Todd, You say:
> I've always wondered why the mainstream religions are inevitably > amongst the last to put some of their own principles into action > when it comes to --------" > IYou cite "environmental stewardship." Substitute instead, "belief that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God." Or, substitute instead almost anything, because there is a spiritual law, (I Thes 2:10-11), referring specifically to the belief that Jesus is Christ the Son of God, but which applies generally, saying "---because they refused to believe the truth -- God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe a lie and be condemned ---." Isaiah refers to this,. as John says, "which explains why they could not believe" ( John 12) which is a specific quote ffrom the book of Isaiah).: For as Isaiah continues, "He has blinded their eyes and dulled their minds, lest they should see with their eyes, and perceive with their minds, and turn to me to heal them. Isaiah said this because he saw his glory and spoke about him (Christ)," --- so John quotes from Isiah. The Spiritual answer to your statement wondering "why the mainstream religious are inevitably amongst the last to put some of their own principles into action," is therefore that for anyone who refuses to believe the truth, God will send them a strong delusion.that they believe a lie. From the context this would apply whether to environmental considerations (which appear to be your predominant concern), or whether that Jesus was the Christ the Son of God, which is the main emphasis here, or as well to other things. And, the "mainstream religions," to which you refer, at Christ's time were the Saducees and the Pharisees. They, including the Sanhedrin of which Saul (later the Apostle Paul) was a member were all deluded at that time. All of whom, Peter declared in Acts 5:30 "whom you have killed by hanging him on a tree." Though he said later, "I wot that in ignorance ye did it." The mainstream leaders of that day, those who were the most aware of the Old Testament scriptures describing and predicting in some detail the coming of Chrst, being those who ought to have recognized him, were deluded to the extent they didn't recognize him, whereas the Jewish people, who were not part of this relgious heirarchy and were not so aware of the Old Testament scriptures, were totally convinced that this was the Chhist whom they had kiulled, and so they cried out , "Men and brethren what shall we do." Your criticism of the "mainstream religious" heirarrchy today is therefore, to say the least, not to be unexpected. So it has been throughout recent history. Read Soren Kirkegaard's "Attack upon Christendom," an account of the religious hypocracy existing in Denmark at the time among the Lutheran clergy. Or Tolstoy's religious writings and criticism of the Russian clerics of his day.. It was to the common man that Tolstoy turned when he sought wisdom for making his personal decisions.. He had no confidence in the Russian clerics of his day. So, don't criticize Christianity, some of which principles you have quoted and claimed for guidance. Criticize instead the heirarchy of "Christendom," those Christian leaders who "say and do not." . Additionally, in partial explanation for some of the otherwise unexplainable energy decisions that complicate our lives today, here is a quote from Thomas Sowell: "Politicians are seldom willing to solve any problem by simply stopping what they have been doing to create the problem. Instead, they come up with new programs that ignore the real cause." In so doing, the key KISS principle sometimes espoused on this listing, is being violated . So, again, I am not totally in disagreement with you. There are a number of things you espouse with which I agree, though, apparently, we have some different interpretations. Glenn Ellis [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~--> 4 DVDs Free +s&p Join Now http://us.click.yahoo.com/pt6YBB/NXiEAA/RN.GAA/9bTolB/TM ---------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Biofuels at Journey to Forever http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Biofuel at WebConX http://www.webconx.dns2go.com/2000/biofuel/biofuel.htm List messages are archived at the Info-Archive at NNYTech: http://archive.nnytech.net/ To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
