Calvinism. ...
By temperament and training Calvin inclined toward austere asceticism. His schoolmates nicknamed him "the Accusative Case." For a brief time he studied law. ...
THE MATERIAL AND FORMAL PRINCIPLES OF CALVIN'S THEOLOGY
THE MATERIAL PRINCIPLE
THE FORMAL PRINCIPLE - Differences in Understanding the "Sola Scriptura."
Lutheran theology asks: What has God done for my salvation? and finds the answer in the Scriptural revelation of God's grace. Calvin asks: What must I do to the greater glory of God? and sees in the Bible the Sovereign's will for man's conduct and belief. In the papacy men must submit blindly to the voice of the church; in Calvinism men are required to submit obediently to the Bible. Calvin's approach to the Bible appears to be legalistic rather than evangelical and reveals a mingling of Law and Gospel. ...
Calvin's legalistic principle prompted him virtually to erase the distinction between the two Testaments [Old and New]. This is evident particularly from his concept of the Law as the basis for, and the ground of, the divine-human covenant relation. This covenant relation obligates man to fulfill the requirements of God's Law. Though Christ has come to free us from the coercion of the Law, He has not abolished it, for "the doctrine of the Law, which remains inviolate after Christ, prepares us for every good work with its doctrine, admonition, rebuke, and reprimand." According to Calvin, the chief function of the Law is to serve not as a mirror, but as a rule. This principle prompted Calvin to maintain that the Old Testament rites have been abolished only as to their use, but not as to their significance. Thus Baptism and the Lord's Supper have supplanted only the form but not the purpose of circumcision and the Passover.
The legalistic emphasis in Calvin's theology is reflected not only in his approach to the Scriptures, but also throughout his theology, especially in the realm of sanctification, in the nature and function of the church, and in his philosophy of life....
It was Calvin's conviction that though Christ has fulfilled the Law, the basic principles of the Mosaic Law were not abrogated. This meant that he prescribed the punishment for such sins as blasphemy, adultery, and witchcraft on the basis of the Mosaic Law. Indeed, Calvin went beyond this Law and established economic principles, introduced price control, and laid down specific rules for the choice of one's vocation and the discharge of one's obligations in it. In the various social relations the church carefully prescribed the limits for everyone's conduct; for example, the church prescribed the menus for the various income groups; the style and color of dress. Card games and all luxury items were forbidden. In short, the private life of every citizen of Geneva was minutely prescribed and closely watched.

Pietism

Pietism | Wikipedia
Philipp Spener | Wikipedia

Piety vs. Pietism
— “Spener’s epistemology was that experience is the basis of all certainty, so he emphasized the importance of the individual Christian’s experience of renewal or new birth. Rather than focusing on the objective truth of Christ’s death and resurrection for us, and the objective and Spirit-filled Word that brings this objective truth to people in need of Good News, Spener turned the Christian’s focus inward toward a subjective experience of inner transformation.”

Evangelicalism

Evangelicalism | Wikipedia
— a worldwide interdenominational movement within Protestant Christianity that emphasizes the centrality of sharing the "good news" of Christianity, being "born again" [believer‘s baptism] in which an individual experiences personal conversion, as authoritatively guided by the Bible, God's revelation to humanity

Believer‘s baptism | Wikipedia

Neo-evangelicalism

Christian fundamentalism | Wikipedia

Cult Behavior

See — Cults

Legalism

Legalism | Wikpedia
Eternal security | Wikipedia

Calvanist, Reformed Protestant addiction to moralism, to what Luther called "Theology of Glory" (the Law) instead of "Theology of the Cross" (Suffering), addiction to having to declare (prove) oneself righteous in order to absolutely exhibit being one of the “elect” and “onced saved always saved” —

