Já dizia o “filósofo” Cazuza – O tempo não para! E ele estava certo, pois mais um ano se finda e é tempo de reflexão.
Devemos refletir em dois contextos:
1) Em termos amplos – ou seja, qual o contexto maior em que estamos incluídos? A sociedade, a igreja, o trabalho e a família.
2) Em termos restritos – ou seja, o que eu (indivíduo) tenho feito para melhorar a vida do meu próximo e a minha mesma?
De forma ampla, devemos entender a filosofia de nossa época. Vivemos em um mundo pós-moderno e também pós-cristão. À medida que o tempo passa, as pessoas vão se tornando mais aversas à Palavra de Deus, e a Jesus Cristo (inclusive os cristãos).
O que eu acho interessante é ver algumas igrejas “triunfalistas” pregarem um avivamento da igreja nos últimos tempos, quando a Bíblia nos fala de uma apostasia no final dos tempos.
Uma característica da pós-modernidade é justamente o pluralismo. E o pluralismo será o responsável por pouco a pouco afastar Jesus da vida das pessoas.
Um bom exemplo para isso é período de Natal. Cumprimentar alguém com um “Feliz Natal”, poderá ser uma ofensa, pois Natal se refere ao nascimento de Jesus e nem todos são cristãos. Portanto, para sermos politicamente corretos, apenas cumprimentamos com um “Boas Festas” ou apenas um “Feliz Feriado”.
Isto é consequência do pensamento filosófico, influenciando a mente da sociedade. E agindo assim, vamos pouco a pouco esquencendo ou ignorando Jesus em nossas vidas.
Porém, isto seria um erro terrível.
Quanto mais abrirmos mão da presença de Jesus, para sermos politicamente corretos, mais e mais estaremos negando ao próprio Jesus Cristo.
A Bíblia é clara em nos alertar que o amor de muitos se esfriará (Mt 24.12)
Em Timóteo 3, o apóstolo Paulo nos dá um lista bem extensa de como se comportarão os homens nos úlitmos dias.
Os últimos tempos vem desde o dia de Pentecostes, porém a medida que o homem esquece de seu Criador e do seu Salvador, vamos tendo a sensação que de fato, a humanindade caminha para o seu apocalipse.
Olhando desta perspectiva, alguém pode perguntar, - O que eu tenho com tudo isso?
E de fato, quando apenas observamos amplamente, o homem como indivíduo não pode ajudar muito.
É por isso que devemos também reflexionar sobre a nossa vida, em termos individuais.
A reflexão individual é justamente para saber onde eu me encaixo nesta mundança de pensamento social, como estou sendo influenciado, e o que tenho feito.
Nada que tomou proporções grandes, já começa grande. Por isso, um pensamento filosófico social que tem por interesse apagar ou diminuir a presença de valores cristãos e de Jesus na vida dos homens, só terá lugar em nossas vidas, se cada pessoa como um indivíduo, deixar-se influenciar, e a partir desta influência, passar a influenciar outros.
O que você crer, determinará como você vive.
Portanto, existem coisas que como indivíduos que crêem em Cristo, devemos resgatar, para que os ventos gelados da pós modernindade não nos invadam.
O Evangelho é simple e a verdadeira espiritualidade está na oração e na leitura da Bíblia. A importância deste resgate se dá no sentido de buscarmos um culto racional e centrado na Bíblia. Quanto mais em comunhão estivermos com Deus (pelo entendimento de Sua Palavra e pela oração sincera), mais espiritualmente fortes estaremos e mais fácil será para nós rejeitarmos doutrinas e práticas anti-bíblicas, mesmo que sejam em nome de Jesus.
O Evangelho é prática mútua de amor. Ações de amor para com o próximo falará mais alto do que muitas palavras soltas ao vento. Jesus disse que quando amássemos uns aos outros, mostraríamos ao mundo que somos discípulos dEle. A importância deste resgate, é para que não fiquemos parados em nossas zonas de conforto, enquanto o restante do mundo ao nosso redor perece. A sociedade em geral é egocêntrica e hedonista, ou seja, extremamente individualista e vivem apenas para busca do prazer. A prática do amor fará com que tiremos os olhos dos nossos próprios umbigos e fará também com que lutemos contra a frieza que vem disfarçada de piedade, que ao invés de nos levar a amar o próximo, nos conduz a um fundamentalismo arrogante e cheio de julgamentos. Amor tem que ser prático e não apenas de palavras.
