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Thread: My Foundational Assumptions and Questions for Theological Debate and Christian Apologetics

  1. #21
    Senior Member Ezekiel 33's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Berserk View Post
    Fascinating! All I did in my OP was outline methodological assumptions for topics to follow and Fundamentalist Pentecostal trolls launch ad hominem attacks before they even hear what I have to say! That is truly low-grade spirituality, which anti-intellectual Pentecostalism has taught me to expect. In my experience, Pentecostals are like a myopic ideological Ghetto that is threatened by outsiders and uses disdain for academics to avoid the hard work of critical thinking to evade the need to see what they can actually learn spiritually from outsiders. As Gordon Edmunds, a wise older saint in the Pentecostal church of my youth once memorably told me, "You don't have to be stupid to be a Christian, but sometimes I think it sure helps!" Despite this, I will linger a little longer until I actually share some biblical insights. And I do love this caricature of the Pentecostal ethos that I once heard in a sermon and never forgot:

    "I like my religion the way I like my tea--hot. Because it's easier to cool a hot coal than warm up a corpse and I'd rather be a fool on fire than a scholar on ice. Amen? Honestly, brethren, I drive by some of dem liberal churches and I take my hat off out of respect for the dead!"
    See ya!

  2. #22
    Senior Member Ezekiel 33's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Berserk View Post
    And it might help you to be reminded that I specified in the OP that I wanted to substantially finish my personal testimony BEFORE developing the present thread. Why? Obviously because I wanted members to get to know me personally before I expressed views (sometimes controversial) that readers might find spiritually helpful. I thought, wrongly, that conversation and theological discussion might be more warm and personal if readers knew my spiritual priorities and life experiences. My Harvard doctoral thesis focused on the gift of prophecy, how it was understood in ancient Judaism, and the early church of the first 3 centuries, and who could exorcise this gift. My professors agreed that my 455 thesis broke new ground, and recommended it for publication. I thought you might be interested in the relevance of this to modern Pentecostal exercise of the gift of prophecy in corporate worship. But the thesis is so technical and detailed that I thought that if I liked the people on this site I would seek ways to simplify it for thread discussion.

    You claim, "we pray for and support one another." Well, I'm a member of a weekly Monday prayer group of 5 that has seen marvelous healings and other answers to prayer over the years and I intended to share our experiences and insights as well as our problems. I also weekly visit a mentally ill but deeply spiritual bipolar schizophrenic on dialysis, who is desperate to rekindle his faith, which has been destroyed by his perception that God just doesn't care about his suffering. A lot of harm has been done by wannabe Pentecostal exorcists who confuse mental illness with demonic possession and do more harm than good by trying an failing to exorcise the mentally ill. I wanted to discuss my friends' and family's experiences with exorcism and lessons learned on how to minister to the mentally ill. But I can't pray with people I dislike. So my stay here will not be long.
    Is there a "tootin' my own horn" emoji???

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  4. #23
    Administrator fuego's Avatar
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    Tough room. :)

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    Ezekiel 33 (12-20-2019)

  6. #24
    Quote Originally Posted by fuego View Post
    Tough room. :)
    I know, right? Sheesh!

    I'll have to be careful the next time I try to remind this forum why I am more qualified than anyone else here to help you all understand Scripture. We "betters" really do not get the reverential treatment we deserve on this forum
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  8. #25
    Quote Originally Posted by victoryword View Post
    I know, right? Sheesh!

    I'll have to be careful the next time I try to remind this forum why I am more qualified than anyone else here to help you all understand Scripture. We "betters" really do not get the reverential treatment we deserve on this forum

  9. #26
    Senior Member Colonel's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by victoryword View Post
    I know, right? Sheesh!

    I'll have to be careful the next time I try to remind this forum why I am more qualified than anyone else here to help you all understand Scripture. We "betters" really do not get the reverential treatment we deserve on this forum
    Heh. For the record I'm bigger and badder than you are. But not quite as big and bad as Berserk. I could never aspire to post under such a name. Which doesn't tell you that much since you know my name history since the 90s.

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  11. #27
    Quote Originally Posted by Colonel View Post
    Heh. For the record I'm bigger and badder than you are. But not quite as big and bad as Berserk. I could never aspire to post under such a name. Which doesn't tell you that much since you know my name history since the 90s.
    All of us who have a "high horse" can always compare to see whose horse is higher

    Yeah, Berserk could provide some of us with some steep competition on this one. Perhaps I need to follow the advice of those who have told me to, "Get off of my high horse."
    Christ's Victory Bible Teaching Center
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  12. #28
    Senior Member Colonel's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by victoryword View Post
    All of us who have a "high horse" can always compare to see whose horse is higher

    Yeah, Berserk could provide some of us with some steep competition on this one. Perhaps I need to follow the advice of those who have told me to, "Get off of my high horse."
    Riding a horse that is so big that there's traffic going underneath its belly is a bit much at least. The ability to walk on the ground at times isn't a bad asset either.

  13. #29
    Is this the annual meeting of the Mutual Admiration Society?

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  15. #30
    Senior Member Colonel's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by FireBrand View Post
    Is this the annual meeting of the Mutual Admiration Society?
    Well....it's not meant to be some kind of medieval rodeo at least.

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