The Bottoming Out of the American Evangelical Church
[T]he law cannot save.... [W]e’ve been shouting at each other over definitions of the law, peddling a more correct understanding of the law as the answer to all...problems... only tightening the law’s death grip on our hearts. No one can actually pursue any good because we are consumed with the task of defining and defending our righteousness...
We are addicted to declaring ourselves righteous, addicted to moral self-reliance, addicted to distinguishing ourselves by being good people. We are addicted to mediocre self-evaluation. Moralism makes us addicted to our own righteousness...addiction to good works...
All of the “isms” presented to us are simply human attempts to identify and deal with real brokenness....
They are often beautiful, complex, meta-temptations for Christians who remain addicted to the law. They are societal level attempts to repair the world’s brokenness with good works....
The misuse of the wisdom of law is a matter of bondage. The sinner does not preside over this matter nor can the sinner make a free decision not to misuse the law and its wisdom... So we could not simply say that this or that “correct theology” or proper instruction will remedy the matter. ...[W]ithout the theology of the cross we misuse the best in the worst manner....unless we see everything through suffering and the cross...unless we are “brought low, reduced to nothing through the cross and suffering,” we cannot but misuse and defile the gift of God in the worst way. Without the theology of the cross we will of necessity take credit for works ourselves and place trust in them....treating the “isms” not as ways to understand what is broken according to God’s will, but rather as systems which will make...the world better....“isms” have become our collective theologies of glory.
Like the addict, ...what we need is a “bottoming out.” We must let the law crush us and the cross kill us. Only after death can resurrection happen. ...[Calvanist heterodox] churches cannot be brought back to life by pursuing the law. They can only be brought to life when they wake up to the truth that the law has been given a false throne in our houses of worship and only the gospel of death with the crucified Jesus can breathe life into souls.“...humans have no active capacity to humble themselves but only a passive capacity. They can be humbled. ...[H]umility is always something done to us. The instrument of this doing is the law and wrath, God’s ‘alien work,’ not our pious posturing. Humility in this context means precisely to be reduced to the position where we claim absolutely nothing.”...
The righteousness that avails before God is a being claimed by the crucified and resurrected Christ. It is not like accomplishing something but like dying and coming to life. It is not like earning something but like falling in love. It is not the attainment of a long-sought goal, the arrival at the end of a process, but the beginning of something absolutely new, something never before heard of or entertained.
The first of Luther’s 95 theses reads, “When our Lord and Master Jesus Christ said, ‘Repent’ (Mt 4:17), he willed the entire life of believers to be one of repentance.” The evidence of the law fulfilling its purpose is not Christians in churches in perfect agreement with each other about what the law consists of. The evidence of the law doing its work is Christians who acknowledge they are hopeless before the law, are struck dead by the humility of the cross, and are raised to life in Jesus, living lives of repentance. Any “ism” which reduces the free and frequent repentance of the believer individually and of the church corporately is a theology of glory. But where the saints are marked by entire lives of repentance, where churches are known for their corporate and public repentance, we can trust that the theology of the cross is at work.
...[T]he law “simply cannot bring into being what it commands.” All the “isms” of the world can tell us what our problems are, but they cannot produce the holiness they desire. ...shame cannot compel righteousness; in fact, it usually produces exactly the opposite. “...Grace, instead of demanding love, simply gives it unconditionally,”... “It is simply, ‘I love you.’” The power to do good does not lie in all of the things we’ve been shouting about. The power to do good comes in the pronouncement that everything has already been done and therefore all that remains is God’s creative action in us.
Luther writes, “...the love of God that lives in man loves sinners, evil persons, fools, weaklings in order to make them righteous, good, wise, and strong.” The fruit of the Spirit working in the various factions...will not be better understandings of the law. It will be the love of God compelling each faction to love its enemies — those it sees as sinners and fools. If we are to agree with Luther, then the creative work of God in the lives of “social justice warriors” won’t necessarily be a change in the ethical principles to which they hold; it will be laying down their lives for the unvaccinated Texan pastor. Likewise, the creative work of God in the lives of the Trump supporters will be compassion and denial of self on behalf of the social media influencer deconstructing the faith of their childhood. For only the bottoming out in the face of the law...can create the kind of repentant hearts that would cause someone to see themselves as so wretched that they could love those reprobates across the aisle.
This is why I now feel compassion. Not because I’ve been able to finally parse out the nuances of each side and determine which one correctly interprets God’s law. But rather, because I’ve come to feel the compassion I feel for the addict for the people of God....
God’s people in America today are...believing that with just a little more understanding, we can get the Christian life right, get the church right, get our presence in the culture right. This time will be different. But we are to be pitied. Thankfully, the God we worship does not sit in heaven, observing our hopeless addiction like a scientist and a lab rat. No, he is already at work upon us, taking our bottomed-out souls and communities and beginning an act of redemptive life within us.

