Christian theology thread for Christians - Deus homo factus est naturam erante, mundus renovatus est a Christo regnante

[Neverender]

Wasn't Josephus a jew? Why does he have such nice things to say about Christ?

Don't be confused by the language, that's just a choice of translation. The word amazing is used in place of something like "astounding" or "surprising." Josephus generally has very little to say about Christians, which we can reasonably infer means that he disregards their importance since he was writing about history.

 

[BIG SHOT Autos]

What is the difference (and definition) of the soul and the spirit? My father introduced that concept to me, but I thought it was some kind of protestant invention.

Soul is sort of... more materialistic, despite being immaterial, if you will. It's your thoughts, emotions, feelings, memory, basically it's an essence of what you are, as a person. Spirit is another immaterial essence, which exists solely as a connection to God. (Who is also a spirit, as described in the Bible.) I can describe soul as some sort of "bridge" between the body and the spirit, but that probably might be even more confusing.

 

[Sneaky lurker]

That's actually ridiculous and such a slippery slope, dude. Suppose literally that the Abrahamic God exists, but Jesus is a myth. Does that really invalidate all of Christian theology? Seriously? You really think this?

Christian theology

Jesus is a myth.

Does that really invalidate all of Christian theology

Jesus is a myth.

Christian theology

Do you even know what you are saying at this point nigga?

 

[Lord of the Large Pants]

My parents taught me that eating blood-based foods is wrong because the soul of the animal is contained in the blood. Is there anything in the bible that points to this (they are protestants)? Also what's wrong with eating the animal's soul? Do animals have souls?

The Platonic idea of a soul is some sort of floaty, wispy thing that's the "real you", and it happens to inhabit the physical body, This is not really found in the Bible. A soul is something more like the totality of a person. That's not to say it doesn't have an immaterial component, it very well might, just that it's not the primary thing. To the extent that we have immortality, it's not because we have something about us that's naturally immortal and inevitably persists after death. It's because the Living God can cure us even of death itself. Will he do the same for animals? I happen to think so. Maybe not every animal that's ever lived, that would be a lot of beetles, but probably those with special significance.

Wasn't Josephus a jew? Why does he have such nice things to say about Christ?

It's generally agreed even by Christian historians that the passage was edited by Christians at some point, but very few think it was fabricated out of whole cloth. However, there are some interesting new arguments for its full authenticity.

https://tomstheology.blog/2025/06/04/reassessing-the-testimonium-flavianum/

 

[GenderCop]

My parents taught me that eating blood-based foods is wrong because the soul of the animal is contained in the blood. Is there anything in the bible that points to this (they are protestants)?

Are they Seventh Day Adventists?
(I don't know if they consider themselves Protestants?)

Lots of them vegetarian, their founder Ellen White thought eating meat was part of the fall from Eden.

 

[Ughubughughughughughghlug]

Hey Nicene faggots
If Arius was wrong, how come Newton was an Arian?

(I don't know if they consider themselves Protestants?)

I don't know what they consider themselves but thye're Restorationist, which isn't a denominational family but more a phenomenon (like calling different movements "millennarian" because they have the same template). SDAs, Jehovahs Witnesses and Mormons were all churches that professed to be restorations of the original legit One True Church before Popery ruined it. So they're not Protestant whatsoever in the sense that they aren't theologically descended from it - they're all revelatory - but the SDAs and JWs are Protestant for practical purposes of culture, what they're descended from, etc.

Likewise Mormons aren't Protestant and their theology isn't descended from it, but it's still accurate to say it spawned out of Protestantism because that's what all those people were before they converted.

 

[Cassius Crayfish]

SDAs are not like Mormons and JWs because they are actually Christians (and, as a result, Protestants). The now-classic Kingdom of the Cults covers this well.

 

[Chromeo]

I've noticed lately I'm having issues with witnessing.
I've got some friends who aren't Christians, two in particular bug the hell out of me; one's a Satanist who just wants to be edgy and contrary and the other was raised in a church but is now agnostic, and it's like, I love both of them and care about them and I don't want either of them to go to Hell, but I feel muted when the topic comes up. I want to be a good friend and listen and care about their perspectives, and why they are the way they are, but when I hear "wehh my pastor is a Republican and blocked me on Facebook for being a blathering liberal so now I'm not sure God exists," and "I'm a nasty freak and I'm gonna go to Hell and give Satan a lap dance like Nas blehhhh" IT MAKES ME WANT TO THROTTLE THEM SO BAD!!
I've been so fucked up about death for years and years now, and when my little sister died unexpectedly it made that worse, so when I see these people with first world problems reject God I just want to grab them and be like "These are such small potatoes, you could die at any second and you need to believe in Christ or you're going to Hell! I love you and don't want you to suffer eternally because you're having feelings in this lifetime!!!" I want to be this wall and be like, Christ is king, you have to accept that as truth, I cannot let you NOT believe this.
But I also don't want to scare off my friends who up 'til now have known me as someone who listens and understands and cares and doesn't try to push my shit onto them. It's not like I can just go from one to the other, it'd be jarring and I might lose that position in their lives as a friend they can trust with this kind of stuff.
I was recently pie-in-the-sky thinking about doing a mission trip or some kind of volunteer trip recently, right, just an option nothing serious yet, but then I was like "it feels so rude to just barge into some third world shithole mud hut like HI! I'm a bright shiny American with no real problems, wanna hear about my God???!?!!" I shouldn't feel that way 'cause I know God will improve things for people, but just...uggghhhhhhhhhh it's so difficult. I'm supposed to spread the word to all 4 corners of Judea and I can't even talk to my shitass friends, why am I over here thinking about getting on a plane and talking to people in some other country??? I don't know what's wrong with me, does anyone else have any perspective on this?

