20th Century Religions and Philosophies – He Who Has Toys…

 

Old picture of me washing toys. Circa 1992.

Comparison of Religious and Philosophical Theories in the Late 20th Century
[by various authors]

Capitalism: He who dies with the most toys, wins.
Hari Krishna: He who plays with the most toys, wins.
Catholicism: He who denies himself the most toys, wins.
Anglican: They were our toys first.
Greek Orthodox: No, they were OURS first.
Atheism: There is no toy maker.
Polytheism: There are many toy makers.
Evolutionism: The toys made themselves.
Church of Christ Scientist: We are the toys.
Communism: Everyone gets the same number of toys, and you are in big trouble if we catch you selling yours.
B'Hai: All toys are just fine with us.
Amish: Toys with batteries are surely a sin.
Taoism: The doll is as important as the dump truck.
Mormonism: Every man will become a toy maker someday.
Voodoo: Let me borrow that doll for a second.
Hinduism: He who plays with plastic farm animals, loses.
7th Day Adventist: He who plays with toys on Saturday, loses.
Southern Baptist: If your toy is a Disney product, you have a one-way ticket to Hell.
Independent Baptist: He who has toys must have them in church every time the doors are open.
Jehovah's Witnesses: He who sells the most toys door-to-door, wins.
Pentecostalism: He whose toys can talk, wins.
Existentialism: Toys are a figment of your imagination.
Confucianism: Once a toy is dipped in the water, it is no longer dry.
Non-denominationalism: We don't care where the toys came from, let's just play with them.
Agnosticism: It is not possible to know whether toys make a bit of difference.
Unitarian Universalism: We still haven't decided if the toys exist.
Militia: The government has taken too many of our toys and we need to get them back.
Reconstructionist/Dominion: The toys are broken.  WE will fix the toys for everyone, regardless of their wishes.
Christian Identity: White toys are supreme!
Feminists: The female toys are victims and should get to “beat up on” any other toy that doesn’t agree.
Televangelists: If you will just send in your toy, we will be able to help a million more people.
Homeschoolers: He who keeps his toys at home wins.
Psychiatry: Do your toys sometimes make you feel depressed
Psychology: If your toys don't make you happy, get new ones.
Humanism: To thine own toy be true.
Anarchists: If we can't have our toys, no one can have toys.
New World Order/Illuminati: Our toys will rule the world!
Free Masonry: No information on toys is available to non-members.
Scholars - We understand toys better than you ever can, so we make the rules for playing with toys.
Nicolaitans: You need us to help you keep your toys in order and understand them properly.
Laodiceans: Everyone has a right to toys.
Gnosticism: The ultimate objective is to learn more about toys.
Mafia: If you don't give us your toys we'll break your fingers.

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Truth: He who dies with the most toys, dies! 
Better know where you’re going when you die!

The Birth of Jesus Christ – Part 7, Luke 1:48-56

 

If you missed the first parts of this study on the birth of Jesus, you may wish to go back and start at the beginning.

In today’s study we will consider various things Mary said in her declaration and finish up with her return “to her own house” – a very curious turn of phrase which again brings up certain aspects of so-called “Biblical Patriarchy” and the teachings of Doug Phillips, Bill Gothard and others.

Read Here:  Luke 1:48-56

Sack Lunch, Brownies and Predestination

One evening last week I had occasion to call a friend of mine. At that hour on a week day I'm usually working on my husband's lunch for the next day. She was cleaning up her kitchen after having made brownies for her husband. So, while we both worked on our projects hundreds of miles apart, we were having a kitchen visit at the same time. The kitchen really is a pleasant place to visit with friends. :-)

In the course of our conversation, she was telling me a bit about her parents' and grandparents' situation at this time. (Her parents are caring for her grandparents in their own home.) Now, her father's family has a Mormon background and not surprisingly, there are hereditary genetic problems in the family. The Mormons have been noted in the past for their intermarriage with close family members (and still are in some instances) and the consequences have been quite devastating and long lasting in some cases.  My friend's extended family is one of those.

However, the thing that was remarkably interesting to me was this:  Of all the members of her father's family who left Mormonism, her father was the only one who became a true Christian. He has showed no signs of the genetic problems that are common in his family. None of his children have either. And, so far none of his grandchildren have. This struck me very much.

I know there are some people who think that predestination and the sovereignty of God are exclusively "Calvinist" teachings and that they are, therefore, somehow not correct. I have seen and heard enough to know that God is sovereign and that He does things based on predestination which is according to foreknowledge, just as the Bible says. (NOTE: If John Calvin gets something correct from the Bible it is not "Calvinism" - it is Biblical!)

1Peter 1:1 Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, 2 Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied.

Romans 8:29 For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. 30 Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.

Now, I may be mistaken or proven wrong eventually, but as things stand at this time it is interesting to note in this case that God seems to have been keeping this man from before his birth, knowing in His foreknowledge that he would eventually be saved. God does not always work things this way, but in this case He chose to protect this man and his family from the genetic problems that so easily could have troubled them. Why? I do not know. But, the thing that it shows me so clearly is that God does work according to foreknowledge and predestination. He knew when this man was conceived that he would turn from Mormonism and later from the hippy lifestyle and put his faith in Christ Jesus alone for his salvation. God also knew that he would try to train his own children in the ways of the Lord.  And so, in His mercy, God preserved him and them from the very earliest moments of this man's life!

Psalm 139:14 I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well. 15 My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. 16 Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which incontinuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.

The thing is that this man was not a special case for God's special attention. God makes no mistake. He knew us before we were born, and knew who would come to Him in faith through Christ Jesus. For those of us who believe, He prepared us even then to do His will. This is comfort. This is assurance. This should help us to accept whatever He deemed best for us and give us hope that He has a plan, and did have a plan from the start, regardless of what our "disability" may be.

Psalm 139:17 How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them! 18 If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand: when I awake, I am still with thee.