The Role of Social Science in ‘Deconstructing’ White Evangelicalism
[S]ome Christians who are politically conservative are so focused on the dangers and evils of the left that they feel the need to ignore, downplay, or simply deny the problems and dangers on the right; they imply (or outright say) that criticizing the right is disloyal because it helps the left.

The Six Way Fracturing of Evangelicalism
Sociologically, the resurgent neo-fundamentalism and its co-belligerent Christian Nationalism will continue to create parallel information ecosystems that will further stretch and rend the fabric of the USA....
Racially, tensions are likely to continue to rise. Neo-fundamentalists and Christian Nationalists will continue to find new labels and terms for their fears surrounding social justice.

Radical Reformation

See — Restorationism, Pietism, Iconography, Infant Baptism, The Bruderhof

The Early Anabaptists Part I, Part II

Opposition to Radical Reformation: Martin Luther Against Anabaptists and Radicals

GAMEO Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online

God’s left wing: the Radical Reformers

Marcos G. Cruz articles — Facebook

Orthodox Christian Response to the Descendents of Anabaptism
Orthodoxy and Orthopraxy: An Anabaptist-Orthodox Conversation on Tradition and Theosis
How Orthodoxy Might Offer Anabaptists Resources for the Spiritual Journey and Anabaptism Might Counter-Offer Social Justice Passions
Icons | The Orthodox Church Has Changed the Apostolic Faith
— Major misunderstanding of what icons are and how they are used in the Orthodox Church, resulting from a spirit of Restorationism and “purity”; the same applies to insistence on “Believer‘s Baptism” and insistence that infant baptism is not Apostolic.

Why Anabaptists and Mennonites are not Orthodox | MennoNet.com
— “Anabaptists are not Orthodox because they do not derive their beliefs from the 11th, or 6th or 4th or even 1st century writings of church leaders. They derive their beliefs and practices from the words of Jesus as recorded or attested to by His chosen witnesses. Many churches went astray, even as early as the apostolic period when Paul had to write letters to correct errors in the churches. Obviously this drift continued. The churches of the Roman Empire (West and East) look nothing like anything described about Jesus' followers in the Gospels and letters of the apostles. SO rather than emulate a drifted, fallen religious tradition, Anabaptist return to the indisputable source that all churches should have been following - the New Testament.”

Enthusiasm

Enthusiasm | Wikipedia

Enthusiasm and the Enthusiasts
— “[T]he Biblical teaching that Luther, Melanchthon, and many others taught and preached was challenged at every turn. Not just by Rome and the Pope but by another group called the Enthusiasts and radical reformers [e.g. Anabaptists]. Like Luther, the radical reformers recognized the corruption of 16th-century church doctrine and practice, but the manner in which they brought about reform meant leaving behind core Biblical teachings and intentionally exiling faithful believers. Enthusiast teaching is very much present in the modern church...
The term Enthusiast is a catch-all for Protestant teachers and churches that place internal emotion and the personal motion of God in their life above or as a replacement to the external Word and means of God. This means they believe God works and communicates personally to the individual rather than through Scripture and physical means [i.e. sacraments]....
Enthusiast theology is a sneaky form of self-righteousness and [legalistic, self-]justification.
Instead of freeing the Christian, such theology places a heavy burden on the believer to prove faith and instills the fear that he or she might not have enough faith. When the emotion runs out, the Enthusiast is often left devastated.”...
[E]rrors and harmful teachings of the radical reformers...
1. Christology: “Christ did not receive his body and blood from the Virgin Mary.” “Christ is not true God but merely has more gifts of the Holy Spirit.”
2. Means of Grace: “Children should not be baptized until they attain the use of reason.” “The children of Christians, are holy without and before baptism.” “That bread and wine in the Holy Supper are not means through which and with which Christ distributes his body and blood.”
[See — Infant Baptism]
3. Christian living: “A Christian may not possess private property with a good conscience, but rather is bound to surrender all to the community.” “The Christian who is truly reborn through the Holy Spirit can keep and fulfill the law of God perfectly in this life.” (Arand and Kolb, “The Formula of Concord,” in The Book of Concord, 520-522).

