LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY nebris)

Hal Lindsey's "There's A New World Coming"

I love how the Whore of Babylon looks like Fiona Horne. lol


Warning: not dial up friendly

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY velvetpage)

A long time ago - probably more than a year, possibly closer to two - a link was posted in this community about four different, competing views of the Bible, and how each one formed the denominations that subscribed to it. I'm sure there were four of them, but when i tried googling it, I got several million hits and nothing I changed cut that down very much, nor was what I wanted anywhere in the first fifty or so hits. Does anyone remember this, or did anyone bookmark it?

x-posted to xtian_trackback

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY shapeshft)

In light of the recent "Is your Doctor playing Judge?" thread, and the suggestion that there should be a list of doctors who will or won't provide adequate medical care:

When I was living in rural Virginia, I noticed that some Christian groups or individuals had banded together to create a Christian "resource directory" booklet which could be found and taken home free in a number of area businesses and churches. (Type "Christian resource directory" into Google and you'll find a number of similar online directories.) This gave Christians in the area the ability to make sure that all their money went to other Christian individuals and companies, and they could live their whole lives without darkening the door of any establishment unsupportive of their fundamentalist views.

The flip side of that is that anybody wanting to avoid such businesses had a handy directory of places NOT to go. Anybody on this list living in an area where these directories are being produced could use these as exactly this sort of handy reference tool, although in the case of medical care, there may well be doctors not listed who still nevertheless refuse to prescribe treatment.

If a group were to get together to create lists of medical providers and pharmacists that support full reproductive health care, that might be a double-edged sword. It could indeed provide individuals with a helpful guide of who will give them adequate care or not, but it could also be used by militant Christians to harass doctors that provide this care, pharmacists who fulfill prescriptions, etc. Same with business listings; I have seen and heard of a number of businesses that have been bankrupted by boycotts after some Christian group got wind that the owner of the store believed or did something they regarded as "evil." Not all of these incidents occurred in the South, either; a few occurred nearby where I live now in rural New York state. A home decor store owned by a spiritualist was one such instance.

In essence, I'm torn between wanting to create such lists, and fearing for what may happen to people and businesses that list themselves there. Perhaps whether this is a good idea or not depends on the area.

I'm interested in any ideas people have regarding this.

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY bloodandsalsa)

I have a question of method--now, Dominionism has a more strict definition in theological corners than we seem to be using--it doesn't theologically make sense for premillenialist Fundamentalists to be Dominionists per Rushdoony. Post-meillenial eschatology is the rationalization for it. So, we trying to come with a criterion for a post, does simple "Christian Nationalism" apply. This is partly because I seems biblical literalism and intolerance of other religions (or lack thereof) is used as the criterion for Dominionism--which could apply to any Fundamentalist whose politically active in the least. I think there is some truth to that being a threat, but it's not Dominionism strictly speaking. Dominionism requires a want to make the world into the Kingdom of heaven physically and that pretty much requires post-millenialism eschatology. I now I sound pedantic, but you can't fight people effectively (especially without violence) without understanding their worldview and not all fundamentalist or even Christian Nationalists have the same world view. Tim LaHay is not a dominionist, he's a Christian Nationalist (his eschatology is premillenial to the extreme), Pat Robertson DOES seem to be a Dominionist proper, or at least flirts with it.

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY blueboy2000)

In case you haven't heard, Lou Engle (of "Justice House of Prayer" and "Jesus Camp" fame) is organizing "The Call," a heavy-duty religious right propaganda event disguised as a "solemn prayer gathering," in Nashville on July 7. I was getting ready to post on this yesterday, since by itself this is cause for alarm.

But then a friend of mine told me about a larger event being held by Engle's organization, TheCause USA known as "God's Summer of Love." It's a cross-country tour that is set to start in Nashville on July 8 and end in San Francisco with a huge rally in Golden Gate Park--epicenter of the "Summer of Love." In truth, what these guys are promoting is actually a Summer of Hate.

Here's where they're gonna be (culled from RedRiders, TheCause's mobile ministry:

July 8-10: Nashville, TN
July 11-13: Kansas City, MO
July 14-16: Wichita, KS
july 17-20: Santa Fe, NM
July 21-25: Sedona, AZ
July 26-30: San Diego, CA
July 31 - August 4: Los Angeles, CA
August 5-11: San Francisco, CA

The symbolism of ending this in San Francisco couldn't be more obvious. After all, a lot of the people heading this up cut their teeth in the Jesus Movement, and to them San Francisco is the tenth level of hell. This statement on their Web site pretty much sums up their mentality:

In 1967, over 100,000 young people aged 17 - 25 converged in San Francisco for a wild spree of drugs, casual sex and Eastern mysticism that became known as the “Summer of Love.”

When they later returned home to cities in Europe and across America, they brought with them the hippie lifestyle along with its rejection of authority and moral values, and they literally shifted global culture in a matter of months! The effects of this counter-cultural rebellion on society are still with us today…

Forty years are over and we believe it’s time for a new generation to step into their destiny and experience a “Summer of Real Love,” God’s love!

And they make it demonstratably obvious that their goal is to preach at gays and lesbians along the way:

We felt a strong mandate from the Lord that we were to do another RedRiders Tour this summer launching out of Nashville, but that this time we were to open it up and invite hundreds of youth to join us to travel in their own vehicles and worship and pray across America!

One of our staff members heard this and had an internal vision of a convoy of cars streaming out of Nashville on their way to San Francisco. These cars were brightly painted in artistic ways, very similar to the way hippies used to decorate their vans.

