Christianity is true. But it is not just head-knowledge, nor is it just heart-knowledge. Joshua Pauling says we should recover the full sense of Christian reality by emphasizing the Biblical concepts of "mysterion," "koinonia", and "kairos." In doing so, we can revive contemporary Christianity and reach non-believers more effectively.
Sri Lanka was once one of the most highly-developed nations in South Asia. But now it has an inflation rate of 54%, widespread hunger, and a collapsing government. A major factor was a law mandating organic agriculture, outlawing chemical fertilizers and pesticides. This has devastated the nation's food production and agricultural exports, leading to an economic and political implosion.
Christians today can be pessimistic about their prospects in the face of the seeming triumph of progressivism and secularism. But they need to factor in how God can break in, often in surprising ways. And they can also factor in the self-destructiveness of sin and false beliefs. Culture changes, often very rapidly, and it can change in ways favorable to Christianity, as well as unfavorable.
You be the blogger. What would you like the Cranach community to discuss?
Carl Trueman writes about why the church has lost its reputation and its moral authority--both with the general public and its own members--and suggests what Christians should do about it.
A Muslim woman explains why a Muslim's identity can only be based on religion, not on particular desires. And why "queer Muslims do not exist." Not that some Muslims don't struggle with same-sex desires, but because "queerness" involves adhering to an ideology that is incompatible with Islam. Furthermore, Western efforts to impose the LGBT agenda is inherently racist and colonialist.
Only one out of five Americans believe the Bible is the "actual word of God, to be taken literally." And only one out of four Christians do. And only two out of five evangelicals.
The stalled split of the United Methodist Church was originally over the LGBTQ controversy, but now abortion has become a key issue. As Mark Tooley notes, the underlying factor is that mainline liberal Protestantism as a whole has abandoned historic Christianity.
When we pray for our own needs, we focus on ourselves. But when we pray for the needs of others, "love rises." So said Pastor Frese, citing Chrysostom, in a sermon I heard recently. Thus, praying for others can help us love our neighbors, which is at the heart of vocation.
Considering today's post about praying for others, what are some things and people that we, in the Cranach community, could pray for?
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