Hi Tom,

Not so sure new churches are always a bad thing...

Should we all go back to the political Rome of Jesus' day? The Roman empire of the Popes replaced it and virtually ruled over the kings of Europe for the next thousand years. Let's see, they called that the "Dark Ages" for good reason, didn't they?

During that period, a king couldn't keep his kingdom unless he had the blessing of Rome. Anyone who claimed to be a Christian during those days also had to believe in and acknowledge the supremacy of the Pope or face the Inquisition, right?. Didn't the Church burn thousands of Christians at the stake for refusing to accept that doctrine?

>John;
>
>The reason there is a Protestant Religion is based upon protest. Create your own Protestant Church. When some member of the congregation disagrees with something that is said or done then he begins his own Church in his (as opposed to His) image. That is no surprise and the reason there are hundreds of Protestant Sects. Perfection is mine saith the individual!
>
>There is a storefront Church in San Francisco that comes to mind. “ The First American Indian Baptist Church”, near the Cow Palace (Daly City). Taking that into consideration with your post I would suggest that a new church should be created. It would be called “The First American Islamic Baptist Church”.
>
>I am sure there is an evangelist with credentials similar to Pat Robertson that would be willing to undertake such an endeavor. In fact why do you think Microsoft uses the term evangelist and fills said positions with talented people from other disciplines? Cover all your bases.
>
>I can hear the television now – “Send me your money brothers and sisters and you are going to heaven”! Replace heaven with whatever term you prefer, as long as your donation is generous. If this plan does not work then not to worry as Bill Gates is “full of visions”! Perhaps he is full of something else also. :)
>
>Tom
>
>
>>Steve
>>
>>>>When making personal decisions, don't people try to choose the path that is best for them? It may or may not turn out to be the best, but isn't that the goal?<<
>>
>>Sure. And if 4 Baptist Pastors started attending bible studies and telling people that Islam is the way to go, the congregation that they lead would say: no problem, people change, great to see Pastors being open to other ideas, and of course they can can go right on being Baptist Pastors while they do their best to convert the congregation to Allah.
>>
>>Yeah, I know, "dotNET isn't a religion". Sure it isn't. It is the last fling of a monolithic, hardware-focused IT industry that is about to be turned on its head as soon as speech-enabled, non-discrete tools can provide interaction with subscription services for "everything" in the same way as most of us now subscribe to banking services without even realising it.
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>>Gotta run ;-)
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>>Regards
>>
>>JR