"10 reasons..." for everything says Radio Bible Class

  • Thread starter Thread starter Xenon-135
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
X

Xenon-135

Guest
Ok, I am hoping to refute some of the covert anti-Catholicism of the Radio Bible Class, and I have been reading one of their tracts “10 Reasons to Believe in Christ rather than Religion”.

Heres the link to the RBC “10 Reasons” list.

gospelcom.net/rbc/rtb/

I have a few ideas on how their literature is flawed. An example is the very title of the tract I read, where they imply a false dichotomy between belief in Christ and religion. Also, in the tract they truncate the scripture quote from St. Johns gospel where Christ tells Nicodemus how to get to Heaven. The tract simply states “the Bible says “you have to be born of spirit””.

Please let me know what your thoughts and ideas are for rejoinders.
 
Since “religion” is quite simply a set of established beliefs and practices with regard to the fundamental existential questions of the creation of the universe, everyone has religion, even atheists. I like to think of religion as the name of the relationship I have with God, like marriage is the name of the relationship I have with my wife. Imagine if I were to say, “I don’t want marriage, I just want a personal relationship with my spouse.” People would think I am nuts. By indicating I have a spouse, affirms that I am involved in a marital relationship. That relationship defines the nature and boundaries of the relationship. For instance, a marital relationship is different in context that a parental relationship (at least I hope it is!!!) There are certain restrictions of behavior that are characteristic of a marital relationship, one of those is sexual fidelity.

So to is our relationship with God. YOu cannot claim to have a “personal relationship with God” and expect to run willy-nilly and insist you relationship is still good. God gets offended, particularly at disobedience. So, obedience to the will of God is one of the contraints that is placed on you when you have a relationship with the Almighty. Loving God and placing oyu dependence on Him is another. When you take all of these established beliefs and practices, you have what is called “religion”. It just so happens that to be considered Catholic, you have to have beliefs and practices that are in line with what the established leaders have defined to be an authentic relationship with God. You can’t have life your way and still consider yourself in communion with the ALmighty.

People who claim “I want a relationship with God, not a religion” basically mean that they want to define the relationship in a way that is convenient for them. Religious dogmas are too restrictive for their personal lifestyle. So they comme up with this touchy-feely notion that on the surface looks good, but holds no water. That is why Jesus says “Not everyone who says Lord Lord will enter into the kingdom of Heaven, but he who does the will of my Father.” So there you have it, Jesus give us a boundary. You want a relationship with God, you have to be oedient to His will.
 
Religion is something that was practiced by the Pharisees, those Scripture-loving, conservative, separatistic, spiritual leaders who hated Christ enough to call for His death. They hated Him not only because He broke their traditions in order to help people
Click to expand...
Christ practiced Religion. He attended synogogue, he prayed at the Temple. He celebrated the Holy Days.

…so why is Religion wrong??
 
I followed the link you gave and found something in the “Religion or Christ: What’s The Difference” booklet that was interesting:

Religion and Christ are not mutually exclusive, but they are very distinct. James, a New Testament writer and brother of Christ, wrote, “Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world” (James 1:27). Religion can be many good things, but it cannot be a substitute for Christ

( From: gospelcom.net/rbc/ds/q0206/page2.html)
If this is their distinction, it would seem to work against a Protestant position (if the distinction is meant to be used as an argument). If it is Christ, the person we have a relationship with, then it can’t be Scripture alone–since Christ is not just words on paper translated into another language. As Catholics we have Christ in any and every way Protestants do and we have him in the Eucharist. They did list “Reading Scripture” under the “Religion” heading and not under the “Christ” heading, so I don’t think it could be used against Catholics.

I am not sure I like the way the present their distinction, but that is another subject.
 
The whole “relationship vs religion” dichotomy is nothing more than further corruption of our language. “Religion” is a benign term that refers to one’s beliefs about a higher creative power. Ther is absolutely no conflict between “religion” and having a relationship with Jesus Christ. For those who place emphasis on the relationship, the relationship IS their religion… whether they choose to accept the actual meaning of words or not.
 
This list is nothing more then your typical Straw Man Argument. They set up false ideas about what they have labled “Religion”, set up false accusations against said “Religion”, and neatly beat the Straw Man down. How impressive.

When will anti-Catholics come up with a new tactic? This one is getting SO old.
 
Yea lo at work I come across some more anti-Catholic ****. Check out this …person. Its the Southwest Radio Ministry’s Watchman on the Wall featuring Dr. Noah Hutchings.

This link is to the August preview edition of the “Prophetic Observer”…The article I was hoping to post here is strangely unavailable online. So, I will post it in its entirety tomorrow.
swrc.com/subscriptions/po/2004/august.htm

Also, they provide a sample of their apologetical solutions to all the questions one might manage to muster.
swrc.com/qanda/

I look forward to posting tomorrow. 👍
 
I have read a hard copy of the actual August 2004 Prophetic Observer. Hutchings has printed a laundry list suposedly dated 1816 of sins/crimes and the associated cost for them to be forgiven. The most tragic aspect of this is that the list was taken from “The Forbidden Book” by Dr. Craig Lampe. The article clearly names its source for that list. The tradgedy is that Lampe and his people are touring the U.S. at the present time doing their “The Forbidden Book” Symposium. The affair is currently featured in Idianapolis, but will soon be in Saginaw Michigan.

So Mr. Lampe seems to have taken this snake oil show with all of its historical misgivings, on the road. It seems that folks like this, even with noble intentions, do sever damage by thier half truths and subtle inuido.
 
I think what we are all trying to say is that their view of religion is incomplete. It does not answer WHY the Pharisees’ religion was wrong or WHY religion includes tradition and practices such as the sacraments and reading and learning. Everything that we do in our daily life has a purpose. Apart from its purpose, our actions are rediculous! Take brushing your teeth for example. If someone did not know why people brushed their teeth it would appear to be a mighty strange practice.

“God doesn’t care how much we know until He knows how much we care”
I think that a good point to rebutt this statement is that if we care so much then it should transform our outward actions otherwise we aren’t putting our money where our mouth is.

Also, they totally ignore bible passages where Jesus praised small acts (the poor woman who gave one coin to the temple) or when He took special care to call attention to a seemingly minor detail (prompted by His mother at the Wedding of Cana). So while “religion makes much of little” so did Christ.

“Religion offers the approval of men rather than God”
Christ said “where two or three are gathered in my name, I am in their midst” and He instructed the apostles at the last supper “DO this in memory of me”

Hope some of this helps!
Pax 👍
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top