Faith Alone

1. "According to Martin Luther, justification by faith alone is the article on which the church stands or falls." (12/8/11)
1. "Martin Luther elevated sola fide to the principal cause of the Protestant Reformation, the rallying cry of the Protestant cause, and the chief distinction between Protestant Christianity and Roman Catholicism." (12/8/11)
2. "The doctrines of the various Protestant denominations vary, but most includejustification by grace through faith alone, known as Sola Fide" (12/8/11)
2. The Bible clearly teaches that faith is necessary for justification but faith alone is not sufficient for justification.
3. The only verse in the Bible with the phrase "faith alone" is James 2:24
1. "You see that a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone." James 2:24
2. This clearly teaches that we are not justified by faith alone
3. All of the verses that are used to try to prove the doctrine of justification by faith alone  show the importance of faith in justification but none of them contain the phrase "faith alone" 
1. Ephesians 2:8-9  "For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast."
2. Romans 3:28 "For we hold that one is justified by faith  apart from works of the law."
3. Galations 3:24 "Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith."
4.  
4. The doctrine of Justification through "faith alone" was made up by Martin Luther and is not in the Bible.
5. Faith and works are inseparable. Works are an necessary aspect of faith in the same way four sides are a necessary aspect of a square. "Faith" without works is like a "square" without 4 sides. The phrase "faith alone" (without works) is nonsense. 
1. Martin Luther admired that faith is never alone, but did not see that this contradicts his own doctrin of justification through faith alone.
2. If you say that a conjoined twin is never alone than it makes no sense to speak of one of the conjoined twins doing something alone.
6. Things the Bible says are necessary for salvation/justification.
1. Good works/obeying the commandments.
1. Matthew 12:7 "For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned."
2. Matthew 16:27 "For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works."
3. Matthew 19:7 "If you want to enter into life, keep the commandments."
4. Matthew 25: 41-46 "Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels: For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not. Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee? Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me. And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal."
5. Luke 10: 26-28 "He said unto him, What is written in the law? how readest thou? And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself. And he said unto him, Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt live."
6. John 5:29 "And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation."
7. Romans 2:6-13 "Who will render to each one according to his deeds. ... For not the hearers of the law are just in the sight of God, but the doers of the law will be justified."
2. Grace
3. Baptisms
4. Repentance
5. Forgiveness of others.
6. Mercy
1. Titus 3:5 "Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost."
7. Faith is not even the greatest of the graces. Love is.
1. ". . . if I should have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing."  I Corinthians 13:2 

AMA

1. "AMA counts only a scant 17 percent of doctors as members"

Coffee

1. Beneficial effects.
1. Decreased mortality (5/17/12)
1. "In this large prospective study, coffee consumption was inversely associated with total and cause-specific mortality. " (N Engl J Med 2012; 366:1891-1904May 17, 2012, 5/17/12)
2. Decreased risk of type 2 diabetes
1. "people who drink four or more cups of coffee daily have a 50 percent lower risk of Type 2 diabetes. And every additional cup of coffee brings another decrease in risk of almost 7 percent." (1/18/12)
2. "Our findings suggest that coffee consumption does not increase the risk of chronic disease, but it may be linked to a lower risk of T2D [type 2 diabetes] [HR: 0.77]." ( Am J Clin Nutr April 2012vol. 95 no. 4 901-908, 3/20/12)
   
3. Women who drink more coffee may suffer less depression.
4. "These prospective data suggest that four or more cups of coffee per day are associated with a lower risk of endometrial cancer." (11/24/11)
5. "Coffee CC [caffeine consumption] is associated with a significant reduction in risk of fibrosis [scaring which can lead to cirrhosis] among NASH [Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (fatty liver not due to alcohol)] patients." (Hepatology 2/2/12)
6. "Adding coffee-derived MOS [Mannogligosacharides] to a weight-loss diet enhanced both weight and adipose tissue losses in men [but not women], suggesting a potential functional use of MOS for weight management and improvement in adipose tissue distribution." (Obesity, 2/9/12)

Utilitarianism

1. A strong link between utilitarian answers to moral dilemmas (push the fat guy off the bridge) and personalities that were psychopathic, Machiavellian or tended to view life as meaningless.

