Cancer and Focus

Last updated on: March 2, 2012 at 2:57 pm By Scot McKnight

From The Conversation: The fixation on potentially cancer-causing chemicals in the air, food and consumer products is diverting attention from the real risks, according to a review of global evidence by an Australian cancer researcher. Writing in the medical journal The Lancet Oncology, Professor Bernard Stewart, from the University of New South Wales, said that lifestyle factors – driven by “personal choices” – were the most significant proven causes of cancer. “Measures known to prevent cancer include smoking cessation, reducing... Read more

Paul’s Adam and the Gospel (RJS)

Last updated on: March 6, 2012 at 5:57 am By RJS

Chapter seven of the new book by Peter Enns, The Evolution of Adam: What the Bible Does and Doesn’t Say about Human Origins moves on to look explicitly at the way Paul uses Adam in Romans 5 and 1 Corinthians 15, with emphasis on Romans 5. There is no question but that these are key passages in the dis-ease with evolution and common descent in the church. Other factors play a role, but this tops the list. Enns puts forth... Read more

Business People (Michael Kruse)

Last updated on: March 6, 2012 at 5:56 am By Scot McKnight

This post is the first in a series by this blog’s good friend, Michael Kruse, who has his own very active blog. Tina Turner once asked “What’s love got to do with it?” Today, many businesspeople are asking “What’s God got to do with it?” For some, the question is a facetious way of saying that God really has nothing to do with business, but for many Christians it is a very real question … a question for which the... Read more

How-To Manual for Spotting Sex Trafficking

Last updated on: March 2, 2012 at 6:45 am By Scot McKnight

From CNN.com: (CNN) — Kimberly Ritter could not believe what she was seeing. Girls wearing almost nothing at all, suggesting all sorts of sexual acts, listed on page after page of Backpage.com’s escorts section. When she looked closer at the photos, she noticed something eerie. She could recognize the rooms. Ritter is a meeting planner at Nix Conference and Meeting Management of St. Louis. She and her co-workers work with 500 hotels around the world and visit about 50 properties... Read more

Femsculine Christianity

Last updated on: February 29, 2012 at 1:31 pm By Scot McKnight

Michael Hidalgo, at Denver Community Church, posts about what he calls “femsculine” Christianity. All people, regardless of gender, have an equal place at God’s table. This demands that everyone be given an equal voice. When we only hear from the voice of men or the voice of women we only see one side of God. This is why any claim that Christianity is either masculine or feminine falls short. Neither by itself paints a complete picture of God. When we... Read more

The Myth of Religious Superiority

Last updated on: March 3, 2012 at 9:17 pm By Scot McKnight

Christian thinkers divide into three groups: one group thinks a person has to believe in Jesus Christ at some conscious level to be saved (exclusivism), another group thinks a person is saved through Jesus Christ but a person who has never heard of Christ may be saved by the light they have received (inclusivism), and yet another group thinks Christianity is one way of salvation, a true way, but there are other ways too (pluralism). There are of course shades... Read more

Looking forward to Judgment

Last updated on: March 3, 2012 at 9:11 pm By Scot McKnight

One of the most common responses to anything preached or taught about the Last Judgment, the Great Judgment, or the Last Assize is fear or even terror. The topic alone creates anxiety in many. Perhaps this tells us more about the history of how this topic has been preached than what the Bible actually says. In other words, the last judgment has been undeniably used to “put the fear of God” into people … yet…. Is the last judgment preached... Read more

Church Tats

Last updated on: March 3, 2012 at 7:34 am By Scot McKnight

Oh my, here’s a church, led by Chris Seay, encouraging members to get tats during Lent. Kris would not want me to get a tat for Lent, how about you? (CNN)-– In a hip, artsy, area of Houston, a hip, artsy pastor is taking an unorthodox approach to Lent. Standing in front of his congregation at Ecclesia Church, a congregation he admits is different – more diverse, more urban – than many evangelical churches – Chris Seay encouraged them to... Read more

Christian Colleges and Racial Diversity

Last updated on: March 4, 2012 at 1:39 pm By Scot McKnight

It’s Sunday. On Sunday the church celebrates its Lord, and it also celebrates together — across the spectrum of races in the world. The church, designed by our Lord to be the most integrated space in the world, sadly fails to integrate when it worships. So when we read that Christian colleges (and David Parkyn-led North Park does much better than most) are not integrated, that is a reflection that the gospel evangelicalism preaches tends toward one ethnic group because... Read more

Second Sunday of Lent

Last updated on: March 2, 2012 at 6:14 am By Scot McKnight

O God, whose glory it is always to have mercy: Be gracious to all who have gone astray from your ways, and bring them again with penitent hearts and steadfast faith to embrace and hold fast the unchangeable truth of your Word, Jesus Christ your Son; who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. Read more

Who said, 'For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life'?