O Evangelho é o próprio Jesus Cristo. Ele disse que Ele era a Palavra encarnada. O verbo de Deus que se fez carne. Ao resgatar o entendimento de que Jesus é a própria Palavra, iremos entender que quando a lemos, é o próprio Deus falando conosco. Isto nos fará ver que Jesus é a razão da vida e que sem Ele, a vida perde a sua poesia, o seu valor, a sua graça. Pois sem Jesus, não haveria evangelho e nem nada que se há.
Toda a revolução começa individualmente, e nos corações daqueles que querem ver o mundo um lugar melhor para se viver.
Proponho que neste anos de 2006, possamos buscar viver uma vida autêntica, sem máscaras, sem falsa piedade, sem hipocrisia. Uma vida que entende a Graça de Jesus e por ela quer viver.
Uma vida que tem em Jesus a sua razão, e por mais que haja uma pressão social para tirá-lo dos nossos corações, isto seja impossível, pois Ele já faz parte do nosso ser.
Que Deus nos abençoe!
Rodrigo Serrão
Saturday, December 31, 2005
Saturday, December 10, 2005
Church History "Final Exam"
Answers for church history final
What/who is and historical importance
Holy Club
It was a club formed by Charles Wesley, Robert Kirkham and William Morgan in the spring of 1729. In November of the same year, John Wesley became the leader of that group, which soon attracted other students. This club was called later the “Methodist”.
John Carroll
John Carroll was the bishop of Baltimore in England. He helped the growth of Catholicism in United States. He was founder of Georgetown University. By the time of Carroll’s death, the foundations of Catholicism in USA were well established, and the priesthood numbered more than one hundred.
Quest for the historical Jesus
Beginning in the 19th century several works appeared which sought to do a full scale biography of the life of Jesus. One of these works is called “The Quest of the Historical Jesus” (1910), by the theologian, Albert Schweitzer. In this work, Schweitzer shows how that Jesus was a failure.
Charles Taze Russell
He was born in Pennsylvania in the year of 1852. Leader of the movement called Jehovah’s witnesses, in the late 1870s. In 1884 he formed The Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society.
Asuza Street Revival
A revival that happened in Los Angeles led by the preacher named William Seymour that emphasized “speaking in tongues”. It is not the beginning of Pentecostalism, but this movement launched Pentecostalism worldwide.
John R. Mott
An American Methodist layperson, who presided at the Edinburgh Missionary Conference, and which launched both the modern missions movement and the modern ecumenical movement.
British and Foreign Bible Society
Founded in 1804 in London, the British and Foreign Bible Society became later better known as Bible Society. Its main focus is in the publishing, distribution and translation of the Bible.
Jansenist Controversy
Cornelius Jansen, bishop of Ypres was convinced that the semi-Pelagian Jesuit interpretations of sin and grace must be combated. But his work was condemned by Pope Urban VIII. Jansen found support among the more deeply religious Catholics of France.
John Locke
John Locke was a 17th-century English philosopher whose ideas formed the foundation of liberal democracy. His idea is for religious freedom (liberty) because ‘all churches are voluntary associations’ and so no one should be coerced to believe a certain thing.
Part II
Name AND briefly explain the stages in the lifecycle of a voluntary association.
Incipient – association is formed around either an urgent objective or a charismatic leader.
Efficient – establishment of rules and protocols.
Formal – preoccupation with form and structure, discipline, and informal protocols.
Disorganization – Slow death or reorganization. Rarely religious associations die out completely.
Outline 3 elements of Pietism.
Devotion to Christianity
Bible oriented movement
Small group in structure
List 2 areas of impact the Enlightenment had on Biblical Interpretation.