Theory of Relativity

1. Predicts nothing can travel faster than the speed of light
1. Contradictory experimental evidence
1. Neutrinos measured travailing faster than the speed of light.

Taxes

1. ‎"We are living in a sick society filled with people who would not directly steal from their neighbor but who are willing to demand that the government do it for them." -- William L. Comer
2. ‎"For centuries the State has robbed people at bayonet point and called it, "Taxation". Coercion and violence by the direct threat of confiscation or imprisonment. This is taxation." -Murray Rothbard (3/8/12) 

Miracles

There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle. -Albert Einstein

Miracles

There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle. by Albert Einstein.

Minorities

"The smallest minority on earth is the individual. Those who deny individual rights cannot claim to be defenders of minorities." -- Ayn Rand

False Dichotomies

1. Other Names
1. False dilemma (1/20/12)
2. Either-or fallacy (1/20/12)
3. Fallacy of false choice (1/20/12)
4. Black-and-white thinking (1/20/12)
5. Fallacy of exhaustive hypotheses (1/20/12)
2. Examples
1. Free will or predestination/fate/determinism (1/26/12)
1. God is sovereign or humans have free will (1/26/12)
2. Pray as if everything depends on God or work as if everything depends on God (1/26/12)
3. Justification is by Faith or works. (1/20/12)
1. Faith only -  Protestantism (1/30/12)
2. Works only - moralism (1/30/12)
4. We chose God or God chooses us (2/15/12)
5. Homosexuality is due to genes or to choice (1/26/12)
6. Determinism only
1. Nature or nurture
2. 
   
2. Evolution or creation
3. Light as a wave or particle
4. Materialism vs. Idealism (1/20/12)
5. Jesus: fully human or fully God (1/20/12)
1. Fully human only-  Arianism (1/31/12)
6. Jesus one person oe two natures.
1. 
   
7. Jesus begotton of the father or Jesus equal to the Father (1/31/12)
8. God as one vs God as three (1/20/12)
1. One god only - Unitarianism  (1/30/12)
2. Many gods only- polytheism (1/30/12)
9. All humans are equal or all humans are different. (1/26/12)
10. Humans are good or humans are evil (1/26/12)
11. God is transcendent or God is Imminence(1/26/12)
1. God is only transcendent - Deism (1/30/12)
2. God is Imminence only- Pantheisms (1/30/12)
12. God is merciful or God is just (1/21/12)
1. God's mercy trumps God's justice - religious liberalisms (1/31/12)
2. God's justice trumps God's mercy (1/31/12)
13. Reason or faith (1/21/12)
14. God is infinitely active or immutable (2/1/12)
15. Eucharist is bread and wine or Christ's body and blood (2/1/12)
16. Science or religion (1/21/12)
3. Reason for it being so common
1. The nature of all mysteries.

Salvation

1. Our being forgiven does note save us but our faith in being forgiven does,
2. "If our salvation depended only on ourselves, we should have much to fear; but as it is in the hands of God, we can tranquilly repose in Him" ~St. Paul of the Cross † (3/2/12)

Atonement

"...at-one-ment, a word whose meaning we disguise my pronouncing it atonement. " Theology for Beginners, page 81

Father

Study: father’s presence makes children happier, more intelligent

My Favorite Stories

1. The Man with the Wheelbarrow.
2. The Man and the Flood
3. The Mother with Two Sons
4. Good vs Bad Events. (9/12/11)
5. Bring Your own Dirt (2/1/12)
6. The boy with a bag of marbles and thr girl with a bag of candy.(2/5/12)

The Mother with Two Sons

A woman had two sons. She told her first son to do something for her. He did not understand why she wanted him to do this but he did it anyway. She than told her second son to do the same thing for her. The second son also did not understand why she wanted him to do this, so he said to his mother he would not do it until the she explained why she wanted him to do it. So the mother explained it to him and he understood that if he did it he would be prosperous and if he did not do it he would suffer a terrible loss. So he also did what his mother said.

Now even though both sons did what their mother said and prospered, they did it for completely different reasons. The first son did it because he loved his mother and wanted to please her. The second son did it because he loved himself and wanted to please himself. When we only do what God tells us to do, after we understand how it will benifit us, we are not doing it because we love God but because we love our self.