In several debates that have taken place over the last few months, there has been an increasing number of people who complain that they are being targeted by the “tone police.” In their minds, the “tone police” are those who going around during a discussion and tell people that they don’t disagree with their argument, but their tone is wrong. In response to the rebukes about tone, some have argued that tone shouldn’t matter. “After all,” they say, “if you... Read more
Unless you have been living under a rock, you have heard about the controversy over the recent comments by Phil Robertson in GQ Magazine. In the resulting firestorm, Phil has been suspended from the show by A&E. The controversy has been intense and everyone has an opinion about what has happened. My thoughts on this issue are too scattered to try to write about what I think of his suspension and the resulting backlash. At the same time, there is... Read more
If you are not accustomed to reading the Bible, thinking about trying to learn it can be intimidating. The Bible is long, was written in a different culture, and demands a lot of thought to understand. The biggest question when approaching the Bible is where to begin. Fifteen years ago I was introduced to John MacArthur’s approach to learning the content of the New Testament and failed to put it into practice. After rediscovering his practice a few years ago,... Read more
Yesterday I was listening to a conversation about the Jameis Winston case on a national sports talk radio station. Winston is the Quarterback for Florida State and is considered to be the favorite to win the Heisman Trophy. Last month the public learned that a young woman reported Winston to the police for allegedly assaulting her last December. After looking over all of the evidence, the Florida State Attorney’s Office announced last week there was not sufficient evidence to charge... Read more
We’ve all heard it before, especially in the South. “I don’t want anything to do with the church because so many of them are hypocrites. I don’t go to church and I live a better life than they do.” It’s a difficult if not impossible charge to dispute. There are many who claim the name of Christ whose example does not match what they profess to believe. The problem of hypocrisy in the church is real, and it is one... Read more
Yesterday was the 150th anniversary of the Gettysburg address. President Obama read the address and seemingly omitted the words “under God” from the address. You can see this in the video below at 1:33-1:35. The response from conservative Christians (which is what I am) have collectively expressed their disdain for the President doing so and have pointed to this as another example of rising antiChristian bigotry rearing its ugly head in our nation. Christians feel this way for a reason,... Read more
This post has been stirring in my heart for a couple of years. It’s not in response to any sermons that I have heard lately, but rather is something that has been eating at me since a sermon I heard at a Pastors’ Conference two years ago. Allow me to summarize the sermon for you, “Things stink in America right now. Things in America stink because the church stinks and doesn’t do enough to reach people. In particular, your church... Read more
Today I will be speaking to a group of high school students about generosity. Generosity is one of those things that it is easy to guilt people into. You can point out the affluence of Americans compared to the rest of the world or talk about our rampant materialism and the damage that it can cause. Another track is to show people biblical passages where God tells us to give and threaten people that God will curse their finances if... Read more
This Sunday our church is continuing our series “The Gospel and the Family” by talking about what it means to be a godly man. While studying for this sermon, I ran across some research about men and the church in Darrin Patrick’s book Church Planter. The typical U.S. church congregation draws an adult crowd that’s 61% female, 39% male. This gender gap shows up in all age categories.On any given Sunday there are 13 million more adult women than men... Read more
“USA Christians like Starbucks more than Christ, latte’s more than Lordship, doughnuts over discipleship, entertainment over evangelism.” This tweet popped up in my timeline the other day. It stood out because of it’s graceless negativity and also because I have heard its author engage in similar guilt-driven rhetoric before. (Actually I heard him in a sermon say that every unbelieving neighbor that we have condemns us which led to me saying “I am not condemned” out loud. Of course I... Read more
One Degree to Another
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