Category Archives: Christianity

Should Christians fight the culture war?

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This is what the ancient ruins of Corinth look like today. Special thanks to Joe for the image, who had the chance to visit this site last year.

The Apostle Paul spent most of his ministry in places like Greece and Rome, far away from the church at Jerusalem and God’s chosen people, the Hebrews. The Grecco-Roman world was populated by a pantheon of pagan gods and goddesses, whose stories of jelousy and betrayal make our soap operas look like children’s stories. It is probably safe to say most Greek adult men were bisexual (I was actually taught they all were.) A skilled craftsmen, for instance, would have had a wife and children at home, but also have been having sex with a younger apprentice who was studying the master’s trade. This was typical in the culture. The public bath houses were “meeting places” for leaders of the city and merchants to meet daily. The original Olympic games were held nude; and only men were allowed.

Paul would have been surrounded by it. There’s no way he missed the decadent and sinful way of life going on all around him. But we don’t see Paul marching through the streets of Corinth or Ephesus wearing a sandwich board sign declaring that “God hates fags,” Fred Phelps style. Continue reading →

Free will, or not free will?

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Today that is the question. We clearly read in scripture where God has ordained certain events to take place. God establishes thrones and kingdoms on the earth, to serve in certain instances, as instruments he uses to bring about his righteous judgment, or at other times to show his mighty hand. He is the Lord of history. But.. what about free will? If humanity has the will to choose for himself, how does God predestine historical events? That my friend is the right question.

Okay, I’m going to cheat. I’m not exactly going to answer these quesitons, but give you some useful information as you work it out. In Genesis chp. 50, Joseph tells his brothers “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.” They had evil in their heart when they sold Joseph into slavery, but God used it to bring about his purpose and plan.

Consider this passage from Acts 2:23 “this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men.” God’s plan of salvation called for Jesus to die as a sacrifice. The evil men of the first century, whom Peter is preaching to in Acts, carried out God’s plan in order to bring salvation.

Man does what he wants; God gets what he wants.

Let’s try something new. Below is video of this sermon being preached on Sunday, May 18th. Sorry about the sound quality. This is my first attempt at uploading digital video. (The video made me nervous; I’m normally a better public speaker than a writer.)

The Cross of Christ?

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You need to see the image for this to work.  If you’re getting this from a reader, you may want to stop in for a minute.

This is a real product.  I jokingly refer to it as i-Cross.  The question is, does this help promote the gospel message?  Does this help the believer give the cross of Christ the right place in our lives?  Or is this making the Father’s house a den of thieves rather than a house of prayer?

I read and enjoyed the prayer of Jabez.  Whatever you thought of the book, it started a whole phenomenon.  There were Jabez t-shirts, prayer journals, desk calendars, study Bibles, the list goes on.  Remember WWJD?  It had all of the above, plus children’s items like backpacks and bracelets.  Christian bookstores are supercenters for a mass of products besides books anymore.  Publishers of books and music are running a business, and are looking for products to sell.  If i-Cross sells a million units, you can bet they’ll quickly make a million more.  Is this product God honoring and Christ centered, or just more Jesus junk?  Let me know what you think.

Gay marriage in California

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Are we really surprised?  I read online where someone called it a “Day of Shame” when the California Courts ruled a law unconstitutional that defined marriage as between a man and a woman.  I’m not sure California has any shame left. 

Remember the case a few years ago (I’m thinking ’02, maybe ’03) regarding the phrase “under God” in the Pledge?  The father in that case, offended his daughter had to say that in school, had first gone to court in Florida.  After losing there, he decided he had the best chances in California.  This guy moved his family across the country so he could be offended by the pledge in California, and sue there.  And he was right; a judge there sided with him, on the basis of First Ammendment rights, and separation of church and state.    The whole country knows California is way left, and I don’t mean geographically.

San Fransico has been a Mecca of gay and lesbians since the 1960’s.  “If you’re going to California, be sure to wear some flowers in your hair… You’re gonna’ meet some gentle people there.”  There is no single day in California more shameful than any other day. 

I’ve been hapily married for the past ten years.  My wife and I are unusual in the fact that we both grew up in happy, unbroken homes.  I believe in holy matrimony, as described by God in the Bible.  We live in a free country; if you want to have homosexual intercourse, you’re well within your rights to do so.  But don’t call it marriage.  That cheapens and degrades the marrital relationship I have with my wife.  Marriage is the first institution created by God.  Do what you wish with your gay lovers, but leave “marriage” to those of us who understand and appreciate it. 

