Over the weekend I got a rather feisty comment on my Ellen DeGeneras post from February (link). The commenter railed on Christians that would still shop at JC Penny after they “actively supported this!” I thought the article was clear that what the retail chain supported was buying more stuff; they sell lots of women’s clothing and DeGeneras is a public iconic figure that wears women’s clothing and probably knows a thing or two about shopping. Mr. Smith, in his comment, used words like faggot, queers, and terms such as “the homos” and suggested we would talk about his language while ignoring the depravity around us. Which does beg the question: What should the Christian response be to the proliferation of homosexuality in our culture? Continue reading
Author Archives: Clark Bunch
Case in Point
Reagan’s name gets kicked around a lot in the political arena these days, by members of both political parties. The Reagan era in the White House was a time of ultra-conservatism, returning the nation to the center after a very liberal late 60’s and 70’s. Quoting Reagan is to conservatives what Jefferson or Franklin is to Patriots. Did President Reagan actually say these words (We do not want socialized medicine) or is this a cut and paste with his picture on it? Continue reading
A Piece of My Mind
I didn’t watch the evening news the day the Supreme Court ruled on Obamacare. I held my tongue as every single person on Facebook suddenly became a constitutional scholar. I can’t take it anymore, I’m going to have to share how I really feel before a vein pops or something. Here comes my 2 cents worth.
Allow me to put on my history teacher hat. When our present system of federal government was designed by the framers of the Constitution in 1787, they were still trying to settle the representation issue. Under the Articles of Confederation (a smaller government with fewer taxes that failed miserably) each state got one vote. There were 13 states and any measure required a 2/3 majority vote. There was only one branch of government, Congress, and even if they could pass something there was no executive to carry it out. Without the power to tax, the brand new American government was already in debt from fighting the Revolutionary War and had no means of income whatsoever. Continue reading
Romney, Obama and Christianity
Some conservative Republicans are concerned that Romney being Mormon will divide the voting base, turning away some mainstream conservative Christian voters. So will they vote for Obama instead? 25% of Americans still believe Barack Obama is Muslim.
For those that believe Romney is a Christian, I’d like to point out that Obama is also. If you believe Mormons are not Christian, may I suggest that perhaps Obama is a Muslim. Now…
This an election year. In November we will select a president for the next four years. We’re not electing a pope, you will not be attending his church. Regardless of who sits in the Oval Office, we still have 535 members of Congress ensuring nothing will get passed and 7 Supreme Court Justices to overrule it if it does.
The issues in this election are unemployment, national debt, immigration, health care and mid-east wars. Let’s pretend both candidates are scientologists and move on to discussing the political views of both men.
The Read and Share File
When I heard the SBC would appoint their first ever African-American president I thought “well that’s neat.” When I learned he mangled a new motorcycle at age 21, later walking down the aisle on crutches… now there’s a guy I can respect. Read more on Fred Luter’s life in ministry here, via Baptist Press.
Here’s another story coming out of the SBC convention this week – in something of an ongoing conflict, SBC messengers passed on a resolution on the “sinner’s prayer.” The headline for the article is worded badly, but the report is excellent. Full text of the resolution is included.
It’s not nearly short enough for Twitter, but here is the message of the Bible in only 221 words.
The Donald Miller blog is going on hiatus and will return new and improved on August 1st. Here’s the list of what to expect.
Meanwhile, Tall Skinny Kiwi just changed the appearance of his blog, citing the old look as “boring.” Check it out, I like it.
I always enjoy getting some classic iMonk, and here’s a collection of original Internet Monk selections from 2005.
I don’t regularly read Mark Driscoll, so thanks to Noel Heikkinen for sharing 11 Practical Ways for Men to Lead a Family.
I didn’t even know there was a .church internet domain; meanwhile, LifeChurch.tv wants to own it.
Did the Supreme Court strike down indecency laws regulating t.v. broadcasts? No it did not, although the Associated Press initially reported so. The Court ruled a narrow decision on only the two cases, involving FOX and ABC, that were being considered. The Court did not overturn the existing laws nor consider constitutionality of the existing FCC regulations. Full story here.
The Nearest Thing to Heaven
How many times have you bitten into a delicious slice of cheesecake (insert favorite dessert here) and made the statement “I’m in Heaven?” Listening to beautiful music, attending a wedding reception, or perhaps sitting at home in a rare moment of peace and quiet can move us to feel that way at times; this is what heaven must be like. Do you ever feel that way at church?