Enthusiasm: A Chapter in the History of Religion | Amazon
Religious enthusiasm | The Encyclopedia of World Problems & Human Potential
Enthusiasm | Christianity Today

Emotions and Experience in Martin Luther Summary
Emotions and Experience in Martin Luther
Emotions and the Church
Not always feeling forgiven
Luther on Faith

Christian Perfection

Theosis (Eastern Christian theology) | Wikipedia

Believer‘s baptism | Wikipedia

Anabaptists v/s Pentecostal Movement
Pentecostal Aspects of Early Sixteenth Century Anabaptism
Pentecostalism's Anabaptist Heritage: The Zofingen Disputation of 1532
Anabaptism-Pietism and Pentecostalism: scandalous partners in protest
(Pentecostal to) Baptist to Anabaptist

What Has Wittenberg to Do with Azusa?: Luther's Theology of the Cross and Pentecostal Triumphalism — Review

Apostasy

Prelest | OrthodoxWiki

Some of the nefarious ways in which Reformed Prostestantism has fallen away from original teachings of Orthodox Christianity —

Restorationism

Restoration Movement | Wikipedia
See — Revival, Second Great Awakening
Restorationism | Wikipedia
— AKA (also known as) “New Testament” Church
Primitive Baptists | Wikipedia
Primitive Methodist Church | Wikipedia

Church of God International | Wikipedia
Church of God International (CGI)
— non-trinitarian sect based in Tyler TX arrogantly claims it “traces its origins to the Church that Jesus founded in the early first century”.

To Live Ancient Lives: The Primitivist Dimension in Puritanism

Illusions of Innocence: Protestant Primitivism in America, 1630-1875

Separatism

Separatism | Wikipedia
Nonconformism | Wikipedia
Nonconformity to the world | Wikipedia
Puritanism
Anabaptists

Priesthood of All Believers

Priesthood of all believers | Wikipedia
Estates of the realm | Wikipedia

The "priesthood of all believers"
— “In the 16th century the Protestant reformers broke away from the Roman Catholic Church. They retained the idea that the church as a whole is a priesthood to the world, but rejected the idea of a consecrated priesthood which administers the sacraments through Apostolic succession as part of their rejection of the Roman Church. They claimed that this consecrated priesthood was an invention of Rome and not ordained by God.
Protestants use 1 Peter 2:9 as a prooftext to support this belief, ignoring that all churches which predate them have a consecrated priesthood. We look at those verses and see the priesthood of the nation which has always been distinct from the consecrated priesthood.”

The Priesthood of All Believers and Other Pious Myths
Luther’s Doctrine of the Priesthood of All Believers: The Importance for Today
The Priesthood of all Believers and Its Impact on the Church
Dispelling the Myth of Martin Luther’s Priesthood of all Believers

Anointing

Trump’s most hard-core supporters really think he was sent by God. Here’s proof
— the only Anointed of God is His Mashiach (Messiah, Christos, Christ), Jesus of Nazareth the King of kings and Lord of lords, by whom God rules over humanity and All Creation as it's only true ruler.

