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Hey Folks.
TMCC Friday Night Bible Study
Steve & Vickie’s House.
8006 Weddington Downs Dr.
Our Semester study will be every other Friday night.
Here are the dates.
Feb. 3rd.
Feb. 17th
March 3rd.
March 17th.
March 31st.
We will eat, fellowship, and study.
Of course any and all people are welcome.
Any Bible study suggestions please Reply.
In Christ,
Mark
12milecreekchurch.com
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The depiction of the Fallen Priest in Japan 17th C… has a strong message by director Martin Scorsese.
It’s not only Ok to Apostatize… it makes sense… it stops suffering… and is encouraged by the finally speaking Jesus himself.
If the officials are persecuting Christians… why is it posited that it is the Priest who are “causing” the torture and death?
Why is the premise of justified persecution Ok because the “bad simple minded Westerners” come and threaten a civilization with a counter cultural idea about Religion, God, and life?
Flip the premise… have Easterners come with a “Foreign” religion to the West… with the Westerners justified in persecution… torture… and murder… of “others” with different ideas that threaten the West. Oh… believe me… the values presented would be completely different. How could bad “Westerners (i.e. Christians)” be so horrible and wrong to persecute people with various ideas?
The hypocrisy is glaring. Why is everyone so ready to chastise a hypocritical Christian and be accepting and supporting of hypocritical “others”?
Let’s try to be fair. Please.
Even though I did appreciate the real life tensions in the struggle of faith, doubt, trials, and apostasy… the theology was horrendous.
Jesus finally breaks his “silence” and speaks to the Priest and tells him to apostatize in order to stop others from suffering because he already suffered for them… that simply is horrible… terrible… Theology. (I’m not asking you if you agree with that… I’m saying that that is a false presentation of what the Bible and Christianity thinks.)
“Hey… all religions are the same… there is no reason to stand for Jesus… go ahead… curse me… it’s no big deal.”
Is that congruent with what Jesus said… or is that counter to what Jesus said?
(I know what Scorsese depicts Jesus as saying in the movie… but is that true or false?)
“If anyone comes preaching another Gospel… or another Jesus other than the one we presented… you accept that easily enough.” 2 Cor. 11:4. Gal. 1:6-9.
Hmmm… here I am again… faced with… do I believe what the world says… or will I believe what the Scriptures say.
Hey… how about this… no one should support the killing of other people from other religions?
How about this… not forcing Apostasy with torture?
How about this… not always presenting Westerners as hypocritical, simple minded, fools… I mean… we can all share those traits as we consider history… right?
How about those morals for the story?
Don’t waste your time on this movie (2hours 41min)… not cause I am closed minded… remember… I paid $10 bucks to see it… it’s just not a good movie.
Mark
When does the Holy Spirit come?
We continue our detailed forensic study of the Scriptures to try and determine the answer to this question for… when Jesus was here,… in the early Church,… and now!
Join us.
Ok folks… I know this is difficult… I’m not being condescending… but we have to face the facts…
I know many of you want things to go “right” at “Church”. Even “Excellent”. I understand that.
But this is not the greatest comment in the world…
“I just don’t want to know how it happens… I don’t want to be involved in the politics… just give me what I need… well… what I want. Give me Excellence.”
Contemporary Church has run a muck with this mantra of excellence. It just has.
Now… I’m not trying to make excuses for those who don’t work hard and are always goofing up… I think we should all do our best, work hard, study, prepare, work on communicating, etc. etc.
But… the cookie cutter, everyone and everything goes exactly right… has a toll that demands to be paid.
Fact is… we are not a perfect people… and when we present that, we present something false. When we demand that, we demand something that people can not give. And if we even for a moment come close to giving it… there is a huge behind the scenes costs.
When Capitalistic Church becomes the model… I really think we are in trouble.
Though the preaching is perfect, the worship isn’t too long, the building is worth millions, the sound system is top of the line, and all liability is covered (oh no… that has to be excellent right?)… then we might just have succumbed to Capitalistic Church.
What’s wrong with that you wonder… hmmmm…. maybe you are further gone than I had hoped.
We don’t need a corporate branded church, where everything looks perfect, but is not. We don’t need a constant drum beat of excellence,… when no one can really admit that they are far from that.
We don’t need a finance committee, and budget, and giving campaign that calls for the funding of the Best and the most Excellent…
No… we need real people involved in life, connected in relationship, repenting of their sins… (even the Excellent ones sin you know)… where we talk about the teen pregnancy, the abortion, the gay brother, the bankrupt businessman, the depressed wife, the good… the bad… the ugly.
Come on… authenticity over Excellence.
A broken spirit over Excellence.
Humility and kindness over Excellence.
A dirty, homeless, messed up person in your presence… over Excellence.
I’m just not sure where Jesus talked about our Worship Service being Excellent, I’m just not.
Real, authentic, personal, community in Christ… over flashing hazards for visitors and front row parking with a latte. Come on. We are the Church. And believe me… we can be far from Excellent.
That’s what makes us so desperate for Jesus.
And that is truly an Excellent thing.
Mark
This Message is going out via email, website, and text.
TMCC,
1) I know it is Sunny now.
But it hasn’t gotten above freezing all day and it’s going down to 12 degrees.
I just checked the Weather and they have a Winter Weather Advisory from 6pm tonight until Noon tomorrow.
2) Black ice will be forming in the wet run off from today though some roads are clear.
I project maybe 8-15 people would actually attend tomorrow if we held Worship Service…
YET those would be possibly PUT AT RISK on the roads.
3) I have been struggling with this… I would like to have service… but I think we should be prudent…
And after conferring with the Elders… we will err on the side of caution.
4) TMCC Worship Service is cancelled for tomorrow Sunday January 8th, 2017.
Please keep warm, be careful, and eat…. EAT!
See you the next Sunday and since we are missing tomorrow…. let’s all be there with 100% Attendance and have amazing Worship, Study, and Fellowship!
In Christ,
Mark
12milecreekchurch.com
Hey Folks,
We will watch and get good information on this weather event as the morning continues.
Later this afternoon the Elders and I will communicate and make a decision about Worship tomorrow morning.
I will send out emails and texts around 5pm with our Final Decision.
Thanks, be safe… and follow Jesus.
In Christ,
Mark
The Masoretic Text, Septuagint, Vulgate, & Textus Receptus.
MT: Jewish Old Testament in Hebrew and Aramaic, compiled 7th-10th Century AD from various earlier texts.
LXX: “70” Jewish scholars translated the Old Testament into Greek, 200-100 BC, often quoted in the NT. The Greek OT Bible of Jesus’ day.
Vulgate: means “common”, Jerome in 380’s AD translated the Hebrew Old Testament and Greek New Testament into Latin.
The Textus Receptus: the “received text”, Erasmus in the 15th Century AD, compiled the New Testament from Greek manuscripts (not using the Latin) utilizing as his main source the Byzantine Family of Greek texts which are later Greek texts from 5th to 12th C, but Erasmus only used 6 Byzantine texts from the 12th Century. German Luther and KJV English Bibles used Erasmus’ Greek NT for their NT German and English Translations. The KJV though sacred to some Americans from their tradition and upbringing, is not from the earliest manuscripts.
More modern English Translations generally utilize the Alexandrian Family of Greek Texts which are more recently discovered and much earlier Greek texts from like around 200 AD.