Jesus has left my building…

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…and I’m leaving with him.

UPDATE: Internet Monk has deleted the original article this post references.

Many of my readers are already familiar with the internetmonk. His latest blog post is the best thing he’s written in a long time in my opinion. If you’re a fan of his, you know he’s been going through some kind of “funk” for while. If you’re not already reading internetmonk, I want Jesus has left my building…and I’m leaving with him to be the first thing of his you read. It’s way more than just a reminder that denominations are the creation of man.

This link is to a post I wrote in March about the ecumenical and international nature of the ministry I’m a part of. If you stand in a room with people from many different nations, or perhaps many different types of Christians – or both – then you get a glimpse of what Heaven is going to be like. The gospel message is even now being carried to every tribe, every tongue, every nation. Heaven is not going to be divided by denominational differences; all people from all the ages will gather together in praising God. Jesus will be the firstborn of a large family; a family made up of Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians, Lutherans, Episcopals, Roman Catholics, Messianic Jews and a host of others. There are over 30 Protestant denominations, plus Ethiopian Orthodox Christians, non-denominationals, and God only knows – literally – how many others. But there is one God, one faith, and one baptism.

We will sit down as God’s children some day; we should live like we believe that.

The Failure of Science vs. Religion

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When I first heard of “Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed” I was hoping it would open some doors. I was optimistic that the popularity of this movie would get people asking the right questions, and that Christians would have some answers ready. It could be expected that atheists, evolutionists and Darwinists would oppose the film and its ideas, but Expelled has also received negative criticism from other circles.

Intelligent Design is sort of a redheaded stepchild to begin with. It is not creationism, and conservative evangelicals think of ID as a compromise between religion and science. They accuse ID of trying to “water down” religious faith enough that science can accept it. So IDers are going to take it from both sides; Darwinists who think that it’s creationism as well as religious zealots who thinks it isn’t creationism enough. Continue reading →

Looking for God?

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“He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.” Colossians 1:15-20 (ESV)

The image of the invisible God; I’ve always loved that verse. To put it simply, God cannot be seen. At least not by man. His glory is more than we can handle. He said so. That’s the beauty of Jesus: he is God. Continue reading →

Tough questions

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Some questions I know are going to come up, so I’m prepared to answer. “How do we the Bible is true?” “Does the Bible contradict itself?” “Was the world created in seven days?” I know these are coming, I’ve answered them before, someone will ask them again in the future. But last night some church youth caught me off guard. At first I was stumped because I couldn’t believe high school kids sat around and thought about stuff like this. The question was about the Apostle’s Creed, specifically about Jesus descending into hell. Church youth in a Baptist church ask me if that was true. When I came to, I gave a very political answer that allowed me to avoid saying yes or no. But let’s unpack this issue. Continue reading →

Very busy

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This is a very busy week!!!  I’ve driven a bus for our baseball team twice this week, did Wednesday night with church youth, and I’m taking a group of kids to Bible drill Friday night.  Yeah, they still have Bible drill where I live.  It’s like I died and went to the 50’s.  A group of our local kids qualified for like a regional thing.  We’re driving 2 hours for this.  ANYWAY, very busy, little time for blogging, let’s hit it.

Today was May 1st.  It was RSS Awardness Day, and I didn’t make up a new post for it last night.  Click here to read up on RSS, then tell a friend.  Most bloggers already know about it, but the vast majority of internet users do not. 

May 1st is also the National Day of Prayer each year.  I knew there would be events all over the country, but haven’t heard of any that made news so far. Often, the only news I get is what my students see in first period each day; and what I read in blogs, yeah, there’s that. 

The Words of Jesus

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I haven’t read The Words of Jesus, a Gospel of the Sayings of our Lord so this is not a book review; yet. I plan to as soon as possible. Why? I just found out that Phyllis Tickle graduated from Shorter College in 1955. What do you mean “So what?” I graduated from Shorter a few years later myself (1998). As a matter of fact, my 10 year class reunion will be this fall. I found out the hard way that many of the people I graduated from high school with, well, we no longer have a great deal in common. I’ve already been to a 5 year college reunion, and that was much better. Shorter College is a private liberal arts college, so my cohorts and I have a basis of Christian/Baptist background, and many education majors to boot. Phyllis Tickle is an alumnus of my own Alma Mater, so I plan to read the book and get back to you. I do know the book takes the words and teachings of Jesus and puts them together to form narrative. She’s very humble about not knowing if the idea will catch on or not. It sounds promising. (I said the same thing about “Expelled,” but this should be different.)