26 replies to this topic

[jagtenn]

Hi, didn't see a religious forum here, so figured maybe this was closest. Anyway, I stumbled accross Prince William County Emergent Church today -- and wondered if anyone has heard of the emergent church and/or has an opinion about it?

What's it about?

[folsombound]

I suspect that it's more myth and superstition. (ducks)

[Bill Z]

I suspect that it's more myth and superstition. (ducks)

I resisted replying before, hoping this topic might fade off the Today's new posts with no replies.
I find this post to be either SPAM or baiting as the answer to the question lies in the hyperlink they provided.

[jagtenn]

I resisted replying before, hoping this topic might fade off the Today's new posts with no replies.
I find this post to be either SPAM or baiting as the answer to the question lies in the hyperlink they provided.

[jagtenn]

I resisted replying before, hoping this topic might fade off the Today's new posts with no replies.
I find this post to be either SPAM or baiting as the answer to the question lies in the hyperlink they provided.

Actually, it was neither. The link discusses the church and provides various opinions. I was just curious if anyone out there had actual experience with it. I think perhaps the idea of the emergent church is to offer a 3rd path between religious fundamentalism and athiesm. Maybe. You can see how that battle wages throughout our society even at a place like the Super Bowl, see Tim Tebow Super Bowl Ad Controversy

ONe of the replies on that thread is from a Christian who seems to be following a 3rd way...

So, again, just wondered if anyone out there has an experience with the emerging church.

thanks

[uberman]

So, again, just wondered if anyone out there has an experience with the emerging church.

All religions are a hoax, a scam to get you to pay up. This is no different.

[folsombound]

All religions are a hoax, a scam to get you to pay up. This is no different.

On this we agree. It's all about money and power.

[Bill Z]

On this we agree. It's all about money and power.

I agree with money and power.

All religions are a hoax, a scam to get you to pay up. This is no different.

I don't completely agree with this though.
from online dictionary

hoax n.
1. An act intended to deceive or trick.

scam n.
A fraudulent business scheme; a swindle

If the church leaders didn't believe in God, then I would agree it is a hoax and a scam, but as they are as gullible and in belief of what they teach, they aren't trying to deceive, they are preaching what they believe to be true. Despite the lack of physical proof, religious leaders are as convinced of the existence of a higher power omnipotent being as their flock of followers are. I can't prove they are wrong, I just see no evidence that they are right and I find there are logical explanations for how religions began, and it boils down to religions were all started by humans trying to understand the world and not having the scientific knowledge we have today. So they came up with stories to explain what they didn't understand and through the best of oral tradition, those stories became beliefs, accepted as truths, and are continued to be passed down generation to generation.

Hoaxes and scams are things known to be false by those that perpetrate them, the perpetrators of religions don't believe what they teach is false, they believe it to be true.

[Inwit]

Genesis 1
The Beginning
1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
2 Now the earth was [a] formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.

3 And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. 4 God saw that the light was good, and He separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light "day," and the darkness he called "night." And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.

6 And God said, "Let there be an expanse between the waters to separate water from water." 7 So God made the expanse and separated the water under the expanse from the water above it. And it was so. 8 God called the expanse "sky." And there was evening, and there was morning—the second day.

9 And God said, "Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear." And it was so. 10 God called the dry ground "land," and the gathered waters he called "seas." And God saw that it was good.

11 Then God said, "Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds." And it was so. 12 The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. 13 And there was evening, and there was morning—the third day.

14 And God said, "Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years, 15 and let them be lights in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth." And it was so. 16 God made two great lights—the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. 17 God set them in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth, 18 to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good. 19 And there was evening, and there was morning—the fourth day.

20 And God said, "Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the sky." 21 So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living and moving thing with which the water teems, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 22 God blessed them and said, "Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth." 23 And there was evening, and there was morning—the fifth day.

24 And God said, "Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: livestock, creatures that move along the ground, and wild animals, each according to its kind." And it was so. 25 God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.

26 Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, [b] and over all the creatures that move along the ground."

27 So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them.

28 God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground."

29 Then God said, "I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. 30 And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air and all the creatures that move on the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food." And it was so.

31 God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.

I thought season's were caused by the tilt of the Earth.

I thought day & night was caused by the Earth spinning on it's axis near an adjacent star.

I thought many of the stars in the sky were created billions of years before our sun.

The first five books of the Old Testament (known as the Pentateuch or Torah) was written by Moses during the forty years that the children of Israel wandered in the wilderness (1450 - 1410 B.C.).

So should I believe the writings of mankind from over 3000 years ago, thousands of years before electricity was discovered, or should I believe the knowledge mankind has uncovered in the last 500 years, ever since Galileo Galilei pointed the first telescope at the night sky and discovered, earth wasn't the center of everything.

I know who I'm going with.

[baltimore?]

All religions are a hoax, a scam to get you to pay up. This is no different.

