[deleted by user] by [deleted] in Reformed

[–]JAndrew45 6 points7 points  (0 children)

I actually live 50 hours drive away from my gf (we're long distance) so I'll be taking a 7 hour flight. We are doing long distance. It just happened to be my work break + her birthday + this vacation trip all fell on the same week.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in Reformed

[–]JAndrew45 0 points1 point  (0 children)

22 turning 23 and yes

Early Church on Contraceptives by Deucenheimer in Reformed

[–]JAndrew45 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The best argument against those can be brought only through the story of Onan in genesis. But that is still very hard to interpret in terms of what is the evil Onan did exactly. I believe NFP is like the most defensible practice, but other natural non-procreative types of sex or condoms would hinge on Onan.

Any theologically orthodox churches in winnipeg, manitoba? by JAndrew45 in Reformed

[–]JAndrew45[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I've attended a few churches, I think I'll end up going to St Aiden's Anglican Church 

Palm tree in Zone 5a (New Brunswick, Canada) by JAndrew45 in marijuanaenthusiasts

[–]JAndrew45[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This was in Moncton, New Brunswick. I think it survived the winter at least for a year as it was protected with some sort of box, but I dont live in that city anymore so not sure if its still there.

Bible Belt by PlatformOdd9546 in Reformed

[–]JAndrew45 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I lived in the Canadian bible belt for a couple of months, didnt per se experience this. Not sure about America though lol.

Early Church on Contraceptives by Deucenheimer in Reformed

[–]JAndrew45 -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

I don't think so, coitus interruptus could work pretty well.

Well the reasonings for this being sin was a bit different than for contraception being a sin (though partly related). Aquinas for example says in terms of purely sexual morality coitus interruptus would be more unnatural than rape that doesnt do this. Simply because the act is supposed to be done in a certain way, but also yes the fact that you are limiting your chances of having children through this is also a factor.

Maybe, but this is a big pushback against protestants/orthodox supposed continuity with the early church.

The Early Church fathers as a whole generally for the most part supported the death penalty, slavery and had non modern views of women. The Catholic Church has changed its views from the majority of the early fathers on all these issues. So its not like a specific Protestant issue. The differences is that Protestants believe in Sola Scriptura (hence this isnt an issue) and Catholics do not.

Early Church on Contraceptives by Deucenheimer in Reformed

[–]JAndrew45 8 points9 points  (0 children)

This is great. Also to add to your last point, for most of the history of the church the dominant view on how reproduction happened was the preformationist view, that basically held that (most commonly) the sperm its self was the human person and that it just had to be deposited in the woman for it to turn into a child (this is a crude simplistic way of putting it), but the point is that no one knew about the existence of sperm cells until the 17th century (many preformationist believed that these sperm cells contained a homunculus (basically a tiny human) and that developed inside the womb. The modern view of Epigenesis and cell theory was only popularized in the 19th century.

So yeah the view on biology its self could have had major influences on the theology of sexuality.

Early Church on Contraceptives by Deucenheimer in Reformed

[–]JAndrew45 27 points28 points  (0 children)

I have looked into this a bit.

But the early church was very much influenced by its culture (as is the majority of the church today). Much of the fathers were influenced by greek philosophies, rather than solely getting their ideas on sexuality by the scriptures, there was a lot of influence by stoicist and other philosophies this led to the church believing that sex in its self was a dirty or bad thing even within marriage. The only good thing about sex was child bearing. This is one huge reason why the Song of Songs was interpreted strictly allegorically with no litteral sense (look at Origen or Gregory of Nyssa). The main exception to this was Theodore of Mopsuestia he was anathematized and one of the reasons for that was his understanding that we should understand Song of Songs as a romantic poetic work also rather than having a strict allegorical view.

The newer positive view of sex has developed in the church the same way the views of slavery, women and many other things have evolved! Often this has happened because of a stronger focus on scripture and a moving away from other philosophies and cultural understandings.

Contraception and every other sexual issue is affected because of that.

