I’m starting to realize that so much of what Christianity is focused on has absolutely nothing to do with anything that God actually wants. For example, Christians are all about growing the Church – which is primarily about the size of the building – even though God never asked anyone to build a Temple for God. When King David gets this idea God’s response was this: “This is what the Lord says: Are you the one to build me a house to dwell... Read more
“And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us.” In 2 Cor. 5:19-20, the Apostle Paul tells us that we have all been given a ministry of reconciliation. My question to you is: How is that going so far? I mean, what do you do every day to bring reconciliation to those around you? Who have you reconciled with recently? How many people in your community... Read more
A few days ago I posted this meme on my Facebook page: Per usual, I received an equal number of comments in favor of the meme as disagreeing with it or questioning it. The one reply that really made me stop was this one by my dear friend, Ruth, whom I’ve known since Junior High and who married my best-friend. She said: This reminded me of something I had written about almost a decade ago: “It’s... Read more
There’s a verse in 1 Corinthians 15 that most Evangelical Christians really wish wasn’t there. If you ever want to be entertained, try asking them to explain what this verse means and then just sit back and marvel at the gymnastics display. Here’s the verse: “For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.” 1 Cor. 15:22 There’s a companion verse to this on where Paul says much the same thing here: “For as by... Read more
[GUEST POST] It seemed strange, somehow even wrong, to be decorating a house while someone I loved was in pain and nearing death. Yet that’s what I did. My grandmother was dying in a nursing home in Kentucky and I was moving into a new home in Georgia. We didn’t know how long she had, only that her death seemed imminent. Her 89-year-old body was tired and thin. She’d lost her appetite and her desire to live along... Read more
Barna Research posted recently their survey results to the question: “What is the Great Commission?” and – not too surprisingly – more than half of Christians had no clue. A few could say they had heard that phrase before but weren’t sure what it was in reference to. Even less were aware that it was something Jesus told his disciples to go and do. So, to refresh your memory, the “Great Commission” is in reference to the command given by... Read more
I love when this happens: I’m talking to my students in the Square 1 or Square 2 sessions over the weekend and someone says something that just blows my mind. It happened last weekend and I can’t wait to share it with all of you here. So, we were talking about the Incarnation of Christ introduced a human into the Trinity, but when my friend Craig phrased it this way a cascade of scriptures started popping into my mind in... Read more
After reading and re-reading the New Testament, I’m now fully convinced that our view of salvation isn’t what the authors of the Gospels or the Epistles had in mind when they used this term. As I’ve mentioned in a previous article, the phrase “He saved others but he cannot save himself” was spoken about Jesus as he was hanging on the cross. But those Pharisees couldn’t have meant “Jesus helped others get to heaven, but he cannot help himself get... Read more
After reading up on the history of the early church several years ago, I came across a saying used by some of the church fathers which was: Conversatio Morem! What I love about this phrase is that it can be translated two different ways, depending on the context. The first way is, “Death To The Status Quo!”, and I must say, I love this translation. It embodies a counter-cultural aspect of Christian discipleship that I long to reclaim. If I ever get... Read more
Today I had to erase a giant whiteboard. It was a huge board that stretched across an entire side of the wall. It’s easily 20 yards across. But it was filthy. Someone had previously attempted to clean the board. That was obvious. It was streaked from top to bottom with a heavy black film. Someone had probably sprayed that cleaning solution all over the board and used the eraser – not a clean paper towel – and instead of cleaning... Read more
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