Sermon Tone Analysis

10)  Historical Evidence... \\        from Marco Belmonte \\ \\ Dear Family, \\ \\ I wanted to share with you guys something I found in a class I'm taking.

\\ It's European History, and I can't tell you how fascinating it is!

\\ \\ The textbook that is used for this class is called "Western Civilization", \\ written by Jackson J. Spielvogel.

It's a secular textbook that would be \\ used in any university, or by anyone interested in historical references.

\\ Right now, I'm studying The Middle Ages, and obviously, a lot of \\ information is given on the rise of Roman Christianity, and how Catholic \\ monks and missionaries help convert pagans to Catholicism.

You can imagine \\ how I almost fell out of my chair when I read the following: \\ \\ "It is difficult to asses what Christianity meant to the converted pagans, \\ especially the peasants on whom the Irish and English monks expended their \\ \\ greatest efforts.

As Pope Gregory had recommended, Christian beliefs and \\ values were usually superimposed on older pagan customs.

Though effective \\ in producing quick conversions, it is an open question how much people \\ actually understood Christian theology.

Popular belief tended to focus on \\ God as a judge who needed to be appeased to avert disasters in daily life \\ and gain salvation.

Except for the promise of salvation, such an image of \\ God was not all that different from Roman religious practices."

(page 176) \\ \\ Is this unbelievable or what?

This has no religious bias in it!

This is a \\ simple paragraph from a history book!

It seems to me that the \\ forensic~/legal viewpoint has direct roots seeded deeply in pagan and \\ Catholic culture.

\\ \\ The book goes on to describe how one early Christian writer (160 AD) named \\ Tertullian had denounced all secular knowledge as being from The Devil, \\ and "The Bible contained all the knowledge anyone would need".

Of course, \\ this tells me that Satan was already trying to stop the use of reason as a \\ methodology to Christianity.

Fortunately, there were those people at the \\ time like our learned friend Dr. Maxwell that refused to take this view.

\\ They were called Neoplatonists and they believed that "one could use \\ reason to perceive the link between the invisible spiritual world and the \\ visible material world".

They fought against the suppression of classical \\ education, and said that it was only through application of science \\ (that's not what they called it) and Biblical knowledge that one \\ could come to know spiritual truth!

\\ \\ I am absolutely blown away by what history has shown me today, and I'm \\ fully convinced that this Truth About God is the everlasting gospel that \\ Paul talks about!

\\ \\ So much of what I read today jives with what Dr. Maxwell has talked about \\ on his tapes.

I remember him always saying that the use of reason is our \\ God given ability to come to conclusions like "doing what is right because \\ it is right!".

He talks about how we should use the same line of thought \\ to weigh biblical evidence as we would scientific information.

\\ \\ We as Seventh-Day Adventists should NOT be discouraged by the infiltration \\ of the forensic perspective.

History is simply repeating itself!

The good \\ news is, that my God is so great, that He can even use the forensic \\ perspective to win people to Himself! PRAISE GOD!

And when those people \\ that have grown up with the legal viewpoint start looking for something \\ even more... That's where we come in!

If AGM has done anything for me, \\ it's the example he has set for me concerning how I should share my faith.

\\ Patiently, non-threatening, and humbly.

I never have to contrast someone \\ elses viewpoint in the sharing of my own.

\\ \\ I love you guys, \\ \\ - Marco