Author Archives: Clark Bunch

Welcome to the World

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A straw man is an argument set up by one’s opponent that can easily be defeated.  This video is quite condemning of Christianity as an organized religion.  If all these things were true I probably wouldn’t be a Christian either.  Watch the video a couple of times, and perhaps take a minute to calm down.  You may need a dose of Maalox, then consider these counter points:

  • You WERE NOT born worthless.  If Christians are teaching this as doctrine they need to be slapped, not the makers of this film.  You are fearfully and wonderfully made in the image of God.  There is no person without worth, regardless of the judgements passed by the world or by Christians. Continue reading →

From the Mouths of Babes

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Our daughter Johannah is 26 months.  This past Sunday she looks at the mural behind our baptistry and says “Jesus is taking a bubble bath.”

It was adorable at the time, perhaps because a bubble bath is the only kind of bath she knows about.  It took me three days to realize she can recognize pictures of Jesus when she sees them.  Wow.

Moses vs. God

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God speaks to Moses through the burning bush in Exodus 3.  God has heard the cry of the Hebrews slaves, and remembers his covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.  The affliction and time table described in Genesis 15 has been accomplished, and God is ready to lead his people out of Egypt and to the promised land.  The only thing standing in the way of Moses leading them is out is… Moses.  He goes point/counterpoint with God, listing new objections as God responds to each. Continue reading →

What About Ghosts?

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Halloween is coming up.  You can read my obigatory Halloween rant here; I want this post to be something else.  Let’s examine the reality of witches, demons, evil spirts and ghosts.  Let’s separate literal truth from literary fiction, because in this life “We do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorites, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.”  Eph 6: 12

In Matthew 14, Jesus comes to the disciples walking on water.   Continue reading →

Lessons from Jonah

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There is old saying about quality over quantity.  The old testament book of Jonah is only 4 chapters long, but it has much to teach us.

Lesson #1: Listen to God

Many people spend a lifetime “searching” for God.  Even those who know God still spend much time seeking his will.  God plainly speaks to Jonah, telling him exactly what he wants done.  God has ordained the events of history.  Paul says we see through a glass darkly, so it makes sense to listen to the one who sees all things clearly.  Consider Genesis 50 and Acts 2 when pondering free will.  Man does what he wants, God always gets what he wants.  God had plans for Nineveh, and Jonah was to be the instrument God used.  We could save ourselves a lot of pain (and wasted time, energy and effort) if we would just listen to God in the first place, especially when he makes it that clear. Continue reading →

What About the Sailors?

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UPDATE: This post was my first impression while reading Jonah.  My 3-point sermon, after revising this post, is called Lessons from Jonah.

So I was reading Jonah yesterday.  Despite Veggie Tales getting a 2-hour feature film out it, there’s actually very little material.  The entire book is only four chapters, and one of those is really short.  Okay, here’s what I noticed. Continue reading →

Christmas Creep

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Have you seen it yet?  Most retailers are geared up for Halloween, but you get the distinct feeling that Christmas isn’t too far behind.  Except for the fact that it’s still three months away.

I’m not referring to your weird uncle (everybody has a weird uncle).  Christmas creep refers to the gradual tendency for Christmas celebration (retailing) to start a little earlier each year.   Continue reading →

Recommended: Alltop

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If you’ve never heard of Alltop, it is an aggregator of sorts.  It is actually a collection aggrgators, and they can be arranged by the user depending on what it is you want to find.  The Christianity page at Alltop is a collection of RSS feeds from a wide variety of Christian blogs and websites.  Tall Skinny Kiwi and Internet Monk are there, for example.  You will also find dozens of others that you may never have stumbled across otherwise.

I may add the page to the Useful Resources list on my sidebar in the near future.  Go explore, you may find yourself with a new blog friend or two soon.  Just don’t forget to come back sometime (seeing as how I’m not on it).

ABS Survey on Bible Reading

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The American Bible Society is collecting a suvey to see how people use the Bible.  It takes only a few minutes to comple, click here to participate.

Can a Christian …

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Can a person be a Christian and _________?  We’ve all heard that or wrestled with it at one time or another.  We may  be tempted at times to wish for a simple list of 80 gazillion rules that spell out every possible situation, leaving no grey areas to deal with.  That’s basically what they had in the Old Testament and that didn’t work out either.  There are so many issues the Bible either doesn’t speak to or doesn’t address as clearly as we would like.  Can a Christian drink?  What about smoking?  Can I be a Christian and still get a tattoo/play cards/dance/listen to pop, rap and/or country music?

The Bible may seem at times to give conflicting instruction.  We are to walk circumspectly of the world, and to not love the world or the things the world loves.  Paul makes cryptic statements like “all things are lawful for me but not all things are profitable.”  That’s the law of grace, but… what?  Can I play Texas Hold’em or not?

Dave Miller at SBC Voices does an awesome job with this.  He divides most issues up into four categories, and rather than attempt to answer each question he guides the individual to set up a rubric of sorts to work them out.  I found this post in particular very well written and extremely helpful.  He links to many other posts in the series.  Highly recommended.