 

[Soycast II]

SDAs are not like Mormons and JWs because they are actually Christians (and, as a result, Protestants). The now-classic Kingdom of the Cults covers this well.

Still very culty though from what I hear. If I’m correct weren’t they non-trinitarian at one point before they switched?

But I also don't want to scare off my friends who up 'til now have known me as someone who listens and understands and cares and doesn't try to push my shit onto them. It's not like I can just go from one to the other, it'd be jarring and I might lose that position in their lives as a friend they can trust with this kind of stuff.

It’d be great if it was as easy as that, but unfortunately with so many people it’s a long process. All you need to do is to stand boldly for the truth. If you ever get asked any questions like I don’t know, let’s say your thoughts on satanism, be very honest that it’s a road to hell. And, of course, pray for them too. We as Christian’s are the light for those still in the darkness.

 

[Squanto Airi]

I'm supposed to spread the word to all 4 corners of Judea and I can't even talk to my shitass friends, why am I over here thinking about getting on a plane and talking to people in some other country???

Sometimes it seems easier to evangelize to strangers rather than people you're close with.

 

[CryptoHermit]

I'm not Protestant but the Puritan/Reformed publisher Banner of Truth has REALLY good quality books. Puritan Paperbacks are essentially collected writing and sermons on a Manga-size tankōbon with better paper. Cheap enough too. I would recommend Ralph Vennel, John Flavel and William Gurnall.
https://banneroftruth.org/us/store/collected-workssets/the-works-of-john-flavel-7/

https://banneroftruth.org/us/store/christian-living/the-sinfulness-of-sin/ / https://banneroftruth.org/us/store/christian-living/temptation/

https://banneroftruth.org/us/store/christian-living/christian-in-complete-armour-5/

The problem of Catholic publishing is that all books are distributed across multiple publishing houses and languages. The best writings are typically by the Saints and they can be quite pricey since they near all wrote principally wrote in Latin. Like the St. Bonaventure collection the Franciscans publish all with originall Latin and English hardbacks. Brepols is the most kino catholic publisher with their Corpus Christianorum (Latin/Greek) and Patrologia Orientalis (Arabic, Armenian, Coptic, Ethiopian, Greek, Georgian, Syriac and Slavonic). They're all insanely expensive tho! Most go for 40-350 euro EACH and ONLY in their original languages bar Patrologia Orientalis, It's all meant for the clergy who know all these languages already. Their Corpus Christianorum in Translation at least deign to have them in English.

 

[Sneaky lurker]

Are they Seventh Day Adventists?
(I don't know if they consider themselves Protestants?)

Lots of them vegetarian, their founder Ellen White thought eating meat was part of the fall from Eden.

Isn't that mormons? No they are not vegetarian.

 

[Squanto Airi]

Isn't that mormons? No they are not vegetarian.

Looks to be different from Mormonism.

 

[GenderCop]

Isn't that mormons?

Nothing in common, except heresy.

Latter Day Saints (Mormons) founded by Joseph Smith in NY in 1830.

Seventh Day Adventists founded by Ellen & James White in 1863, in Battle Creek Michigan.

 

[LightDragonman1]

I do find it kind of funny that, with zero self-awareness, folks on social media use this to describe people who have the cross in their profile name.

 

[Soycast II]

Nothing in common, except heresy.

Latter Day Saints (Mormons) founded by Joseph Smith in NY in 1830.

Seventh Day Adventists founded by Ellen & James White in 1863, in Battle Creek Michigan.

I’d say the commonality between both is the founders claiming to be prophets. It’s pretty funny too because their “prophecies” were laughably fake and yet they have followers. Come to think of it they would probably have threads if they were alive today.

 

[BIG SHOT Autos]

SDAs to me are walking on the thinnest ice possible. They're as close to being heretical cults as it gets. There's a SDA youtuber (although she considers herself non-denominational/not following a religion) who I listen to every once in a while because she covers some topics that others either ignore or don't talk much about, but the rest of the content is ... really close to typical cult/paranoid mentality where everyone and their mom is a witch, all high church is inherently occult, dinosaurs did go extinct just a few thousand years ago, Earth is actually flat, and so on. If I were to rank denominations based on whether or not they're true Christians and not a weird cult, I'll put SDAs even lower than Amish and Mennonites, even though the latter technically are more cultish.

 

[Catgirl Tyranid]

dinosaurs did go extinct just a few thousand years ago

I choose to believe this because I think God loves us so much he made us these awesome giant lizard mounts, but one of our punishments for becoming so corrupt before the flood was no longer getting to ride dinosaurs.

 

[BIG SHOT Autos]

I choose to believe this because I think God loves us so much he made us these awesome giant lizard mounts, but one of our punishments for becoming so corrupt before the flood was no longer getting to ride dinosaurs.

...Damn. Valid argument. I hope I'll get a pet triceratops in the new creation.

 

[24nagging]

the problem with JWs and mormons.
JW are at best theistic, since they believe Christ was created, thus subordinating him to God the Father. Mormons are tritheistic, meaning they believe in 3 gods, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, since they say that these persons have a different substance.