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He points to Luke–Acts' deep reverence for and reliance on Jewish scripture to legitimate Jesus and the mission of the church (cf. Luke 3:4-6, Acts2:17-21) as evidence for the author's continued connection to Jewish heritage, even as the author sees as Christianity's future goal to spread to the Gentiles. [29]
The Bible contains several texts which encourage, command, condemn, reward, punish, regulate and describe acts of violence. [10] [11]Leigh Gibson [who?] and Shelly Matthews, associate professor of religion at Furman University, [12] write that some scholars, such as René Girard, "lift up the New Testament as somehow containing the antidote for Old Testament violence".
Self-flagellation is the disciplinary and devotional practice of flogging oneself with whips or other instruments that inflict pain. [1] In Christianity, self-flagellation is practiced in the context of the doctrine of the mortification of the flesh and is seen as a spiritual discipline.
Advocates of lay piety called for church reform and met with persecution from the Popes. [168]: 248–250 John Wycliffe (1320–1384) urged the church to give up ownership of property, which produced much of the church's wealth, and to once again embrace poverty and simplicity. He urged the church to stop being subservient to the state and its ...
Warfare represents a special category of biblical violence and is a topic the Bible addresses, directly and indirectly, in four ways: there are verses that support pacifism, and verses that support non-resistance; 4th century theologian Augustine found the basis of just war in the Bible, and preventive war which is sometimes called crusade has also been supported using Bible texts.
While the church members may not have had any malicious intent, their use of their religion's teachings to manipulate Wright's mother ultimately resulted in her death. [ 2 ] A more recent study among 200 university students has shown that 12.5% of students reported being victimized by at least one form of religious or ritual abuse (RA).
Many churches, particularly ones considered progressive, understand the "sin of Sodom" to be oppression of the poor, in light of Ezekiel 16:49–50 [18] ("This was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had pride, excess of food, and prosperous ease, but did not aid the poor and needy").
Churches That Abuse, first published in 1992, is a best-selling Christian apologetic book written by sociologist Ronald M. Enroth.The book documents cases of churches and other organizations said to be spiritually abusive and the effects these groups have had on their members.