Baptists

Baptists are individuals who comprise a group of Christian denominations and churches that subscribe to a doctrine that baptism should be performed only for professing believers (believer's baptism, as opposed to infant baptism), and that it must be done by complete immersion (as opposed to affusion or sprinkling). Other tenets of Baptist churches include soul competency (liberty), salvation through faith alone, Scripture alone as the rule of faith and practice, and the autonomy of the local congregation. Baptists recognize two ministerial offices, pastors and deacons. Baptist churches are widely considered to be Protestant churches, though some Baptists disavow this identity.

Diverse from their beginning, those identifying as Baptists today differ widely from one another in what they believe, how they worship, their attitudes toward other Christians, and their understanding of what is important in Christian discipleship.

Historians trace the earliest church labeled "Baptist" back to 1609 in Amsterdam, with English Separatist John Smyth as its pastor. In accordance with his reading of the New Testament, he rejected baptism of infants and instituted baptism only of believing adults. Baptist practice spread to England, where the General Baptists considered Christ's atonement to extend to all people, while the Particular Baptists believed that it extended only to the elect. In 1638, Roger Williams established the first Baptist congregation in the North American colonies. In the mid-18th century, the First Great Awakening increased Baptist growth in both New England and the South. The Second Great Awakening in the South in the early 19th century increased church membership, as did the preachers' lessening of support for abolition and manumission of slavery, which had been part of the 18th-century teachings. Baptist missionaries have spread their church to every continent.

Jesus

Jesus (/ˈdʒiːzəs/; Greek: Ἰησοῦς Iesous; 7–2 BC to AD 30–33), also referred to as Jesus of Nazareth or Jesus Christ, is the central figure of Christianity, whom the teachings of most Christian denominations hold to be the Son of God. Christians believe Jesus is the awaited Messiah (or Christ, the Anointed One) of the Old Testament.

Virtually all modern scholars of antiquity agree that Jesus existed historically, and historians consider the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke) to be the best sources for investigating the historical Jesus. Most scholars agree that Jesus was a Galilean, Jewish rabbi who preached his message orally,was baptized by John the Baptist, and was crucified by the order of the Roman Prefect Pontius Pilate. In the current mainstream view, Jesus was an apocalyptic preacher and the founder of a renewal movement within Judaism, although some prominent scholars argue that he was not apocalyptic. After Jesus' death, his followers believed he was resurrected, and the community they formed eventually became the Christian church. The widely used calendar era, abbreviated as "AD" from the Latin "Anno Domini" ("in the year of our Lord") or sometimes as "CE", is based on the birth of Jesus. His birth is celebrated annually on December 25 as a holiday known as Christmas.

New International Version

The New International Version (NIV) is an English translation of the Christian Bible. Biblica (formerly the International Bible Society) is the worldwide publisher and copyright holder of the NIV, and licenses commercial rights to Zondervan in the United States and to Hodder & Stoughton in the UK. Originally published in the 1970s, the NIV was updated in 1984 and 2011, and has become one of the most popular and best selling modern translations.

History

The NIV began in 1956 with the formation of a small committee to study the value of producing a translation in the common language of the American people. The project was formally started after a meeting in 1965 at Trinity Christian College in Palos Heights, Illinois, of the Christian Reformed Church, National Association of Evangelicals, and a group of international scholars. The initial "Committee on Bible Translation" consisted of E. Leslie Carlson, Edmund Clowney, Ralph Earle, Jr., Burton L. Goddard, R. Laird Harris, Earl S. Kalland, Kenneth Kantzer, Robert H. Mounce, Charles F. Pfeiffer, Charles Caldwell Ryrie, Francis R. Steele, John H. Stek, J. C. Wenger, Stephen W. Paine, and Marten Woudstra. The New York Bible Society (now Biblica) was selected to do the translation. The New Testament was released in 1973 and the full Bible in 1978.

New International

The New International is a magazine of Marxist theory published first by the Socialist Workers Party of the United States (SWP) from 1934 to 1940, then by the Workers Party from 1940 to 1958, and then revived by the SWP since 1983.

Current format

Since the magazine's resumption in 1983, The New International has included articles written by leaders of the 'Pathfinder tendency' which left the Fourth International in the 1980s. Content focuses on speeches and resolutions of the SWP's biannual conference, and archival documents by Bolshevik and Castroist communists. It is now published roughly once every two years.

The magazine's last publication (online) was a 2008 issue with a covers story entitled "Revolution, Internationalism, and Socialism: The Last Year of Malcolm X" by Jack Barnes. Other articles were: "The Clintons’ Antilabor Legacy: Roots of the 2008 World Financial Crisis," "The Stewardship of Nature Also Falls to the Working Class," "Setting the Record Straight on Fascism and World War II: Building a World Federation of Democratic Youth that Fights Imperialism and War."

Kowloon Tong

Kowloon Tong (Chinese: 九龍塘) is an area of Hong Kong located in Kowloon West. The majority of the area is in the Kowloon City District. It is located south of Beacon Hill, north of Boundary Street, east of Shek Kip Mei, and west of Kowloon Tsai and Lok Fu. It is an expensive, low density and quiet residential district, with housing comprising mainly bungalows and villas. It is popular among the upper class in the city because it has many prestigious schools. In addition, this area is noted for its love hotels and nursing homes. Within Kowloon West, it is administratively divided between Kowloon City District and Sham Shui Po District.

Landmarks

Notable landmarks in Kowloon Tong include: