Thread: Mixed up in MMA
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Old 04-23-2008, 05:43 PM   #23
Chris Parkerson
Dojo: Academy of the Martial Arts
Location: ohio
Join Date: Nov 2007
Posts: 740
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Re: Mixed up in MMA

[quote=Thomas Harris;204287]Yeah, reaching out and doing good seems to be the bread and butter of most organized religions. Doctrine can be fun to play with, but ultimately it's recognized by what it produces. If the fruits are bitter, why cultivate the vine? QUOTE]

I like to call this praxis. It blends the issue between "to be is to do" and "to do is to be". Most importantly, it challenges tghe arm chair philosophers to act rather than just think great thoughts.

Quote:
If I see something that appears to have value and doesn't clash too much with what I do or believe, I have little fear of trying it.
Herein lies Frank's rub. It is really impossible to throw out ontology, teleology and epistemology. Deep inside our subconscious we know that there is a conflict in the building blocks of each faith we incorporate. There is a place for academic thought or we so popularize the great faiths that we lose their distinctive qualities. We can end up fragmented and confused in MMA.

Quote:
I don't think Protestant Christianity has stages (and the Catholics basically have one big in-between, as far as I can tell). Generally, you either are or you aren't.
There seems to me to be a historiccal tension between being "in Christ" or rather To Be a Christian. Best seen in the tension between Armenian/Weslayans and their older brother John Calvin.

The Calvinist says you are saved from sin with one confession "eternal security" and transformed by confessional faith.
But of course, some do not act it and therefore, Calvinists wonder if the person really made the confession for real - and being luke warm in confession, will be spewed out of God's mouth.

The Weslayan says you can fall from grace through sin. Thus the weekly sawdust trail has believers reconfessing (internal security).
Of course, sin is defined as a conscious act against a known law of God. At Point Loma Nazarene, I met many folks (foul in action and thought) who claimed that they had not sinned in years, they only made mistakes. They either acted unconsciously or they simply did not know about the law they broke.

Either way, that historical tension is there and Kevin's words are profound as the argument. Can I be a Christian or just practice Christianity???
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