Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Manner of Speaking]

[Missile Command Kid]

Our top story: Teenagers are rebellious. News at 11.

[Junior]

[huffdaddy]

[gang ah jee]

[huffdaddy]

[gang ah jee]

[Adventurer]

How do these people identify Christian? I bet they exclude Catholics, Greek and Russian Orthodox, and some Protestants like Lutherans. In some ways, some secular Europeans who are not so religious, I find to be more humane than many of the so-called Christians of the Bible-belt I met. They were so quick condemn people in many cases, and they often preached and preached to your face. When I was in compass, I found someone trying to hand literature out to me. Part of the reason things have gone the other way, because I think many of these Christians were quite repressive and held so many down, and then you have the opposite effect. The same happened in Quebec, Canada. It used to be so Catholic, but the Catholic priests were kind of oppressive in their thinking.

[Atassi]

[Junior]

[quote="Atassi"]

[Atassi]

Junior, I trust the ancient King of Abyssinia more when he said "Only a hair separates our faith and Islam". I think a Christian king that was in the past well-known to be wise and just to his people should be listened to a million times before someone should listen to you say otherwise.

The fundamental tenet of Christianity? Meaning, your belief is Christian and others are anti-Christ? Keep your tenet, but don't quell serious debate here on this forum with your close-mindedness...

[Junior]

[quote="Atassi"]

[Atassi]

[Junior]

[quote="Atassi"]

[Ya-ta Boy]

From Fareed Zakaria�s �The Future of Freedom�:

Today we see occasional battles over the teaching of evolution, but they mask the reality of a faith transformed. The last thirty years have seen the most profound changes in American religion since its seventeenth-century Great Awakening. Recent decades are often characterized as a time of heightened religiosity in America, which may be true in the sense that membership is up in some conservative churches. But what is far more striking is that during this period, American Christianity�particularly Protestantism�has become doctrinally pluralistic and highly attentive to the beliefs, desires, and wishes of its people. Fundamentalism, having lost its religious core, has become largely a political phenomenon�

The puzzle concerning the rise of evangelical Christianity is how, in an era pervaded by individualism and tolerance, such a strict and traditional religion came to flourish. The answer given my many, including most within the churches, is that evangelicalism thrives because of its strictness, because it offers a radical alternative to modern culture. And certainly in today�s chaotic world, moral stands and strictures are a powerful psychological draw. But to accept this rationale is to ignore the profound way in which modern Protestantism has transformed itself.

The pioneer of this transformation was Billy Graham. Graham began his career in the 1940s�giving stern sermons condemning much of modern life as sinful. But as his audience grew larger and larger and he was beamed into mainstream homes via radio and television, his message grew softer and softer. Within a few decades he had changed his image from a fiery preacher of perdition to a benign father figure�The theologian Richard John Neuhaus pointed out in 1999, �When he started out in the 1940s, Billy Graham made no bones about preaching hellfire and damnation for those who have not accepted Christ. He hasn�t been featuring that for a very long time. Not to put too fine a point on it, one may assume that Mr. Graham knows what does and does not sell.� �

If Billy Graham was the pioneer, Jerry Falwell was the most prominent agent of the democratization of the evangelical tradition. This might seem an odd claim, but Falwell�s reputation as a reactionary was formed mostly by his political advocacy over the last twenty years�A look at his entire career reveals a more opportunistic figure whose chief goal was to make his church appeal to the masses�In a recent sermon, Falwell announced plans for a new 1,400 acre �Jerry Falwell Ministries (JFM) World Headquarters.� The site will house among many other facilities: a university, several institutes, a 12,000-seat sanctuary, a 24-hour prayer call center, an adoption center, a fellowship for church planting, a �mega-children�s world,� indoor and outdoor athletic facilities, a state-of-the-art television production center, a recreational vehicle park, and a �futuristic� youth camp.

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One poster mentioned that teenagers are rebellious. I would take that a step farther. I think many kids have an innate bs detector that shows up in rebellion before they have the skills to mask it very well.