During the incarnation Jesus walked the earth robed in flesh. He ate food when he was hungry, drank water when he was thirsty, he experience physical and emotional pain because like us he lived in a body of flesh and blood. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. -Hebrews 4:15
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The Internet Monk Archives contain over 7,000 posts from 20 years of Internet Monk. Michael Spencer started blogging around the time of the 2000 election (remember hanging chads?) and continued as the Internet Monk until his passing in 2010. He turned the reigns of the website over to Chaplain Mike Mercer, a kindred spirit he believed to be on the same spiritual journey. Most of you know this story. I met Michael in 2003 but didn’t start blogging myself until after he started the iMonk Radio podcast in 2007.
Continue readingiMonk Radio Podcast #128 is up and running. Here is a link.
Why is it so easy for evangelicals to move away from the Gospel? Michael Spencer addresses this issue by carefully examining Paul’s words to the Galatians.
Today’s secret phrase is “good coffee.” Listen for it.
He Cannot Save Himself is a poem I wrote some years ago for Good Friday. It presents an account of the crucifixion based on the Gospels in scripture. I want to go ahead and post it now, a couple of weeks before Palm Sunday, Good Friday and Easter, so that my readers have time to share it. If you wish to reblog, share on social media, or even print the poem in a church bulletin or elsewhere, feel free to do so just give the original author a by line. This photo is one I took myself, of a crucifix hanging in my office.
He Cannot Save Himself
A poem for Good Friday
He did not say “God’s will has no place in the House of Representatives.” Jerry Nadler did say “God’s will is no concern of this congress” when speaking to those opposing the Equality Act on the basis that freedom of speech, particularly as related to freedom of religion, would be restricted. While it may not be the purpose of Congress to seek God’s will, it is paramount that the rights of all Americans are respected and upheld by any and every action they take. The number of Christians in the United States may vary depending on who you ask – which relates directly to how one defines a Christian, which varies depending on who you ask – but Wikipedia states that the US has the largest Christian population per capita of any nation at 205 million. The Pew Research Center identifies 70% of the population as Christian and another 6% as holding non-Christians faiths. The will of God is a concern of millions of Americans and our elected representatives cannot represent all of their constituents fairly if they ignored that fact. Congress is not a body of religious leaders but must recognize that a large population of those they lead are religious people.
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Michael Spencer never wrote a book about parenting, dealing with issues related to raising children and teens in a Christian environment. If he had, he would have written that forming Christian identity is a better course in the long run than programming Christian behavior. This podcast episode explores some of those issues.
The Happy Monday posts began during the summer of 2012. The original format was based on the idea that after a weekend of going out for family and social gatherings, sporting events and church activities people might need a little encouragement and to catch up on news or happenings. The first two or three weekly posts featured a metal count from the summer Olympic games. While the goal was to help readers start their week off right, sometimes the posts leaned a little heavy on the news. One friend in real life told me that when he read the post he didn’t see much to be happy about. Over a few months the format morphed into the a regular template we follow pretty closely: an opening bit, a welcome line or sometimes just the post number, an Old Testament verse, New Testament verse, two inspiring quotations usually featuring at least one Christian author or personality, usually a Coffee with Jesus comic strip to transition from the serious into the silly stuff, then up to four memes, cartoons or cute aminals to put smiles on faces. Mondays are tough, we do what we can.
Continue readingIt’s been three years since I first saw Wasabi Baby. My advice is watch it at least twice.
Pope Francis is visiting Iraq. The main objective of his visit is to encourage the small number of Christians there and encourage Muslims to live at peace with those Christians. Some notable places Christians read about in the Old Testament, such as the Garden of Eden and Ur, the birthplace of Abraham, would be located in the modern nation of Iraq. Francis is expected to visit Ur on this current trip. Click here to read more about the pope’s visit.
Continue readingIn this episode: Music from Randy Stonehill
Gospel of Mark study on Jesus Shaped Spirituality
Oxfordian Heressy (more commonly known as Oxfordian Theory)
Very interesting thoughts, considering where we are now and realizing this podcast is a decade old, on people that become “experts” after reading a few articles from a Google search.
Exposition on The Coming Evangelical Collapse; while archived posts from InternetMonk.com no longer exist, you can read an article bearing the same title, compiled from those posts, on The Christian Science Monitor. That publication is behind a paywall but you can read three free articles each month.
The Master's Table 