In his first letter to the church at Corinth, Paul tells them, “The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing.” (1:18) It’s true, if you take a step back and look at it, it is crazy—claiming to follow an executed criminal, and saying that he’s not actually dead. And that’s just
Category: Christian Living
Christians’ Media Intake
I recently ran across an article and some comments (I think there had been more, I’m not sure where they went) regarding movies in light of our Christian faith. While I certainly imagine it to be somewhat controversial, I think it’s something that’s good to discuss: http://churchofthemasses.blogspot.com/2005/02/blog-post.html I now offer some of my thoughts. People
Christianity as a Subculture
Tonight I went to a concert at my church. When I arrived, a friend of mine came up and we started talking. She asked if all the different worship bands from the church were playing. I explained that while most all of the musicians who were playing are also on the worship team, that they
Thoughts on Worship
I recently had a good talk with a close friend of mine about worship. This was brought up due to some of the events of the previous day and our reactions to them. Specifically, there had been a worship conference, the evening of which was ended by several nationally known “worship artists” (is that a
About Church…
Western church today: A community social service center, which provides programming and events to entertain and reinforce it’s members’ normally comfortable lifestyles, and generally helps to raise their children to be “good”, as well as providing the a fore mentioned services to the kids also. The church provides opportunities for spiritual experiences, and gives it’s
My Trip to Nashville
I recently went to Nashville to attend a large Christian event which was being held in Adelphia Stadium. It was a huge event, three of the biggest groups in music opened up the evening including Jars of Clay, Kirk Franklin, and DC Talk. They were followed by one of the most famous Christian evangelists of
Is There Room for Doubt in Christianity?
For my entire life, I’ve been connected to some kind of evangelical Christian context. What I’m going to say here is not new—many have experienced this before. But it’s new for me at least in certain regards. Recently I’ve had a couple of streams come together in my life. First, I’ve encountered some significant questions
Honesty vs. Orthodoxy—A Response to John Cooper
Skillet (a rock band in case you aren’t familiar) frontman John Cooper recently shared a post on Facebook which has in turn been getting shared itself by others. It is apparently in response to a recent announcement by Joshua Harris and a since deleted post by Hillsong’s Marty Sampson. Since Cooper’s post has apparently resonated
Evangelical Idealism – Leader Announces Separation
Former evangelical pastor and author Joshua Harris and his wife recently announced their separation. This is sad because separation / divorce are always sad I think. We don’t get into and develop relationships with the hope or expectation that they will erode, degrade, fall apart, or even become hostile, harmful, and damaging. In a perfect
The Need for the Church to Confess and Repent as Part of Evangelism
There have been some interesting things going on recently. Many people are excited, talking about revival, and reaching “the lost”. When a bunch of Christians gather, it doesn’t seem odd to celebrate and worship God. But it strikes me that when we start interacting with those who aren’t followers of Christ, it would be naive