Three days after she shared this impression with a friend, a girl in another state who knew nothing of this contacted us to share that she had a dream of the exact same thing! In her dream she saw hundreds of cars and vans with psychedelic art traveling across America to San Francisco… and when they got there, they brought great healing to the homosexual community!

And of course, we know what these guys' idea of healing is. As a pentecostal/charismatic Christian Dem who knows these guys' language, I'm particularly outraged.

This calls for action ... counterdemonstrations (peaceful, of course), flyers, whatever. Especially if you live in the areas they're due to visit.

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY swisscelt)

Looking back: This excerpt appeared on my journal on 14 October 2003. I'll discuss how this is now relevant after the excerpt.

( Cut for those who just want to get to the point. )

Which leads me to today. Back in 2003, I was concerned with getting the heck out of Dodge as quickly as possible. This summer, though, I've been more contemplative. I want to know why this region is so bad, and what might be done to improve it before I go.

Anyway, that's a metatopic for another time. What I'd like to discuss here (and this would also be the reason why I'm crossposting this to dark_christian) is how Dominionism exploits poverty-striken areas, even if (as I mentioned in the previous post) Dominionists aren't responsible for the poverty in the first place.  My friend and fellow dark_christian contributor dogemperor strongly suspects (as I do) that US Plastics is a Dominionist front company, a company that exists to recruit for Dominionist churches and to provide Dominionism with operating capital, much as certain Muslim-run companies serve as a front for Islamist terror organizations.

By the way, for those of you who've driven through Ohio on I-75, you may have noticed US Plastics.  Theirs is the building on a curve near mile marker 128 displaying a huge sign on the side reading, "Christ is the answer." It's one of several evangelical landmarks along I-75 between Toledo and Atlanta (along with the 50-foot crosses in Tennessee, and the huge figure of Jesus emerging from the water at a church between Dayton and Cincinnati).

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY kisekileia)

I posted this originally in my own journal, but then I saw bloodandsalsa's post here questioning whether we've been using the title of "dominionist" too broadly. I'm a 23-year-old Christian who was evangelical in my teens, but after some spiritual abuse started to shift left theologically. It's really in the past year or so that I've completely stopped using the "evangelical" label for myself. I'm rethinking various issues from my own perspective rather than the one I was taught as a teenager, and it's very freeing. However, even though I'm not an evangelical anymore, I can still relate to evangelical perspectives enough that I see them in a more nuanced way than someone with a different background might. So I think that sometimes in dark_christian we tar widely varying people and groups with the same "dominionist" brush. In this post, I reflected on that.

( Here's the post: )

Thoughts?

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY rechan)

While this is only remotely connected to Dominionism, I thought that having some good news posted on here would be real nice for a change. It also demonstrates that good Christian groups are untagling themselves from Dominionist causes and working to better the theo-political climate:

America's Other Baptists look to Pull Together

They’re America’s other Baptists — the ones who appoint women pastors, work with theological liberals and line up more closely with President Carter than with President Bush.

Over the last 25 years, they have watched with growing concern as their conservative Southern Baptist brethren came to define the religious tradition for the general public.

Now, these other Baptists, who are spread among many different denominations, are slowly pooling resources on humanitarian work and evangelism, hoping they can have a bigger impact.

This Friday in Washington, two of the larger groups — the American Baptist Churches and the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship — will worship together for the first time. They plan to commission two missionary couples who will represent both groups, and will organize a national Islamic-Baptist dialogue to improve relations with Muslims.

( Read more... )

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY sunfell)

Sunday July 1- Wednesday July 4 is the second Blog Against Theocracy". The purpose of this blogswarm is to talk about the separation of church and state, and how important it is to the continued functioning of this country as a democracy, rather than a theocracy. In a democracy, all faiths have the freedom of worship. In a theocracy, only one narrowly defined faith would have that freedom, and would suppress all the freedoms we now take for granted: speech, assembly, association, thought, and many others. Few would have power, and many would suffer.

If you go to the Blog Against Theocracy website, you'll get instructions on how to let them know that you've posted in your own journal, and how you can be included in the list of people who posted. This community was included in the first, and many esteemed blogs and people also posted. It's a chance to remember the purpose of the American Revolution- part of it was to get out from under the heel of theocratic governments and their oppressive rule.

I know we have a pretty good sized population of folks in this community who live outside the US: you are welcome to participate also- in fact, your outlook would be welcomed. Consider these questions: How would the US becoming a theocracy effect yours? How do you perceive this whole thing? Is the separation of church and state a good idea, or an element of governance that is doomed to failure? How do you think the US becoming a theocratic state would affect the relationship with your country? would it get better or worse? How is religious governance treated in your country? Does having a state religion make a difference? For good or ill? Would you want such a 'wall of separation' in your country?

If you decide to participate, reply here, with a link to your post. And if you wish to post here separately, you are welcome to do so as long as you adhere to the posting guidelines of this community. That means no bashing, no profanity, etc. It's OK to be critical, it isn't OK to be hateful. Theocracy isn't necessarily a Christian thing, but it's more likely to be Christian oriented here than anywhere else. So please remember that, and happy posting!

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY molotov_bitch)

Hey, I have some questions.

Firstly, a lot of the information on this groups is centred on the US. Does anyone know of groups to watch out for in the UK? I know it's not quite as prevalent here but you can bet your bottom dollar they'll be trying to establish themselves here if they haven't already.

Secondly, are there any charities or political lobbying groups dedicated specifically to stopping Dominionism? I find all this stuff really upsetting and as far as I know the only thing that's going on is making people aware of it via websites like this. Surely there should be some groups who disseminate information to the public about the dangers of Dominionism, and/or try and make sure these groups are properly watched and punished by the law for all the terrorism they're getting away with?