Underlying Reformed Protestant infatuation with annointing is grasping for power by way of theocracy —
Why we should never forget the monstrosity that was Donald Trump's gold apartment
— No expense was spared in this marble and 24-carat gold visual overload
Inside Donald Trump's $100 million penthouse: Gold-rimmed cups, a toy personalized Mercedes for his 10-year-old son, a $15,000 book and some VERY risqué statues
On the Diminution of Angels
Behind Donald Trump’s unholy obsession with French cherubs
— Cherubs (a symbol of power) aplenty like at Versailles, as well as lots of marble, gold, gilding, and Classical style period furnishings and power paintings
Donald Trump’s 66th Floor Penthouse Exposes His Idol ‘Sun God’ Apollo, Son of Zeus
— “Classical art dominates here with a bronze of Eros and Psyche, one of the great love Greek love stories, and Apollo led by Aurora – the Greek goddess of the dawn, suggesting Trump sees himself the mold of Apollo, Zeus’s son, and one of the most powerful of the gods.”

See — Oil (Petroleum), Babylon, The Beast

Prosperity Gospel

Prosperity theology | Wikipedia
— “[P]rosperity gospel was formed from the intersection of three different ideologies: Pentecostalism, New Thought, and "an American gospel of pragmatism, individualism, and upward mobility". This "American gospel" was best exemplified by Andrew Carnegie's Gospel of Wealth and Russell Conwell's famous sermon "Acres of Diamonds", in which Conwell equated poverty with sin and asserted that anyone could become rich through hard work. This gospel of wealth, however, was an expression of Muscular Christianity and understood success to be the result of personal effort rather than divine intervention.

Prosperity Preachers $$$

Wealth With God! — prosperity heresy alive and well in the 3rd millenium

The 50 Most Evil Christians in the World | YouTube

Millenialism

It is no wonder that the West has become materialist and utopian given that Reformed Protestantism is marked by the utopian delusion of Chiliasm (Millenialism) and is the dominant form of religiosity in USA.

Millennialism | Wikipedia

Chiliasm | OrthodoxWiki
On the Thousand Year Reign (Chiliasm)
The Error of Chiliasm (Millennialism)
The Inconsistency of Chiliasm
— “The Second Ecumenical Council in 381 AD., condemning the heretic Apollinarius, condemned his teaching about the thousand-year Kingdom of Christ. To put a stop to further attempts at introducing this teaching, the Fathers of the Council inserted into the Creed the words about Christ: "His Kingdom shall have no end." In other words, when Christ's reign begins there will be no interruptions in His eternal Kingdom. In more recent times, chiliastic views were resurrected in some Protestant sects. As has been indicated, in this teaching there are proposed two future resurrections and two judgments: one for the righteous and later another for sinners; and there are two future comings of the Savior. There is a purely earthly reign of Christ with the righteous ones as a definite historical epoch. Formally, this teaching is based on an incorrect understanding of the expression first resurrection, while inwardly its cause is rooted in many contemporary sectarians' loss of faith in eternal life and in the blessedness of the righteous in Heaven, with whom they have no communion in prayer. Another cause is to be found in utopian dreams hidden behind religious ideas and inserted into the mysterious images of the book of Revelation.”

Rapture

The Rapture | YouTube, Wikipedia
Ask An Eastern Orthodox Christian: The Rapture
The Rapture — Indisputable Christian Heresy
What is the Rapture Part 1 of 2
What is the Rapture Part 2 of 2
Orthodox Christian Teaching on the Rapture: Is the Rapture in the Bible?
The Rapture: An Orthodox Understanding (Infographic)

Futurism

Futurism | Wikipedia

C. I. Scofield | Wikipedia
— “Cyrus Ingerson Scofield (August 19, 1843 – July 24, 1921) was an American theologian, minister, and writer whose best-selling annotated Bible popularized Futurism and Dispensationalism among fundamentalist Christians.”

