Intelligent Political (Meta)Commentary

January 27, 2012 By scotmcknight 6 Comments

From the NYTimes by Nate Silver:

During the Republican nominating contest, competing paradigms have arisen for how to interpret the evidence from polls, voting results and other tangible indicators of success or failure. The paradigms present profoundly different conclusions about the most likely outcome.

One might be called “More of the Same.” It asserts that the traditional rules of engagement in a nomination race still apply, and that the empirical evidence from past contests is reasonably powerful.

That evidence looks something like this: Although the nomination is technically decided by delegate counts, and somewhat less literally by the preferences of rank-and-file voters, ultimately the nominee is determined by a sort of open negotiation among the party elite, which includes elected officials, major donors and the partisan news media, among others…. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Public Issues 6 Comments

Missional in Louisiana

January 27, 2012 By scotmcknight Leave a Comment

From Wineskins, an interview by Fred Peatross of John Dobbs (who ministers ["preaches"] in Monroe LA):

Fred: Can you give me your perspective on what a missional church would look like.

John: A missional church may not be recognized so much by it’s Sunday service as it’s Monday – Saturday services. The assembly is affected by the missional viewpoint in terms of message, warmth, and energizing for service. The missional church is less about how to make our one hour a week together a stellar experience, and more about celebrating what God is doing through outreach efforts. A missional church has it’s eyes on service springing from a commitment to Christ with the intention of sharing Christ with others. The missional mindset is not reserved for service only, though.

We must consider ourselves always ‘on mission’ in the workplace, school, marketplace, and home. In all of those places we have opportunities to participate in the answering of prayer without even knowing it. Perhaps someone is asking, seeking, knocking – and we are to be the answer. Devotion, attention to inward matters of the heart, is essential for discipleship.

Worship together is God’s gift of solidarity and lifting up each other. For too many Christians, that is enough. The missional mindset calls on us to allow discipleship and worship (search for holiness) to move us to love those around us in tangible ways (actions of holiness). In my experience it is difficult to get Christians involved in regular, ongoing acts of service. Special events or one-time service projects are easier. For now my emphasis is on being a missionary in the places you already find yourself – rather than projects.

Filed Under: Missional Leave a Comment

Why Would a Scientist Believe the Virgin Birth? (RJS)

January 27, 2012 By RJS 38 Comments

Most Christians have a deep appreciation for the scriptures, both the Old Testament and the New Testament. Many of our disagreements, especially the most heated discussions of science and faith arise because we respect and wrestle with scripture as inspired by God. As Paul tells Timothy, the scriptures are able to make us wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. They are not to be taken lightly.

For those who were not raised in the church however, or who have for any one of a number of reasons become distrustful of the reliability of the scriptures, the questions are quite different. Scripture relates some pretty incredible events and stories – from Exodus with the story of parting of the Red Sea to the Gospels with the virgin birth and the resurrection – to name just a few. Why should intelligent educated person in secular, modern or postmodern, enlightened, Western society take these seriously on any level? Dr. John Polkinghorne’s book Testing Scripture: A Scientist Explores the Bible can provide some useful insights here – whether one agrees with him across the board or disagrees with some of his conclusions. In the book he isn’t dogmatic or defensive about about scripture, rather he is explaining why he, as a scientist, scholar, and Christian, takes scripture seriously.  Both faith and reason play a role in his approach to scripture.

How would you address doubts from a nonbeliever about the incredible events in scripture?

How do you reconcile a belief in these events yourself?

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Bible Tagged With: 38 Comments

Worldly Leadership in the Church

January 27, 2012 By scotmcknight 41 Comments

Wade Burleson, one of the sauciest bloggers in the church world, has a post on creeping authoritarianism in the church. I heard from a friend recently that a leader said leadership is “imposing your will on a group,” and that is precisely what Wade is holding up before the searching light of our Lord and the Word in this post. [I'd like to see how Wade defines "leadership" but this post is not about that.]

The church of Jesus Christ was never designed to operate in this manner. Jesus explicitly taught in Matthew 23:8-11 (read it for yourself to see) that the only person who rules Christian communities is the Lord Himself. Under Him, we are all equals. He emphatically rejected the world’s system of top-down governance by declaring, “It shall not be so among you”(Mark 10:43). ”The greatest among you shall be your servant“ (Matthew 23:11). There is no emphasis in the New Testament on authority that is derived from any “office” or position. Let me repeat that again: Nowhere in the New Testament does it say that a Christian, because of title or position, has moral authority over another Christian. The idea of an ‘office’ of authority in the church, like that of the office of  ’President of the United States,’ simply does not exist. Christ alone has the position of authority in the church and He has no vicar on earth but His Spirit, who resides in the life of every believer.

Then he gives ten signs of authoritarian leadership in a local church. What do you think are the major signs? [Read more...]

Filed Under: Church 41 Comments