Higher Criticism
Biblical Exegesis
Historically speaking, what are the differences between religious “liberalism” and “conservatism”?
Liberalism – Movement that grows out of the Enlightenment in Europe. Reasonableness is a very important term for this. Liberalism has a great impact on the authority of religion.
Conservatism – It is a revolt against liberal tradition. It is a call back to biblical Christianity. It is an affirmation of the incarnation of Christ, eternal life, inerrancy of Scripture.
What did Horace Bushnell mean by “Christian nurture”?
Conversion would come to a person through appropriate influences (proper nurture), since his/her childhood. You do not need necessarily pass in the course of struggling conversion experience.
List and explain 3 results of Vatican II
Supremacy of Scriptures – The Bible took on a new role and value as ultimate source and standard of truth.
Virgin Mary - Mariology wouldn’t be isolated from other theological and ecclesiological matters.
Sacred Liturgical – a revision of the rite of the mass and its more communal celebration was provided.
List 3 denominations in the US and its institutions.
Baptist – Baylor University
Presbyterian – Princeton University
Anglican – University of Pennsylvania
What is the difference between Neo-Orthodoxy and Fundamentalism?
Both were responses to liberalism. Fundamentalism believed in strict inerrancy of the Bible, and had as their mission defending Christian faith against higher criticism and liberal theology. Neo-orthodoxy lies in its unique concept of divine revelation. They see the Bible as unique channel of God’s Word and becomes God’s Word in the moment God chooses to use it to bring people into encounter with himself.
Explain 3 ways that Charles Finney changed the course of American Protestantism.
He brought revival methods called “new measures”. His tested methods soon came to be widely accepted and copied.
He published materials on how to promote revivals.
He was aware and involved with social problems, specially the problem of slavery.
EXTRA CREDIT
List the 3 most important figures in world Christianity of 20th century and why you selected each.
Karl Barth – His importance in a crucial time of the history of the church, rescuing the concept of God in a liberal church, and his influence as thinker and theologian, are the main reasons that I chose him.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer – He is considered a martyr for his faith. His position during the world war II, opposing the anti-Semitic ideas of Hitler, and opposing Nazism are the reasons I picked him.
F.F Bruce – His knowledge in the New Testament and his scholar in the life and ministry of the apostle Paul, made me pick him.
Part III
ESSAY
The character of Christian life and faith in USA began to be shaped during the second century of colonization. One great event or movement that happened was a series of revivals known as “The great awakening”.
To understand the importance of this event in the shaping of Christianity in the New World, more specific in United States, this movement is the analogue of Pietism in Germany and the evangelical awakening in Britain. This movement emphasized conversion, regenerative change and transformation. One of the pioneers of this movement was the congregational pastor Jonathan Edwards. Another principle figure in the Awakening was George Whitefield, also known as “the great itinerant”.
The great awake started in the North, but it also spread to the south, contributing to the growth of the Dissenting bodies. Almost all evangelical groups were affected by the awakening. Presbyterians expanded rapidly in Virginia, Baptists formed several Baptists churches. Methodist even getting late in America, many native lay preachers were drawn into the movement.
Around 1792, in New England a powerful reawakening was starting to happen and spreading throughout the land, this was called “the Second Great Awakening”.
The Second Great Awakening exercised a profound impact on American history. The numerical strength of the Baptists and Methodists rose relative to that of the denominations dominant in the colonial period—the Anglicans, Prebyterians, Congregationalist, and Quakers. Among the latter, efforts to apply Christian teaching to the resolution of social problems presaged the Social Gospel of the late 19th century. America was becoming a more diverse nation in the early to mid-19th century, and the growing differences within American Protestantism reflected and contributed to this diversity.
In the first part of the nineteenth century, several movements stimulated by the emotional climate of the awakening started appearing. The common characteristic of these movements was their distortions of the evangelical Protestant patterns. Movements like the seventh day and Jehovah’s Witness were formed during this time of America history.
In 1949, Billy Graham arises and begins his ministry; he is the symbol of modern evangelicalism. Graham uses TV and radio to expand the reaches of the Gospel.