Amen to that....

[curiousity]

Actually, it was neither. The link discusses the church and provides various opinions. I was just curious if anyone out there had actual experience with it. I think perhaps the idea of the emergent church is to offer a 3rd path between religious fundamentalism and athiesm. Maybe. You can see how that battle wages throughout our society even at a place like the Super Bowl, see Tim Tebow Super Bowl Ad Controversy

ONe of the replies on that thread is from a Christian who seems to be following a 3rd way...

So, again, just wondered if anyone out there has an experience with the emerging church.

thanks

Sorry, no experience with the Emergent Church.

While I think most church attendees are good people, and even individual churches try to improve their community, I think overall, what organized religion has done for society at large is far more bad than good.

[bordercolliefan]

While I think most church attendees are good people, and even individual churches try to improve their community, I think overall, what organized religion has done for society at large is far more bad than good.

Explain??

While I am not a church-goer, I sometimes worry that we non church-goers don't pull our weight with charitable works, at least not to the extent church-members do.

[curiousity]

Explain??

While I am not a church-goer, I sometimes worry that we non church-goers don't pull our weight with charitable works, at least not to the extent church-members do.

Christian crusades, Islam Jihad, Hitler Nazism for gross examples.

The general doctrine of my God is the only right one and all others are going to Hell is another. Anti-Semitism wouldn't exist without religion. This one concept is the cause of a lot of hate in the world.

Christian takeover of anywhere they have gone spreading their word of their religion stomping out whatever beliefs there were before they arrived (Aztecs, Incas, & Mayans come to mind). not to mention our own forefathers treatment of American Indians

Persecution of great thinkers, Galileo, Copernicus, et al. Christianity has been at odds with many scientific discoveries over the ages, always fighting with new findings, like the geologists that were first proposing Earth was much older than the Church's belief of 5000 years or so. Religion is inherently close-minded as it is based on faith and beliefs and they take great offense when science shatters their long held incorrect opinions. Religion is very slow to accept change to their notion of truths, despite overwhelming evidence.
Even today, some religious people refuse to believe the earth is billions of years old because the timeline in the Holy Bible pegs it around 5000 or 6000 years since Genesis 1 if you follow the lineage from Adam & Eve to the new testament.

[bordercolliefan]

Christian crusades, Islam Jihad, Hitler Nazism for gross examples.

The general doctrine of my God is the only right one and all others are going to Hell is another. Anti-Semitism wouldn't exist without religion. This one concept is the cause of a lot of hate in the world.

Christian takeover of anywhere they have gone spreading their word of their religion stomping out whatever beliefs there were before they arrived (Aztecs, Incas, & Mayans come to mind). not to mention our own forefathers treatment of American Indians

Persecution of great thinkers, Galileo, Copernicus, et al. Christianity has been at odds with many scientific discoveries over the ages, always fighting with new findings, like the geologists that were first proposing Earth was much older than the Church's belief of 5000 years or so. Religion is inherently close-minded as it is based on faith and beliefs and they take great offense when science shatters their long held incorrect opinions. Religion is very slow to accept change to their notion of truths, despite overwhelming evidence.
Even today, some religious people refuse to believe the earth is billions of years old because the timeline in the Holy Bible pegs it around 5000 or 6000 years since Genesis 1 if you follow the lineage from Adam & Eve to the new testament.

Hmmm, I can't disagree with your points.

[mando]

Christian crusades, Islam Jihad, Hitler Nazism for gross examples.

The general doctrine of my God is the only right one and all others are going to Hell is another. Anti-Semitism wouldn't exist without religion. This one concept is the cause of a lot of hate in the world.

Christian takeover of anywhere they have gone spreading their word of their religion stomping out whatever beliefs there were before they arrived (Aztecs, Incas, & Mayans come to mind). not to mention our own forefathers treatment of American Indians

Persecution of great thinkers, Galileo, Copernicus, et al. Christianity has been at odds with many scientific discoveries over the ages, always fighting with new findings, like the geologists that were first proposing Earth was much older than the Church's belief of 5000 years or so. Religion is inherently close-minded as it is based on faith and beliefs and they take great offense when science shatters their long held incorrect opinions. Religion is very slow to accept change to their notion of truths, despite overwhelming evidence.
Even today, some religious people refuse to believe the earth is billions of years old because the timeline in the Holy Bible pegs it around 5000 or 6000 years since Genesis 1 if you follow the lineage from Adam & Eve to the new testament.

There have certainly been many misguided things done in the guise of religion. One could argue that many of these could have happened in spite of religion. Many of these negatives were the actions of persons that actually violated the teachings of their faiths.

Don't discount the many great things done in the name of religion including great works of art, music, architecture, literature, infrastructure, etc. Works of charity, education, healthcare, even science, etc. Religions provided moral frameworks that facilitated civilization. and so on...