Merry Christmas

“Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Philippians 2, NAS95)

The Crusades

The creation of these Latin Crusader states did far more than the schism of 1054 to breed real practical division between Eastern Orthodox and Western Catholic Christians. Whenever the Crusaders conquered, they forcibly took over the churches of Easterners and set up their own Western Latin bishops, to whom they expected Eastern believers to submit. Indeed, the sometimes brutal way the Crusaders trod down the native Orthodox peoples of the Middle East became so hateful to the Orthodox, that they were soon fighting alongside the more tolerant Muslims to throw out the oppressive Crusaders!

N. R. Needham, 2000 Years of Christ’s Power; Part Two: The Middle Ages, pp. 191-192

Personally responsible for sin

Whether it is called the Tao, Dharma, Karma, Torah, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, or “the little voice within,” the most ineradicable report of general revelation is our moral accountability before a holy God for how we treat each other. This is the law above all positive laws of nations and international bodies. No matter how we try to suppress, distort, and deny it, our sense of being personally responsible for our sin is universal and natural. Confucius is reported to have said, “There may be someone who has perfectly followed the way [i.e., the Tao]: but I never heard of one.”

Horton, Michael S. (2010-12-21). The Christian Faith: A Systematic Theology for Pilgrims on the Way (Kindle Locations 11088-11092). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.

Romans 3

Now we know that whatever the Law says, it speaks to those who are under the Law, so that every mouth may be closed and all the world may become accountable to God; because by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight; for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin. 

But now apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe; for there is no distinction; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed; for the demonstration, I say, of His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.  NASB