What is more important, believing all the right things and having knowledge and understanding about God and the bible, or beginning to live out life following Christ? Yes, a very basic belief is necessary, but often people press the importance of all kinds of additional beliefs. Even if they’re correct, are they more important than
Category: Christian Living
How Important Is Correct Doctrine? (Part 2)
Which is more important, correct doctrine or unity? You can’t say both because these are at odds with each other. Doctrine is divisive. Nearly 2000 years after Christ, people have yet to agree on a single overall theology or doctrine. There are probably more different doctrinal beliefs in existence now than in the past. (Interestingly
The Problem With (some) Christians: Funeral Illustration
Today I attended a funeral with my friend Dan. The funeral was for the cousin of a friend of ours, who had committed suicide. Funerals are generally tough anyway, but this one was just downright painful in ways it shouldn’t have been. This mainly had to do with the minister who was “doing” the funeral.
Blind Church?
I was involved in a discussion tonight, which made think about the following. It seems like many churches (and some christians too) are semi-blind to what they are. People seem to have this idea that if you’re honest about a problem, your somehow insulting the Son of God. If we’re not honest about problems, we
Doing Stuff for God
I was just thinking about how a lot of people and ministries talk about what they’re doing for God. If things, often financially, they’ll talk about how we just need faith that God will provide. Sounds good doesn’t it? The problem is that God often doesn’t provide the way we think he should. So does
Killing Gossip
A number of years ago I went to a prayer meeting at the church I was attending at the time. While the meeting was open, it was primarily attended by the leaders of the church (including both staff and lay leaders). The monthly event typically saw probably 100-200 people in attendance. This particular night, one
Palm Sunday and Easter: Living A Transformed Life
(Note: After having written this and gone back and reviewed it, I realize that it feels that once again I have not communicated as clearly as I wish. One recognized problem is that I am attempting not to make a single point, but a series of related points. Basically what I’m getting at is this:
Church Recap
For those who are interested, this past week in our house church we looked at two blogs. The first one, “poultrygeist”, encourages us to not think that we can’t serve God because of some limiting factor in our lives. The second article (“Have You Heard?”) is great for starting discussions and making us think about
Forgiveness
Forgiveness… does not mean that an offense didn’t matter is not ignoring an offense does not require the offender’s request nor repentance is not a one time act does not mean there aren’t consequences does not minimize an offense does not exaggerate an offense is choosing not to hold an offense against another (though choices
Rethinking Church
(Note: I have written the following post in response to comments shared on this post.) I once heard it said that every generation needs their own reformation. The idea is that we never quite get it all right, so we need to keep improving rather than thinking we’ve got it made. You are correct in