This is a great quote:

“[my purpose is] to show that even the most influential Christians who have changed the lives of countless people for good — Calvin being one of them — believed things that were surprising, shocking, and even outrageous.

So tread carefully the next time you come across another follower Jesus who doesn’t believe just like you do on every doctrinal point.
And when you’re tempted to burn them over a slow spit because of their “bad theology,” remember John Calvin — the man whom Charles Spurgeon said had a near flawless theology — and consider some of the other stuff the great Reformer believed.”

This is excellent advice in regard to individual Christians we encounter. When we meet “Calvin” the man, we should indeed extend grace. When encounter “Calvin” the system, or other systems of thought and various ideological systems, the advice doesn’t hold together very well. Often we must work to deconstruct systematic ideologies that enslave or harm or hinder the advancement of the kingdom of God.

“If Christ himself came to Geneva, he would be crucified. For Geneva is not a place of Christian liberty. It is ruled by a new pope [John Calvin], but one who burns men alive while the pope at Rome strangles them first.”

Read more: http://www.patheos.com/blogs/frankviola/shockingbeliefsofjohncalvin/#ixzz3XDlgzVSh

So instead of reaching out to the abused, I regarded the abused as abusing UBF by sharing their own stories of spiritual abuse by their respective “shepherds.” I am truly sorry that I did this for over two decades. I am sorry that “ubf” has done this corporately for ?five? decades.

I am especially sorry for those who continue to do so and who absolutely refuses to listen to or to address these real issues of spiritual abuse, both subtle and blatant, raised on this website (which is really tame and mild compared to resqueubf and the long detailed elaborate accounts found on other websites).

It is beyond sad and beyond being Christian when the one abused is accused by the abuser for abusing them whenever they share their own painful stories of being abused!

It is reasonable and essential for any “church” claiming the crucified Jesus as their Lord and King to learn how to acknowledge abuse of power and deal with it in reasonable ways.

I have so much respect for the Mars Hill church council and members–it was like a bee losing its sting and dying to “out” the problems with Mark Driscoll. No reward in this earth or in the house of idolatry, but God will see their courage and sacrifice for right and justice, and will bless them.

It was very much scapegoating–the High Priest Caiaphas even said it would be better for Jesus to die for the sake of the nation.

The “Bible – A.D.” series that started on Easter, while seeking the elements of Game of Thrones~esque intrigue–did highlight Pilate and Caiaphas’s role, and I’m glad they did. As you have related, they wanted to cast him out in order to solve all their problems.

I will likely use some of the insights in this posting in my “Easter” “Crucifixion” message this Saturday during our Spring Conference.

Of course, you didn’t incite me to this on your own : ) I was deeply convicted that no one should come away from the message of the cross feeling very good about themselves, except to know that God has had mercy in spite of all our sins.

The cross doesn’t relieve us of responsibility–it enables us to take responsibility trusting in the love of God.

This doesn’t mean that if we are born again we do not worry about sins–individual or corporate–but that we have the courage to challenge the strongholds in our hearts, our families, our communities, by faith in God’s truth and love, and starting with repentance.

I too long for an “authentic” Easter experience instead of our own version (spring conference, new people share life testimony to introduce themselves, growing people serve messages, one leader keeps it all kosher with prayer topics . . .). I have had some wonderful times in these conferences yet the immensity of the gospel itself seems quite lost.

Of course, you can count on a cheapened version of the easter message/experience when all members involved are full time students/full time employees in addition to making up all kinds of shortcomings in ministry work.

the time has come, students/parents shall take campuses back from privileged international profiteers/puppiteers: we shall return to academics (the decades long lapse into corrupting/damaging/killing the young for profit has ended; the gangster control over leadership/membership of clubs-thus campuses-has ended.

“The True Gentleman is the man whose conduct proceeds from good will and an acute sense of propriety, and whose self-control is equal to all emergencies; who does not make the poor man conscious of his poverty, the obscure man of his obscurity, or any man of his inferiority or deformity; who is himself humbled if necessity compels him to humble another; who does not flatter wealth, cringe before power, or boast of his own possessions or achievements; who speaks with frankness but always with sincerity and sympathy; whose deed follows his word; who thinks of the rights and feelings of others, rather than his own; and who appears well in any company, a man with whom honor is sacred and virtue safe.” – John Walter Wayland

REAL GENTLE(WO)MAN DO NOT NEED WEALTH OR POWER OR BOASTING TO SPEAK FRANKLY/EMPATHETICALLY, ACT WITH INTEGRITY, DEFEND OTHER’S RIGHTS/CONCERNS, BEHAVE DECENTLY WHEREVER (HONOR IS ONLY SACRED WHEN RIGHT; VIRTUE IS ONLY SAFE WHEN GOOD).

