David Murrow recently posted an excerpt from his book, “Why Men Hate Going to Church”. There are a couple of interesting thoughts in this article, and I’m curious to know what you think about them. First off, Murrow states that the most common description of Christianity evangelicals use is the phrase, “personal relationship with Jesus
Bible as a Playbook Metaphor
There are some Christians so focused on the Bible that they seem to discount everything else. They want sermons which focus on studying passages of scripture and small groups or Sunday school classes which are Bible studies. The Bible does set the foundation for knowing Christ. I have read and studied the Bible extensively myself.
Brief Overview of Palestine in the First Milena B.C.
In my bible reading I have come to the intertestamental period. It was a good time to try and gain a better understanding of the context into which Jesus was born and did his ministry. I don’t guarantee that this is completely accurate, but the following is my best understanding gained from a couple of
Church for Men
I was asked to respond to an article by David Murrow titled “Where Have the Men Gone?”. I’ve been considering writing my thoughts about his ideas anyway and this provided a good catalyst. In this article, he touches on most of the major points I’ve gathered from reading his blog. (He is also the author
Worship or Concert?
I recently overhead a friend of mine commenting about the worship band at church. Basically, he felt that it was too showy. He mentioned how one of the guitarist “struts around stage”. This quickly got me thinking. Being a committed Christian who has attended a lot of church services and being a musician who has
Book Review: Singled Out, Part 2
(In this second part of the review, I summarize the paradigm contained in the book Singled Out.) It would be difficult to argue that “love” (romance) and sex aren’t the primary values in our culture today (only challenged by money and power). We know virtually everyone deeply desires to be loved, and we believe the
Book Review: Singled Out, Part 1
Singled Out is the best book I’ve read in years—I can hardly say enough good about it. It directly addresses a couple of issues most fundamental to those of us living in our western culture, and does so in a way no one else that I am aware of has done. Beyond that, the conclusions
Movie Review: Tangled
Tangled is of course Disney’s adaptation of the classic fairy tale of Rapunzel. It fits right into the classic Disney animated musical style with princesses, love, villains, and a happily ever after. I’m trying to process what I think about the movie, which is the reason I’m writing this review. I felt the way they
Black Friday Overshadowing Thanksgiving
A friend of mine pointed this out: it’s ironic that the holiday focused on being thankful is becoming overshadowed by a day most focused on getting things we don’t have. It’s like “We’re thankful for all the black Friday sales and thankful for all the money we have, so that why can go buy a
Thanksgiving, Communion, Church, Family
Tomorrow Americans celebrate Thanksgiving. The holiday has become known as a time to gather with one’s extended family and have a feast. I heard someone (Frank Viola in Reimagining Church I believe) say that the Thanksgiving holiday is probably the best representation we have of what communion ought to look like. Imagine communion as loving,