- Dec 13, 2015
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I like how the Catholics are just as crazy about Augustine as we are. Although calling him a Saint is a little overboard.
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I like how the Catholics are just as crazy about Augustine as we are. Although calling him a Saint is a little overboard.
Depends on what you mean by "synergistic" in both cases. Catholic soterology doesn't have man cooperate with God in salvation, except through God's enabling. It's simply that they believe that there is merit in the works produced after confession and acceptance of the gospel, though the merit comes from God. Augustine's position is somewhat difficult to determine precisely because most of what we have in that regard is highly polemic literature, and Augustine had a tendency to embellish his arguments to increase their force but in the less polemic works his position lines up with Catholic orthodoxy for the most part. Reformed positions simply rest on his more...motivated...arguments.The irony, of course, is that the RCC is synergistic although Augustine was certainly not.
Speaking of neighbors, when I first move here the neighbors to my south were a lovely lesbian couple. One was the pastor of a local UCC church. I never had an unkind word or thought concerning these ladies. They really strove to be good neighbors to all of us.
Indeed, even though I object to the sin of homosexuality because it is self-destructive behavior, I don’t bring this up with gay people unless they explicitly ask me, because there are many gays I love and care about who are less sinful than I, so I would be a hypocrite to rebuff their kindness. For example, I know a celebrated Imagineer from WDI who was there when Walt was alive, who is gay, and a really nice guy who did some incredible works of art and engineering. Few people alive fused the two disciplines the way he has.
Also one of my favorite architects is the late Philip Johnston, memory eternal.
Philip Johnson was, indeed, a most interesting architect, beginning his career with Henry Russell Hitchcock in 1932 with the famous International Style architectural exhibition at the newly-organized Museum of Modern Art and then evolving his own style through the variations of PostModernism. I have no idea concerning his religious beliefs, nor does it concern me.
I also attempt to connect with people on a personal level rather than have a knee-jerk reaction to obvious differences. That is probably one value that I gained while growing up in a predominantly Catholic city.
I had the pleasure of dining at the Four Seasons restaurant in New York City (unrelated to the hotel chain), which was one of the earliest projects of Philip Johnston, who designed the restaurant as part of the exquisite Seagram Building by Mies van der Rohe. It was splendid; the Grill Room featured metal rods which suggested rain clouds, and the Pool Room, where I ate dinner, had, surrounded by four potted trees, a central water pool, illuminated, with a very gentle fountainin which polished metal balls gently clinked together, producing a soothing, hynotic effect, when combined with the window shades, which silently rippled continually due to the subtlety of the fabric, producing a hypnotic effect.
His name was actually Johnson, not Johnston. The Four Seasons restaurant was, indeed, quite splendid. Interestingly, they completely changed the decor four times each year in keeping with the seasons - hence the name. Several years ago the entire restaurant was completely overhauled. I am not sure when you ate there, but it sounds as if you dined in the earlier version, which Philip Johnson designed.
You might enjoy this - Philip Johnson - Wikipedia
The Salvation Army has disaster response nailed down in such an incredible national system that it boggles the mind--it's as good as anything the military could have devised. Any congregation that wants to help in disaster relief should just send their money to the Salvation Army.
Mormons know how to care for one another. You rarely find a Mormon who doesn't have a job because they look after each other. When Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans, the Mormons already had an evacuation plan that had identified each Mormon's ride out of town, where he'd be evacuated to, and who he would stay with.
The restaurant was not overhauled - its lease was terminated following a scandal involving one of the owners and sexual harassment, they relocated to a different premises, but I believe they went out of business. The Grill Room and the Pool Room then became two separate restaurants.
The whole affair was a crime against architecture, art and cuisine. But it must have made the owners of 21 pretty happy.
I wonder if there is anything believers like about Baptist Churches?
We are big on discipleship?
I love the commitment of the SBC to traditional moral values. I greatly admire Dr. Al. Mohler.
I wonder if there is anything believers like about Baptist Churches?
We are big on discipleship?