Brilliance. Pure brilliance. Will anyone read this and pay attention?

I struggle to find any words to respond because what you say in this entire article reflects so deeply with my own experience and understanding. Amen.

It is finished, and so am I.

It. Is. Finished.

http://retropets.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/Preview2/images/P-116.jpg

Yesterday I was tempted to post an article about my favorite saint of all, St. Pugnacious. He was a proponent of Pugnatian spiritual exercise where you meditate on the person that you despise most and imagine yourself beating him up. He was an associate of St Pusillanimous who, though he was beaten daily by Pugnatius, always remained his closest friend. The feast of St. Pusillanimous and Pugnatius falls on April 1.

“No, it was only after I had the moral support of a loving wife and many godly and loyal friends willing to stand beside me so that, if the rest of UBF would throw me under the bus, it wouldn’t hurt nearly as bad.”

I agree with this. No one can speak up until they are supported. And one of Satan’s deception is to alienate us from others; he divides and conquers. I cannot speak up against injustice unless I have a support system. And thanks for sharing the article about worshiping the God who was abused. It speaks so much about God who did not save himself. He knows what abuse is and he is not apathetic to it. Jesus is so counter cultural.

A couple of thoughts on the examen:
1. St. Ignatius did not invent it but he did kind of perfect it. The examen was something he thought was essential for growing the spiritual life.
2. Because the examen is supposed to be a reflection or examination of one’s day, he suggested doing it twice: once around noon and the other right before bed. Most people do it once a day at the end of the day.
3. Either way works whether individual or a group. Most people do it individually.
4. The examen might begin with a short bible verse to help one to recollect the day. However, the content of the prayer is God’s work over the course of time. Reading and praying over scripture is a different type of prayer.

At that time, I believe that even his own parents did not see anything wrong with how their own son was treated, believing that Lee had the best of intentions.

“Whatever happens to you, you should accept it as God’s discipline and training.” I NOW PROCLAIM THIS ‘UP’ TO ALL ‘ELITE’ RELIGIO/EDUCATIO/POLITICO/ETCETERO PLAYERS AS MY VOICE EXUDES ONLY INCREASING TRUTH FOR PUBLIC KNOWLEDGE TO PRESS FOR RIGHT!

Recently, a close friend told me that no one among the upper echelons of UBF will ever listen to you or respect you because you have NO HONOR and “NO FACE.”

At first this comment stung rather hard. I thought, “what, after knowing me for over 3 decades, and after all that I have done for ubf for 35 years and they regard me as having no honor and no face!”

Of course I’m not Jesus, but perhaps that is what they might also say of Christ. But then again, Jesus is perfect and sinless and Jesus would never do or say the dishonorable things that I have said and done, like sharing publicly on the Internet!

MAY ONLY HARSH/STRONG TONES EXUDE FROM THUTHFUL VOICES UNTIL DEAF EARS HAVE UNSTOPPED:))))))))))))))))))

PURSUIT OF KNOWLEDGE W/OUT PRACTICE IS LIKE ATHENIANS WERE IN GREECE, LIKE SAUL (PAUL) BECOMING PRAISED PHARISEE BUT PERSECUTING BELIEVERS OF THE WAY UNTIL HIS HIGH HORSE ‘ACCIDENT’ ON WAY TO DAMASCUS..STUDY IS NOT ONLY USELESS BUT DESTRUCTIVE W/OUT APPLICATION.

http://boz.religionnews.com/2015/04/02/god-victim-child-abuse-survivor-taught-good-friday/

GOD ALONE SHALL EVER BE PRAISED EVER AGAIN! FOR HE ALONE IS EVER WORTHY AT ALL THRUOUT HISTORY. PRAISECHRISTALONEDOOYAH!!!!!!!!!!!

GUESS WE CAN’T ‘DRAW-N-QUARTER’ SOMEBODY ALREADY DEAD, BUT IDEA EXPRESSES THE OUTRAGE:)

“Eventually the people closest to him, who had supported his efforts, succumbed to peer pressure and threw Webb under the bus.” (well-meaning but semi-chicken peers:)

MAY THE LORD GRANT US COURAGE! SUPERDOOBYDOYAH!