My Journal

Preaching on the streets is good. However, today, American evangelical preachers do not deal with the objections from the secular, from secular scientists, etc. The way they deal with them is sheer ignorance. They apply the notion: As long as I preached it from my mouth, I'm done. I did my duty.

Ultimately they gather themselves together, as a mean of maintaining their ego. Now their counterpart which sprung from the same evangelical background, also band up together with their own kind for the same reason.

The only way for evangelism to work under God, is via sacrifice. Sacrifice of ego. Not counting the opposing party complete folly.

If one's qualification is merely that of a librarian, one should not be a pastor nor a preacher (maybe not even a Christian).

A preacher's duty involves having read a great deal of books, but absolutely not limited to the ability to recommend books to others. In fact, it is rarely a good idea to recommend books to those who never ask for them in the first place.

Therefore, one must be articulate enough to communicate an idea, not merely giving citations.

What principle of the Bible am I applying here? Perhaps Matthew 25:14-30, the Parable of 10 talents.

On views of the sacramental elements of the Eucharist:

Roman Catholics (transubstantiation): the transformation of the elements into the miraculous presence of the body of Christ and also creating the presence of Christ's sacrifice making forgiveness possible.

Greek Orthodox (divine Liturgy): the mysterious presence of the body of Christ.

Lutherans (sacramental union): the union of the elements with real already existing body of Christ. It is not consubstantiation which presents the body in a physical space.

Calvin (my position): the spiritual effect of the believe in the presence of the truth of the things signified. It is not Bullinger's receptionism which makes the miracle only true for the faithful.

Zwingli (memorialism - popular position): A reminder and remembrance in a symbolic sense.

From the famous Synod of Dort (1618-1619):

I once heard Dr. Tong mentioned of its refusal to excommunicate the Arminians as heretics.

I believe the First Head Article 16 of the canons is relevant to it. That we ought to be gracious towards these earnest brethren who are lack of faith (Tong: lower IQ).