Now with louder Cowbells!
If you wish to learn koine Greek (the Greek of the New Testament), not least of which is to attend a Greek class with a personal instructor. However there are some outstanding courses now available online.
Bill Mounce’s material is outstanding, found at teknia.com.
Also, just today I learned of this audio, animated, online Greek course from Professor Ted Hildebrandt of Gordon College which you might wish to check out.
“Aye, fight and you may die. Run, and you’ll live… at least a while. And dying in your beds, many years from now, would you be willin’ to trade ALL the days, from this day to that, for one chance, just one chance, to come back here and tell our enemies that they may take our lives, but they’ll never take… OUR FREEDOM!” – William Wallace (Braveheart)
“What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!” – Patrick Henry
“Any man who thinks he deserves heaven is not a Christian. But for any man who knows he deserves Hell, there’s hope” – Martyn Lloyd-Jones
“When the preferences of the church members are greater than their passion for the gospel, the church is dying.” – Thom Rainer
?”God did not elect any sinner because He foresaw that he would believe, for the simple but sufficient reason that no sinner ever believes until God gives him faith, just as no man sees until God gives him sight.” – A.W. Pink
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Jared Wilson writes:
Janet Reitman has written a provocative book detailing the inner workings of the very secretive world of Scientology. Having read up a bit on L. Ron Hubbard’s science fiction-slash-religion creation before, I was familiar with the charge that in the early “auditing” process, budding Scientologists reveal their deepest darkest secrets to the church, who in turn may eventually use those to emotionally blackmail would-be deserters and dissenters. In an interview reprinted by Reuters, Reitman elaborates:
Q: There are all these rumors that celebrities like Cruise remain Scientologists because the church knows all their secrets and they fear blackmail. Any truth to that?
A: I didn’t go into that too much in my book, but it seems obvious. They have the goods on everybody. A great part of the Scientology experience is the confession that happens in the auditing experience. You are constantly being asked to write up your transgressions, maybe even your unspoken transgressions. They know everything about you. They would know everything about Cruise in the same way that they would know everything about me if I were a member.
What a racket.
And what a wonder, then, that Christians are forgiven and saved by a God whose filing cabinet of records against us is empty. Or, rather, is filled with the obedience of Jesus.
I, I am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins. Isaiah 43:25
For more information on Scientology, here is an article by the late Dr. Walter Martin, and here is another, by the watchman fellowship.