Directories & reference sites

TheoWiki

Couple with New Advent below and Wikipedia and you can find almost anything about religion from this new resouce to which I'm contributing. Added '05Apr27

New Advent

Home of the Catholic Encyclopedia, which is a great source for general Christian information, as well. NewAdvent.org also includes a few other Catholic resources and links. Added '05Apr27

ReligiousResources.org

The religious version of Yahoo! Directory, but not quite as useful.

ChristSites.com

A little cleaner in format, but not necessarily better in content to rr.org

Charts4Christ

All sorts of random Multi-Media Christian Information for Everyone.

Communities & magazines

beliefnet.com - the largest multi-faith community online.
Crosswalk.com (formerly GOSHEN.net) - the 5-star search engine you can find ANYTHING on!  Christian version of Beliefnet; nearly as good as BibleGateway.com because it has more translations (TEV, NKJV, WEB, VUL, ASV, NRSV, BBE, DRB, no NIV), but it's not as easy to navigate. Their religion news section is well done, too.
Christianity.com - another good Christian site like Crosswalk but more of a resource than a community.
ChristianityToday.com magazines - intellectual Christian publishing both online and off, and yet also a community.  All sorts of resources, including a useful apologetics links page.
www.NavPress.com - publishers of The Message Bible, they also have excellent magazines, like Discipleship Journal.

Other beliefs links

A Portrait of Jesus From Galilean Jew to the Face of God - Pretty good study of Christ's life.

www.EternalStudios.com - While I'm not into comics, I am impressed with this series nonetheless.  Seems Patrick Scott, the brainchild of the project, has been having difficulties keeping it going, though.  Kind of sad!

2002 April 28 Discovery Channel specials:
  - The Quest for the True Cross (On the Inside, 1pm ET)
  - Stigmata: Wounds of Mystery (On the Inside, 2pm ET)
  - Jesus: The Complete Story (On the Inside, 3-6pm ET, SEE FACE>>)
  - The Real Eve (6pm ET)
  - In Search of Eden (TLC Apr. 27, 7pm ET)

Cathy Geier's Online Gallery of Award Winning Landscape Art Quilts - an amazing Christian who I read about

TempletonPrize.org for Progress in Religion - awarded for originality, spirituality, and teaching of God's love

WalkingOnWater.org - Christian surf-camp w/ Bryan Jennings
Christian Surfers - Yahoo! groups are quality.

Can legalizing drugs bring us closer to God? (Aug. 4, 2000, Salon.com) - interesting article about drugs' effects on religious experiences.  Personally, I disagree with the idea that drugs can enhance your spirituality!  See CSP.org (Council on Spiritual Practices; reminds me of "ESP") for official info.

OnancockBaptist.com - friend Katie's church from hometown in VA.
CalvaryChurch.com - a huge Charlotte church.
WoodmontBaptist.com - my church in Nashville.
www.HGBC.org - Hickory Grove Baptist Church, another big one near my brother in Charlotte.
FCCDundee.org - First Congregational in Dundee, IL; where my uncle goes.

LeftBehindTheMovie.com - the greatest Christian book series made into a movie!
LeftBehindFilmProject.com - a mission to spread the news about this Christian mainstream movie.

www.AlphaPub.com - Alpha Publishing, whole book posted online called Tower of Babel worth checking out.

MessiahPage.com - a Jew from near Philadelphia who is anti-Messianic Judaism. He believes that it is damaging to the Jewish faith.
The Temple Congregation Ohabai Sholom - Rabbi David Davis is a minister here. I took his classes Intro to Judaism and Jesus the Jew at Vanderbilt. Link corrected '05Apr27
From Judaism to Christianity - good comparison of the two.
How the Passover Reveals Jesus Christ - an interesting article

It Is Well With My Soul hymn (1898 CE) lyrics and midi

CSLewis.DrZeus.net (Into the Wardrobe: The C. S. Lewis Web Site) - forum, papers, books, links, photos, etc.
CSLewis.org - C.S. Lewis Foundation (not as good as DrZeus)
C. S. Lewis links page!

AnswersInGenesis.org - worldwide educating force for creationism.  They're building a huge CreationMuseum.com in KY.  Their Q & A section is also impressively large and scientifically accurate!
Center for Scientific Creation - creation vs. evolution
CreationEvidence.org - Creation Evidence Museum
Society, Religion and Technology Project - a Scottish society that examines the ethics of today's technology. Christianity and Science section relevant here.
ARN.org (Access Research Network) - intelligent design, plus Phillip Johnson weekly update
TalkOrigins.org - site for the usenet group talk.origins
ICR.org (Institute for Creation Research) - quality set of beliefs
Equip.org - Christian Research Institute, Hank Hanegraaff ("The Bible Answer Man" radio broadcast) and effective apologetics ministry.
Bob Hartman International Ministries - visited our BSC this year for an apologetics training.  Apparently, he wasn't that good, though.
creation - an amazing video of the creation
NEW The Intelligent Christian - kind of a funny name, but a site worth reading over nonetheless. Gender topics of note.

Go2MRO.com - Motor Racing Outreach, THE Christian racing outreach group

CreationFest.com - Creation: THE largest US Christian rock fest (I was at the east festival in 2000)

RefugeWorship.com - praise and worship near my campus!
Vanderbilt BCM - Vanderbilt's Baptist Collegiate Ministry (formerly the B. Student Union - and I was the webmaster for a year.)