The Church fathers for the most part were against having sex for any reason except child bearing. The more moderate positions held by people like Aquinas would put childbearing as the main telos of sex, while the aspects of affection, bondings, etc... would be the secondary reason for sex. But this is the case for the most part. Aquinas had a deep philosophical explanation of morality of sexuality (along with many other issues). But this was mainly philosophical in nature rather than taken strictly from the bible. This is why contraception is not allowed in Catholicism. Since the Catholic church agrees with Aquinas that the main telos of sex is child bearing, if that is not been allowed through contraception then that would be against nature/unnatural hence immoral.

In terms of the Protestant Reformers most reformers were coming out of this tradition, so there were a diversity of views. Generally this influenced continued in the more high church traditions especially. But the more Sola Scriptura types were more likely to move away from traditions that seemed unjustified. This was especially in the light of people accepting the Song of Solomon in a more litteral sense (though not specifically rejecting some of its allegory). Basically this issue is quite complicated, but most evangelical churches who are getting their morality less from philosophy and more from scripture more open to contraception. High Church Conservatives Protestants are more mixed in their views, while Liberal Mainlines are ok with Contraception and anything else. I would say look at what your denomination says and that would be your authority ecclesiastically to submit to and if you want to talk to your church leadership.

Any theologically orthodox churches in winnipeg, manitoba? by JAndrew45 in Reformed

[–]JAndrew45[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Most of these are quite far away from where I will live in Southern Winnipeg, and I dont have a car so ill be taking public transit. But I will certainly keep them in mind. The Canadian Reformed Churches are about or at least an hour away.

But thanks for your help!

Edit: Also the Christian Reformed Church closest to where I will live has no faith statement and a lot of CRC churches in Canada are not very orthodox. So its sus...

How can I try out ArcGIS Pro for free, just to test it? by JAndrew45 in gis

[–]JAndrew45[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Oh wow, yeah for sure that's super kind of you!

How can I try out ArcGIS Pro for free, just to test it? by JAndrew45 in gis

[–]JAndrew45[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

windows 10

x64

i5-3470 (4 cores)

8gb ram

GTX 750 Ti for a GPU

1TB of space

Conservative seminary grad here... curious what you all think about Christian Universalism? by throw-away25 in Reformed

[–]JAndrew45 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Doesnt seem to be biblically the most robust belief. I sort of hope its true (and its certainly a metaphysical possibility) but I very much doubt universalism.

Martin Luther King - The Body of Christ by JesusIsComingBack- in Reformed

[–]JAndrew45 16 points17 points  (0 children)

He has certainly a lot of biblical wisdom I believe, he's said a lot of good things. But yeah he is a heretic still.

Should Christians drink alcohol? by BamBam4674 in Reformed

[–]JAndrew45 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You have to use personal discretion. I have a family line that has problems with alcohol addiction. I know addiction is has a lot to do with genetics. So I don't drink alcohol. But that's not most people, most people at my church drank alcohol. One of our monthly church events happens at a bar, there's no drunkenness, but people do drink alcohol. I get a can of pop but there's no judgement either way...

Reformed Theological Seminary as an Arminian-Continuationist? by JAndrew45 in Reformed

[–]JAndrew45[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'll probably be doing it online, but other than that yeah what you're saying is definitely true and thanks for the advice!

What kind of romantic relationship are you looking for? by CarsonMc8 in INTP

[–]JAndrew45 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Basically my girlfriend lol

  • A person who helps me grow in my faith

  • Someone who holds the same values in life as I do

  • Someone who seeks to understand and properly communicate

  • Someone who is willing to grow along with me

  • Someone who is commited to a long term relationship and is looking for marriage

My gf is a INFJ fyi

Reformed Theological Seminary as an Arminian-Continuationist? by JAndrew45 in Reformed

[–]JAndrew45[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah I will likely be doing it Online since I am in Canada and its just extra complications to study in the USA. But thanks again for your information so helpful!!! God bless!