Today’s evangelicalism is looked very differently to the past form. Post modern society has influenced the churches throughout the country and a great pluralism has invaded the ideas of not only ministers, and preachers but also the people in general.
What/who is and historical importance
Holy Club
It was a club formed by Charles Wesley, Robert Kirkham and William Morgan in the spring of 1729. In November of the same year, John Wesley became the leader of that group, which soon attracted other students. This club was called later the “Methodist”.
John Carroll
John Carroll was the bishop of Baltimore in England. He helped the growth of Catholicism in United States. He was founder of Georgetown University. By the time of Carroll’s death, the foundations of Catholicism in USA were well established, and the priesthood numbered more than one hundred.
Quest for the historical Jesus
Beginning in the 19th century several works appeared which sought to do a full scale biography of the life of Jesus. One of these works is called “The Quest of the Historical Jesus” (1910), by the theologian, Albert Schweitzer. In this work, Schweitzer shows how that Jesus was a failure.
Charles Taze Russell
He was born in Pennsylvania in the year of 1852. Leader of the movement called Jehovah’s witnesses, in the late 1870s. In 1884 he formed The Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society.
Asuza Street Revival
A revival that happened in Los Angeles led by the preacher named William Seymour that emphasized “speaking in tongues”. It is not the beginning of Pentecostalism, but this movement launched Pentecostalism worldwide.
John R. Mott
An American Methodist layperson, who presided at the Edinburgh Missionary Conference, and which launched both the modern missions movement and the modern ecumenical movement.
British and Foreign Bible Society
Founded in 1804 in London, the British and Foreign Bible Society became later better known as Bible Society. Its main focus is in the publishing, distribution and translation of the Bible.
Jansenist Controversy
Cornelius Jansen, bishop of Ypres was convinced that the semi-Pelagian Jesuit interpretations of sin and grace must be combated. But his work was condemned by Pope Urban VIII. Jansen found support among the more deeply religious Catholics of France.
John Locke
John Locke was a 17th-century English philosopher whose ideas formed the foundation of liberal democracy. His idea is for religious freedom (liberty) because ‘all churches are voluntary associations’ and so no one should be coerced to believe a certain thing.
Part II
Name AND briefly explain the stages in the lifecycle of a voluntary association.
Incipient – association is formed around either an urgent objective or a charismatic leader.
Efficient – establishment of rules and protocols.
Formal – preoccupation with form and structure, discipline, and informal protocols.
Disorganization – Slow death or reorganization. Rarely religious associations die out completely.
Outline 3 elements of Pietism.
Devotion to Christianity
Bible oriented movement
Small group in structure
List 2 areas of impact the Enlightenment had on Biblical Interpretation.
Higher Criticism
Biblical Exegesis
Historically speaking, what are the differences between religious “liberalism” and “conservatism”?
Liberalism – Movement that grows out of the Enlightenment in Europe. Reasonableness is a very important term for this. Liberalism has a great impact on the authority of religion.
Conservatism – It is a revolt against liberal tradition. It is a call back to biblical Christianity. It is an affirmation of the incarnation of Christ, eternal life, inerrancy of Scripture.
What did Horace Bushnell mean by “Christian nurture”?
Conversion would come to a person through appropriate influences (proper nurture), since his/her childhood. You do not need necessarily pass in the course of struggling conversion experience.
List and explain 3 results of Vatican II
Supremacy of Scriptures – The Bible took on a new role and value as ultimate source and standard of truth.
Virgin Mary - Mariology wouldn’t be isolated from other theological and ecclesiological matters.
Sacred Liturgical – a revision of the rite of the mass and its more communal celebration was provided.
List 3 denominations in the US and its institutions.
Baptist – Baylor University
Presbyterian – Princeton University
Anglican – University of Pennsylvania
What is the difference between Neo-Orthodoxy and Fundamentalism?
Both were responses to liberalism. Fundamentalism believed in strict inerrancy of the Bible, and had as their mission defending Christian faith against higher criticism and liberal theology. Neo-orthodoxy lies in its unique concept of divine revelation. They see the Bible as unique channel of God’s Word and becomes God’s Word in the moment God chooses to use it to bring people into encounter with himself.
