Category Archives: Christianity

Unanswered Prayer

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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 Internet for Church Update

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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.

When the Church Does Not Understand the Gospel

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We’ve all seen the same news stories, right?  A pastor in North Carolina (Charles Worley) suggests we put all the “gays” inside an electric fence, provide food and water, and wait for them to die out.  Another pastor in Kansas sites Old Testament scripture that homosexuals should be stoned to death.  And then there’s the kid with the questionable song lyrics, but let’s leave him to his parents.  In the first place he is a minor; secondly, and more importantly, he is probably a reflection of his parents’ world view and has not yet developed his own.

The internet can give a national or even global voice to writers, preachers, etc. that are in otherwise obscure places (such as myself).  What I think we’re really dealing with in the North Carolina story is culture shock.  Fundamentalist preachers in the Carolina’s, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, Kentucky and so forth probably say a hundred things every week that would shock people, including Christians, from other backgrounds.  I can only imagine what would happen if journalists in New York started listening to every fundamentalist, Pentecostal, charismatic or even Southern Baptist sermon from below the Mason-Dixon line each week. Continue reading →

The Internet – Email, Blogging, Social Media – for Church

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Chances are that if you were in the “blogging is a waste of time” camp you wouldn’t be reading this one right now.  While I may be preaching to the choir, what I plan to do is share my reasoning on how the Internet is a tool that can be used by churches to support their ministry, build community and share the Gospel.

I have personal friends in real life that have deleted their Facebook accounts because they are a waste of time.  “There’s nothing but junk on there” was the reasoning.  I know Christians that lament having wifi and DSL in their home because it distracts them from studying scripture.  Unplugging your internet is much worse than evangelicals who tossed out their t.v. sets in the 80’s.  Television only works one way; the Internet is a two way street. Continue reading →

Reading 2 Timothy

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By modern standards, 2 Timothy 1:8-12 is something of a run-on sentence.  I am going to break my own rule and quote only a portion of the complete thought:

“…who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace…”  2 Tim 1:9

That is the verse I quoted to the church the night I announced my call to preach, and still one of my favorites in all of scripture.  I have just finished reading 2 Timothy, and like Reading 1 Timothy will be sharing some of the more prominent passages.  The format is a little different, and I will be sharing more of my own comments. Continue reading →

Reading 1 Timothy

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Timothy was a young pastor being mentored by the Apostle Paul.  Half the books of what we call the New Testament were letters written by Paul, many of them to specific churches (Ephesus, Corinth, Galatia, etc.) but some to individuals, such as Timothy, Titus and Philemon.  1 and 2 Timothy could almost be thought of as early “minister manuals” but there are also instructions for selecting deacons, supporting widows, and to all believers to practice godliness.

1 Timothy is a mere six chapters.  Here is a link to 1 Timothy 1 at ESV Bible.  If you click “listen” a disembodied voice will even read it to you.  At the end of chp 1 simply click “1 Timothy 2” to go on.  Bible Gateway has many different English versions.  (I would rather folks read any version of the Bible than not read at all.)  Below are some of my favorite passages, but I highly recommend the entire book, which can be read in a matter of minutes.  *emphasis in bold are my own

  • The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life. To the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.  (1 Timothy 1:15-17 ESV) Continue reading →

Marriage Equality in the United States

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The Christian blogosphere is lit up with Obama’s public support for gay marriage rights in the United States.  My post yesterday was a knee-jerk reaction to hearing the news.  That post is about the biblical definition of marriage, that goes off on a tangent of America not being a “Christian nation.”  This post is more about the news: Obama supports gay marriage rights, some demographics, and speculation about this election year.

Obama coming out in support of what he calls marriage equality comes just a few days after Biden made similar remarks on NBC’s Meet the Press.  Others in his administration were making similar statements and there is speculation that Obama was somewhat pressured into taking a similar stance.  Even if that’s how he already felt personally, this is the strongest statement he has ever made regarding gay and lesbian rights.  We now have an American president that public supports gay and lesbian marriage. Continue reading →

Is It a Sin to Get a Tattoo?

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I was leaving a comment on another blog and it got out of control.  I decided to post instead and link to it.

For a person getting a tattoo to disobey God, there would have to be verse of scripture that says “Do not get a tattoo.” Some would be surprised to find there is no such verse in the Bible.

I know, Leviticus 19:28 says not to get a tattoo. Shame on any Bible translation (and most of them do, sadly including the ESV) that renders any Hebrew word as “tattoo.” That commandment is about cutting, specifically involving a practice of worshiping the dead. You have to consider the context of the command; who God was talking to, the time period, and where they were. The Hebrews were meant to live (act, dress, eat, worship) differently than the many pagan, polytheistic cultures surrounding them. Continue reading →

Our Mission is Not Their Mission

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The Bible tells one story; the Old Testament and the New are both part of that story.  The message of scripture from beginning to end is how a holy God, perfect in righteousness, deals with humanity, which is fallen, broken and unrighteous.  At the center of that story is Jesus.

There is a definite relationship between the old covenant and the new.  I often describe Judaism as a analogy for Christianity.  The Hebrews in the Old Testament are analogous in many ways to Christians of the New Testament.  There are many similarities but we must be clear: the two are not the same.  The Hebrews came out of Egypt on a mission; as Christians we should be on mission.  But our mission is very different from their mission. Continue reading →

Taking a Stand: Sproul, MacArthur

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Ligonier Ministries West Coast Conference will take place in June in Seattle. R.C. Sproul, founder of Ligonier, will lead the event with John MacArthur headlining as well. They will address biblical authority, the resurrection of Jesus and the exclusivity of Christ. Evangelicals will be called upon to take a firm stand against an increasingly hostile culture. Sproul sites the “new atheists” as having more boldness than ever before because they know the culture is already on their side.

“Christians in our day and in our world and in our culture have to disabandon themselves of this idea that we are living in the cradle of a Christian culture,” he said. “We are not. We are living in a culture that is not simply indifferent to the Christian faith but it is actively hostile.”

This is a preview; read the full article here, via Christian Post.