How to Be A Christian

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How to Be A Christian

• In The World Today

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How to be a Christian in the world today

• Whatever became of

Sin
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How to be a Christian in the world today

• Gay-marriage debate continues in
  MassachusettsBy JENNIFER PETER, Associated
  PressPosted Thursday February 12th, 2004, 657
  AMLast Updated Thursday February 12th, 2004,
  1014 AMBOSTON (AP) - Legislative leaders met
  Thursday morning to try to find words that would
  ban gay marriage but legalize civil unions,
  expressing optimism as they reconvened their
  constitutional convention. The leaders said they
  hoped to finally reach an agreement after two
  other versions of a proposed constitutional
  amendment banning same-sex marriage were narrowly
  defeated during the much-anticipated convention's
  opening day Wednesday.

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How to be a Christian in the world today
Rom 122 2 Do not conform any longer to the
pattern of this world, but be transformed by the
renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to
test and approve what God's will is -- his good,
pleasing and perfect will. NIV
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How to be a Christian in the world today
What will they think of next?
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How to be a Christian in the world today

• UN blocks human cloning ban
• Vote postpones cloning resolution for two years.
  7 November 2003 HELEN PEARSON
• The United Nations (UN) yesterday blocked a bid
  to ban all forms of human cloning.
• Delegates of the UN legal committee narrowly
  passed a resolution proposed by Iran, which
  delays for two years a decision on the
  contentious issue. Eighty countries - including
  Britain, Argentina, Japan, South Korea, Mexico
  and Russia - voted in favour of the delay, 79
  voted against and 15 abstained.

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How to be a Christian in the world today
Prov 410-15 10 Listen, my son, accept what I
say, and the years of your life will be many. 11
I guide you in the way of wisdom and lead you
along straight paths. 12 When you walk, your
steps will not be hampered when you run, you
will not stumble. 13 Hold on to instruction, do
not let it go guard it well, for it is your
life. 14 Do not set foot on the path of the
wicked or walk in the way of evil men. 15 Avoid
it, do not travel on it turn from it and go on
your way. NIV
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How to be a Christian in the world today

• Wars and rumors of wars

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How to be a Christian in the world today

• Nuclear inspectors find undeclared centrifuge in
  IranBy GEORGE JAHN, Associated PressPosted
  Thursday February 12th, 2004, 946 AMLast
  Updated Thursday February 12th, 2004, 946
  AMVIENNA, Austria (AP) - In another apparent
  link to the nuclear black market emanating from
  Pakistan, U.N. inspectors in Iran have discovered
  undeclared designs for an advanced centrifuge
  used to enrich uranium, diplomats said
  Thursday.Preliminary investigations suggest the
  design matches drawings of enrichment equipment
  found in Libya and supplied through the network
  headed by Pakistani nuclear scientist Abdul
  Qadeer Khan, the diplomats said.
• The discovery came as Mohamed ElBaradei, the
  director-general of the International Atomic
  Energy Agency, called on the United States and
  other countries to relinquish nuclear weapons to
  make it more difficult for such weapons to fall
  into the hands of terrorists.
• "If the world does not change course, we risk
  self-destruction," ElBaradei said in an essay
  published Thursday in the New York Times.
• On Wednesday, President Bush acknowledged
  loopholes in the international enforcement system
  and urged the United Nations and member states to
  draw up laws that spell out criminal penalties
  for nuclear trafficking.

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How to be a Christian in the world today
1 John 215-17 15 Do not love the world nor the
things in the world. If anyone loves the world,
the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all
that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and
the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of
life, is not from the Father, but is from the
world. 17 The world is passing away, and also its
lusts but the one who does the will of God lives
forever. NASU
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How to be a Christian in the world today

• Its a small world, after all.

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How to be a Christian in the world today

• China showcases efforts to combat bird flu
• The Associated PressPosted Thursday February
  12th, 2004, 859 AMLast Updated Thursday
  February 12th, 2004, 859 AMDINGDANG, China
  (AP) - Trying to reassure a worried world,
  Chinese authorities showcased anti-bird flu
  efforts Thursday by busing a group of foreign
  reporters from farm to farm in southern China to
  see health officials at work in the region of its
  first confirmed outbreak.Reporters were taken to
  villages in the Guangxi region that had been
  cleared of chickens and other poultry. Officials
  described anti-disease measures that included
  disinfecting trucks entering farms by driving
  them through pools of bleach.
• "We have very tight controls here," said Pang
  Jijun, chairman of the Good Phoenix Farm Corp.
  which has 210,000 chickens in Nanning, the
  capital of Guangxi.
• Pang said he inoculates his birds frequently and
  quarantines newborn chicks. Though many experts
  in China and abroad say poultry diseases are
  endemic to this country, Pang scoffed at the
  notion.
• "I had never even heard of bird flu, and I've
  been raising chickens longer than some of you
  have been alive," he told the visiting reporters
  from news organizations in the United States,
  Britain, Japan, Singapore and Hong Kong.
• Bird flu has killed 19 people in Vietnam and
  Thailand. China says it has had no human cases,
  though the disease has been confirmed in poultry
  in 14 of its 31 regions. The World Health
  Organization has expressed concern, however, that
  China might have human cases but not know because
  of poor surveillance over its vast territory.
• The message in China's state media is that the
  disease is nothing to worry about.

