The Other Job: Tentmaking 6 The Apostle Paul made tents in order to fund his ministry, often receiving nothing from churches he was serving. Some present day pastors likewise divide their time between ministry and another job. A problem that has been hinted at in previous posts is that many of us actually “like” our other job. Some of us, in fact, see better work for the Kingdom taking place in our secondary vocation than we do through our church. As... Read more
So asks Dan Haseltine, lead singer for Jars of Clay, in Relevant Mag. Dan reflects on the nature of a Christian culture, and he asks about whether that culture needs to have art that reflects reality — and I didn’t see this emphasize but it appears to me to be what he’s on about — instead of about the ideal sanitized world Christians would like our world to be. A couple excerpts. I recently began a conversation about words, using... Read more
I read this yesterday through a tweet and find the wisdom of law enforcement folks from the USA and Europe to be spot-on: we need to repeal the death penalty. With the tragedy of this weekend’s shootings we are driven to think about the death penalty, and I suggest we do so with an eye on those victims. I’ll tell you why I like this article: not just because I agree but because of its sanity and measured judgment. Do... Read more
We’ve been working through Denis O. Lamoureux’s book Evolutionary Creation: A Christian Approach to Evolution – a book that describes a way to move beyond the creation and evolutions debates. In Chapter 8 Dr. Lamoureux’s describes a Christian approach to human evolution proposing a way to reconcile scripture, Christian faith and doctrine, and what is known from science. The debates on science and faith hinge on issues that can be divided up into three basic categories (1) Sin and Death,... Read more
For a variety of reasons, not least a dispensational upbringing, some Lutheran law vs. gospel theology, and then a radical New Testament theology that the Torah was in use only until the era of the Holy Spirit, the Ten Commandments have not figured prominently in my own ethical thinking. I memorized them as a kid in Sunday School class, and they are #3 in memorized portions behind the Lord’s Prayer and Psalm 23. This is not to say they don’t... Read more
Are you aware of this? What have you heard about it? A story in CT from Kristen Scharold tosses light on a development I hadn’t heard about … A line of New Yorkers throttles a Greenwich Village block. It’s hard to tell where the queue ends, but it’s clear that anyone who arrived less than an hour early won’t be among the 250 who fit in The Bitter End. The bar once provided a stage for Bill Cosby and Bob... Read more
The problem is not political rhetoric. Political rhetoric didn’t cause those murders. We do hear over and over that our political rhetoric is too intense and too inflammatory and “toxic.” That’s true. Without minimizing the inhumanity of some of this rhetoric, when has political rhetoric not been exaggerated? When I was a kid, because I was listening to exaggerated rhetoric, I thought the world was going to fall apart if a Catholic — his name was John F. Kennedy —... Read more
The “holy wars” of Israel are the single-most troubling ethical problem in the Old Testament. That is, according to Paul Copan, in Is God a Moral Monster?: Making Sense of the Old Testament God. So problematic he examines this issue in no less than four chapters. The problems go in a number of directions: Did God really tell the Israelites to destroy those cities, including women and children? Does this establish a view of God? Does this establish the way... Read more
Robert Webber famously told us why evangelicals were moving from traditional evangelical denominations (and non-denominations) to become Anglicans in his Evangelicals on the Canterbury Trail: Why Evangelicals Are Attracted to the Liturgical Church, but the most recent version of this story is by Todd Hunter. And Todd has shifted as much — if not more — than any of us. The title of his new memoir-confession-story is The Accidental Anglican: The Surprising Appeal of the Liturgical Church, and I’m sure... Read more
Kim Jones, a friend in Dallas (at Irving Bible), has a heart for those suffering from sex trade and she also has the courage to work for justice. We posted about this briefly before, but this is a letter sent to us … I’ve included the whole letter, some of which isn’t for us, but there’s stuff after the jump for those who want to get involved. Thanks Kim for your commitment. Friends, Thank you for your interest in the... Read more
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