See — John Nelson Darby

Dispensationalism

Dispensationalism | Wikipedia

John Nelson Darby | Wikipedia —
— Father of modern Dispensationalism and Futurism, popularized Rapture “theology” extensively in the 1830s (unheard of until then), which was further popularized in the United States in the early 20th century by wide circulation of the Scofield Reference Bible

Dispensationalism In America (The Greatest Distraction To Christianity) | YouTube

See — C. I. Scofield

Covenant Theology

Covenant theology | Wikipedia
— Reformed or Wesleyan-Arminian theological framework
Covenant theology accounts for much of the legalism of Reformed Prostestantism

Covenant Theology Covenant Theology Leads to Holy Orthodoxy
— Orthodoxy fits covenant theology much better than Protestantism. If the Bible is a covenant document, then the Eucharist is a covenant meal.

A Way God Wants to Connect With You (You Might Not Think Much About) | Bible Project YouTube Channel
— It's relational, not legalistic
See — Sexuality
The Mystery and Meaning of Love, Marriage and Gender
Gender as Prophecy and Revelation
— “Neither the Old Covenant nor the New Testament were “legal agreements,” rather they were spousal relationships.”

Federal Vision | Wikipedia

Theocracy

American Theocracy | Wikipedia

An Orthodox Critique of the Cultural/Dominion Mandate
Dominion Rule or Life as Sacrament?

Messianism

Hebrew Roots | Wikipedia
Hebrew Roots : An Orthodox Christian Response | YouTube
“Saying Jesus’s Name Wrong”: A Fallacy of “Hebrew Roots”

Christian Zionism

The Return of the Gods
— Foolishness of Messianic Judaism and/or Hebrew Roots - the "gods" never existed so they cannot "return", only demonic delusion of such can return.
“For all the gods of the Gentiles are devils” — Psalm 95:5

Emergent Church

Emerging church | Wikipedia

An Orthodox Response to the Emerging Church Movement
Series: An Ancient Future Church?

New Monasticism

New Monasticism | Wikipedia

Christian Patriarchy Movement

Knots: A Forced Marriage Story
Christian Patriarchy Movement
The Patriarchy Movement: Five Areas of Grave Concern
Spiritual Abuse in the Christian Patriarchy Movement

Christian Nationalism

See — Christian Nationalism

@@ Line 152: / Line 152: @@
 ==Evangelicalism==
 [[wikipedia:Evangelicalism|Evangelicalism]] | Wikipedia<br>
-— a worldwide interdenominational movement within Protestant Christianity that emphasizes the centrality of sharing the "good news" of Christianity, being "born again" [believer‘s baptism] in which an individual experiences personal conversion, as authoritatively guided by the Bible, God's revelation to humanity<br>
+— a worldwide interdenominational movement within Protestant Christianity that emphasizes the centrality of sharing the "good news" of Christianity, being "born again" [believer‘s baptism] in which an individual experiences personal conversion, as authoritatively guided by the Bible, God's revelation to humanity
 [[wikipedia:Believer%27s_baptism|Believer‘s baptism]] | Wikipedia

Protestantism: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 14:56, 17 April 2024

Contents

Revival

Psychopathology

Puritans

Lutheran vs. Reformed

Pietism

Evangelicalism

Cult Behavior

Legalism

Radical Reformation

Enthusiasm

Christian Perfection

Apostasy

Restorationism

Separatism

Priesthood of All Believers

Anointing

Prosperity Gospel

Social Gospel

Pentecostalism

Word of Faith

Millenialism

Rapture

Futurism

Dispensationalism

Covenant Theology

Theocracy

Messianism

Emergent Church

New Monasticism

Christian Patriarchy Movement

Christian Nationalism

Navigation menu

Protestantism: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 14:56, 17 April 2024

Revival

Psychopathology

Puritans

Lutheran vs. Reformed

Pietism

Evangelicalism

Cult Behavior

Legalism

Radical Reformation

Enthusiasm

Christian Perfection

Apostasy

Restorationism

Separatism

Priesthood of All Believers

Anointing

Prosperity Gospel

Social Gospel

Pentecostalism

Word of Faith

Millenialism

Rapture

Futurism

Dispensationalism

Covenant Theology

Theocracy

Messianism

Emergent Church

New Monasticism

Christian Patriarchy Movement

Christian Nationalism

Navigation menu

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