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How to be a Christian in the world today
Joshua 1 2 Moses my servant is dead. Now then,
you and all these people, get ready to cross the
Jordan River into the land I am about to give to
them -- to the Israelites. 5 No one will be
able to stand up against you all the days of your
life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you
I will never leave you nor forsake you. 6 "Be
strong and courageous, because you will lead
these people to inherit the land I swore to their
forefathers to give them. 7 Be strong and very
courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my
servant Moses gave you do not turn from it to
the right or to the left, that you may be
successful wherever you go. 8 Do not let this
Book of the Law depart from your mouth meditate
on it day and night, so that you may be careful
to do everything written in it. Then you will be
prosperous and successful. 9 Have I not
commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not
be terrified do not be discouraged, for the LORD
your God will be with you wherever you go." NIV
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How to be a Christian in the world today

• Who Killed Jesus?
• By Jon Meacham
• Mel Gibson's powerful but troubling new movie,
  'The Passion of the Christ,' is reviving one of
  the most explosive questions ever. What history
  tells us about Jesus' last hours, the world in
  which he lived, anti-Semitism, Scripture and the
  nature of faith itself.
• But the Bible can be a problematic source. Though
  countless believers take it as the immutable word
  of God, Scripture is not always a faithful record
  of historical events the Bible is the product of
  human authors who were writing in particular
  times and places with particular points to make
  and visions to advance.

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How to be a Christian in the world today
Evolution comments irk scientists By MARY
MacDONALD The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
2/2/2004 Gov. Sonny Perdue says he wants a
"balanced" classroom approach to teaching
evolution with an emphasis on its standing as
"academic theory." State Schools Superintendent
Kathy Cox says her proposed biology curriculum
will allow teachers to present other scientific
theories about evolution and specifically
mentions "intelligent design." Across Georgia,
scientists cringed at the statements. Sarah
Pallas, an associate professor of biology at
Georgia State University, said Sunday that the
public comments reveal an ignorance of science
and mimic the arguments used by people who rebut
evolution. Her views were shared by other
biologists. "He wants to insert religion into the
science curriculum," Pallas said of Perdue's call
for balanced instruction. "If there were other
scientific theories about the diversity of life,
scientists would be inserting them in class.
That's our job."
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How to be a Christian in the world today
Josh 1 cont. 12 But to the Reubenites, the
Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh, Joshua
said, 13 "Remember the command that Moses the
servant of the LORD gave you 'The LORD your God
is giving you rest and has granted you this
land.' 14 Your wives, your children and your
livestock may stay in the land that Moses gave
you east of the Jordan, but all your fighting
men, fully armed, must cross over ahead of your
brothers. You are to help your brothers 15 until
the LORD gives them rest, as he has done for you,
and until they too have taken possession of the
land that the LORD your God is giving them. After
that, you may go back and occupy your own land,
which Moses the servant of the LORD gave you east
of the Jordan toward the sunrise." 16 Then they
answered Joshua, "Whatever you have commanded us
we will do, and wherever you send us we will go.
17 Just as we fully obeyed Moses, so we will obey
you. Only may the LORD your God be with you as he
was with Moses. 18 Whoever rebels against your
word and does not obey your words, whatever you
may command them, will be put to death. Only be
strong and courageous!" NIV
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How to be a Christian in the world today
My particular religious beliefs or yours
notwithstanding, it is a fact that in the
scientific world of the late twentieth century,
the displacement of God by Darwinian forces is
almost complete. This view is not always
articulated openly, perhaps for fear of offending
the faithful, but the literature of science is
not a good place to keep secrets. Scientific
writing, especially on evolution, shows this
displacement clearly. (Prof. Kenneth Miller,
Finding Darwins God, p. 15, 1999)
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How to be a Christian in the world today

• Americans today claim they are ... into
  spirituality, not religion Behind this shift is
  the search for an experiential faith, a religion
  of the heart, not the head. It's a religious
  expression that downplays doctrine and dogma, and
  revels in direct experience of the divine --
  whether it's called the "Holy Spirit" or "cosmic
  consciousness" or the "true self." It is
  practical and personal, more about stress
  reduction than salvation, more therapeutic than
  theological. It's about feeling good, not being
  good. It's as much about the body as the soul
  Some marketing gurus have begun calling it "the
  experience industry"
• From American Demographics, April 1999,
  Choosing My Religion pp 60-65 see also The
  Purpose Driven Church, by Rick Warren Marketing
  the Church, by George Barna and Inside the Mind
  of Unchurched Harry, by Lee Strobel

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How to be a Christian in the world today
Isa 559-11 9 "As the heavens are higher than the
earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and
my thoughts than your thoughts. 10 As the rain
and the snow come down from heaven, and do not
return to it without watering the earth and
making it bud and flourish, so that it yields
seed for the sower and bread for the eater, 11
so is my word that goes out from my mouth It
will not return to me empty, but will accomplish
what I desire and achieve the purpose for which
I sent it. NIV