Explain 3 ways that Charles Finney changed the course of American Protestantism.
He brought revival methods called “new measures”. His tested methods soon came to be widely accepted and copied.
He published materials on how to promote revivals.
He was aware and involved with social problems, specially the problem of slavery.
EXTRA CREDIT
List the 3 most important figures in world Christianity of 20th century and why you selected each.
Karl Barth – His importance in a crucial time of the history of the church, rescuing the concept of God in a liberal church, and his influence as thinker and theologian, are the main reasons that I chose him.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer – He is considered a martyr for his faith. His position during the world war II, opposing the anti-Semitic ideas of Hitler, and opposing Nazism are the reasons I picked him.
F.F Bruce – His knowledge in the New Testament and his scholar in the life and ministry of the apostle Paul, made me pick him.
Part III
ESSAY
The character of Christian life and faith in USA began to be shaped during the second century of colonization. One great event or movement that happened was a series of revivals known as “The great awakening”.
To understand the importance of this event in the shaping of Christianity in the New World, more specific in United States, this movement is the analogue of Pietism in Germany and the evangelical awakening in Britain. This movement emphasized conversion, regenerative change and transformation. One of the pioneers of this movement was the congregational pastor Jonathan Edwards. Another principle figure in the Awakening was George Whitefield, also known as “the great itinerant”.
The great awake started in the North, but it also spread to the south, contributing to the growth of the Dissenting bodies. Almost all evangelical groups were affected by the awakening. Presbyterians expanded rapidly in Virginia, Baptists formed several Baptists churches. Methodist even getting late in America, many native lay preachers were drawn into the movement.
Around 1792, in New England a powerful reawakening was starting to happen and spreading throughout the land, this was called “the Second Great Awakening”.
The Second Great Awakening exercised a profound impact on American history. The numerical strength of the Baptists and Methodists rose relative to that of the denominations dominant in the colonial period—the Anglicans, Prebyterians, Congregationalist, and Quakers. Among the latter, efforts to apply Christian teaching to the resolution of social problems presaged the Social Gospel of the late 19th century. America was becoming a more diverse nation in the early to mid-19th century, and the growing differences within American Protestantism reflected and contributed to this diversity.
In the first part of the nineteenth century, several movements stimulated by the emotional climate of the awakening started appearing. The common characteristic of these movements was their distortions of the evangelical Protestant patterns. Movements like the seventh day and Jehovah’s Witness were formed during this time of America history.
In 1949, Billy Graham arises and begins his ministry; he is the symbol of modern evangelicalism. Graham uses TV and radio to expand the reaches of the Gospel.
Today’s evangelicalism is looked very differently to the past form. Post modern society has influenced the churches throughout the country and a great pluralism has invaded the ideas of not only ministers, and preachers but also the people in general.
Monday, December 05, 2005
As finais
Chegaram as provas finais, finalmente. Afinal, quem não faz final, é porque ainda nem começou. Porém as finais daqui, não são como as finais do Brasil. Aqui, final é a última prova que se faz, no Brasil, final é quem chegou ao fim, porém não conseguiu atingir o fim desejado.
Para se fazer uma boa final, o estudante tem que se esforçar, tanto aqui, quanto no Brasil, afim de no fim, passar de ano. Caso contrário, a final será o começo de um pesadelo que só terá fim, quando finalmente consegue-se tirar uma boa nota.
Amanhã faço a primeira das finais, e terça da próxima semana finalizo as finais.
Enfim..., para que minhas finais sejam realmente o fim deste semestre, vou estudar agora.
Para se fazer uma boa final, o estudante tem que se esforçar, tanto aqui, quanto no Brasil, afim de no fim, passar de ano. Caso contrário, a final será o começo de um pesadelo que só terá fim, quando finalmente consegue-se tirar uma boa nota.
Amanhã faço a primeira das finais, e terça da próxima semana finalizo as finais.
Enfim..., para que minhas finais sejam realmente o fim deste semestre, vou estudar agora.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)