My dad wrote a song about the church titled The Nearest Thing to Heaven. Like old country music, even Dad’s gospel songs were made of two things: 3 chords and the truth. The point of the song is simple; the Church (universal) should be the nearest thing to heaven you can find on earth. While he acknowledges there are problems and that no person nor congregation is perfect, the Church is (or should be) filled with God’s people. The Church is made up of disciples of Jesus, who are continuously learning to be more Christ-like. In short, the Church should be populated with God’s people, led by and filled with the Holy Spirit, and working for the Kingdom. With Christ as its head, the Church should be the body. That should be manifest in our worship and in our service. Worship takes place in the church building, while our service takes place Monday through Saturday outside of the church building.
Do you enjoy going to church? Continue reading
Full of God
The goal of Christians is to be conformed to the image of Christ. The reason we ask “What would Jesus do?” is to put ourselves in the right frame of mind to be Christ-like in our decision making (Philippians 2). We know from reading the Gospels and the letters of Paul that we are to think like Christ, to have the heart and mind of a servant, to be humble, to love as Christ loved, and so forth. Like John the Baptist we must make less of ourselves and more of Christ. Realizing that we can never become perfectly like Christ, the goal is to continuously work at it. As we get closer and closer, others should be able to see Christ in us. They were called Christians first at Antioch why? Because the followers of Christ at Antioch sounded and acted like the one they were following.
Ephesians 3 mentions one way to be Christ-like, which I had never noticed before. Read Colossians 1, noting verse 19 that says “For in him [Christ] all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell…” Jesus was incarnate deity, the person of God robed in a body of flesh. One aspect of Jesus Christ is that he was full of God. Now look at Ephesians 3, a short chapter in which Paul reveals the mystery of the Gospel. In particular:
For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. -Ephesians 3:14-19 ESV
There are many things we can choose to fill ourselves with; Paul says we should be full of God.
Unanswered Prayer
One of the very first things I do each day is read Our Daily Bread. Actually, I follow along while listening to Les Lamborn read it to me. Earlier this week I was disappointed when I took issue with their theology for the first time. While it’s no big surprise you get misguided theology from listening to country music (I thank God for unanswered prayers) I expected more from Our Daily Bread. The devotions printed/posted by RBC Ministries are from a collaboration of authors. Anne Cetas wrote the daily devotion for June 10th; here’s an excerpt:
One of my biggest struggles is unanswered prayer. Maybe you can relate. You ask God to rescue a friend from addiction, to grant salvation to a loved one, to heal a sick child, to mend a relationship. All these things you think must be God’s will. For years you pray. But you hear nothing back from Him and you see no results.
Read the entire post here. Continue reading
The Read and Share File
The Six Commandments? A federal judge suggests that public displays of the 10 commandments can be made constitutional by removing the four that directly mention God or the Sabbath. More here.
Tim Challies comments on The State of Preaching. Notice what he says about the Gospel.
Ridley Scott (director of Alien and it’s prequel Prometheus) says he plans to direct a Moses film. Scott is skeptical of all religion, calling it “the source of all evil.”
Chaplain Mike, of Internet Monk, takes a break from reformed theology and reminds us he has a sense of humor in Signs You May Have Hit the Wall.
I enjoy celebrating a good *blogiversary, and Tall Skinny Kiwi just turned nine.
It’s apparently been around for a while, but I just saw the Blue Like Jazz trailer this weekend (before watching MIB3).
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*There is some disagreement on spelling. I prefer blogoversary, the same way we spell blogosphere. Blogiversary uses the letter i presumably to look more like anniversary; I used the same spelling in this post that Andrew used. I’m probably overthinking it, one of the marks of a good blogger.
The Internet for Church Update
This article, from May 16, describes how email, blogging and social media are useful to the church. I suggested these are tools, resources, that we cannot afford to ignore in a world that increasing connects this way.
Grey Matter Research and Consulting released this information on May 30, providing many useful stats to support my conclusions, such as:
In the past 30 days:
- 21.5 million adults have visited the website of their own place of worship
- 10.4 million adults regularly attend worship, but visited the website of a place of worship other than their own
- 1.6 million adults do not attend worship services regularly, but visited the website of a place of worship
The numbers are more impressive when viewed over the past 6 months and then the past year. The bottom line: 17 million Americans who do not attend church regularly have visited a church website in the past year. Props to Paul Wilkinson (Thinking Out Loud) and his Link Lists for the insight.
Note: this is an update to a previous entry.
The Master's Table 