Underground Christian Music Dedicated to publicizing Christian music that is actually good, as opposed to popular Christain radio
NEW R&R Christian Chart Top 20-30 singles, in several categories! See Alaska Jim's for links to pretty much any chart!

ReverendFun.com - funny cartoons

Adherents.com - "a growing collection of over 41,000 adherent statistics and religious geography citations...."  Tons of information on almost all religions and denominations in a simple, hierarchical format.  Example 1: the Baptist World Alliance would be fifth in this list (if it were a single organization).  Example 2: sorted list of the largest "religious bodies".
SBC.net - The Southern Baptist Convention denomination (member of the BWA), affiliated with the church I attend (as well as LifeWay where I have worked) in Nashville.
American Policy Center - "Property Rights and Back-to-Basics Education Grassroots Internet Headquarters." Christian view on environmentalism.
International Raelian Religion - a theory on life "revealed" to some guy named Rael (involves aliens!)
Freedom From Religion Foundation, Inc. - organized group of atheists
Christian and Missionary Alliance - someone I know is part of this newer denomination started in the 60s.

Who is Jesus? - want to know who that dude really is?
Just a Christian Ministries - A site dedicated to Jesus stuff. E-mail Bill Cormier with questions, and he'll answer them as truthfully as possible. Only good things in this site. "Human Sacrifice? - Laird, you asked: Does YHWH forbid human sacrifice?... was Jesus a 'human sacrifice'?, or, Did He die for our sins, to reconcile us unto Himself? Let's look at 1 Timothy 2:4-6 in context...." This (and other articles) is a great logical explanation of Jesus.
JesusOfTheWeek.com - new pic and interpretation of Jesus every week

CampusLife.net - The magazine for Christian teens - internet magazine (exactly what it says)

Gospel Communications Network - in the same Power for Living, presented as a very evangelical site

Yahoo! : Directory > Society and Culture > Religion and Spirituality > Faiths and Practices > Christianity > Commentaries and Bible Studies - Yahoo!'s resources. Good way to learn facts and interpreations of different Biblical stories and concepts.

<< These kind of things disturb me.  Scholarships and coalitions like this do not help society's view of racial equality.

DawsonMcAllister.com - live Christian radio show broadcasted all over the south. Sundays 7-9 pm central time.
Josh McDowell Ministry (www.JOSH.org)

Cutting Edge Ministry Bookstore - not only do they sell great Christian books, but there are good reviews of them, too.

Some Interesting Links - yes, quality Christian links
The Yankee Christian [dead link, but found the following article elsewhere] - links by topic, my favorite is "10 Reasons to Believe"

Correspondence Example - I asked a question at the Bible Search page and got this answer. Figured I'd post it as an example of what these sites are like.  *NEW* link relating to this (Feb. 25, 2001): Onward Christian Soldier - John DiIulio from South Philly, "President Bush's Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives. His mission is to weed out federal laws that unnecessarily block community and faith-based social welfare organizations from competing for federal dollars."

How can we relate Christianity to government? Is it satisfactory to say that church and state are separate? If they are separate, then by what basis are laws made?

Before getting to your question, let me first assert some Bible principles that are important to keep in mind. They are at the foundation of the answer I will give.

First, God is not only Creator but He has established the idea of government among men for the good of the righteous and the punishment of the wicked. See Romans 13:1-7. In this way, society is stabilized as well as possible. God not only has established government among men, but He (now through Jesus) makes judgments among nations, raising up and destroying governments based on the level of sin that is in a society. For example see Genesis 19 and Daniel 4.

Secondly, God expects a certain amount of righteousness to be found within a society, if it is to remain viable. See Genesis 15:16,18:23-33, Prov. 14:34. Whatever that level is, is determined by God Himself.

Thirdly, although God, in times past, had a special relationship with the nation of Israel where religious and national laws were one and the same, today, He has no such relationship with any particular nation for Christians can be residents of any nation in the world. See 1 Pet. 2:1-10. In other words, Jesus' kingdom is made up of all people from every nation and is not an earthly type of kingdom that engages in physical battles with other nations. See John 18:33-37.

Now, to your question, are church (the saved assembly of people) and state separate? Yes, in the sense that there is no such thing as a "Christian" nation - God having a specially relationship with one nation. However, there may be Christians, to whatever degree they conscientiously agree, who work within government. As to the extent of their work, this differs depending on how some might understand various passages.

Also, history has shown us what happens when people try to mix church and state to such an extent where Christianity is imposed on others. Usually, Christianity becomes corrupted because it was never intended to be forced on anyone or to serve as a political constitution. See Romans 6:1-18.

Then, upon what basis should our laws be made. To some degree, our laws should reflect righteous principles that we can see revealed by God in His word. See Romans 1:18-32. When a nation turns to approving divorce, mistreatment of parent and/or children, homosexuality and sexual permissiveness, you can be assured that God is not pleased with it.

Thank you again and if you like, there is an online bible course you can link to from my site.

Gary Hunt; Brooklyn, NY 11230 huntnyc@earthlink.net; Biblesearch.com