Category Archives: religion

What is Advent?

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advent_wreath_06The advent of something refers to its first appearing.  In our culture, Christmas has turned into the Christmas season.  This year it started about a week before Halloween, and will run until December 25th.  The “Holiday Season” will actually extend until January 1st.  All of this “Christmas creep” has a quite a negative effect on Christmas.

If we are celebrating the incarnation of Jesus Christ on Christmas Day, the two-month Christmas season detracts from the actual day itself.  I respond to the notion that our society stole Christmas from Christians and turn it into a secular holiday here.  What I would like to do in this post is comment on a purely Christian tradition of celebrating Advent. Continue reading →

A Thanksgiving Sermon

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Tomorrow is Sunday, November 23, and Thanksgiving Day is the following Thursday.  I will be preaching this sermon in the morning, perhaps it will be a blessing to someone here as well.  Anyone may feel free to use this material in a way that brings glory and honor to God.

We are going to begin with 4 scripture readings, used at different times during the service.  You will note that there is one reading each from the Old Testament, New Testament, Psalms and a Gospel.  The final reading is the text of the sermon. Continue reading →

The Abbreviated Jesus

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bargainjesusWhen I started this blog, one of the secret little promises I made myself was that it wouldn’t be an Internet Monk fan site.  Listening to his podcast is one of the reasons I started blogging myself.  If you read this blog, you know that from time to time I link other blogs with posts of interest.  Michael Spencer wrote a piece on the “abbreviated Jesus” this week, here’s a snippet that made me laugh out loud:

“The abbreviated Jesus can convincingly seem like the real Jesus, until you look and listen closely. Then it appears that he’s lost his laptop, his luggage and his cell phone. So for right now, he’s reading it all off the teleprompter.”

Read Do You Trust the Abbreviated Jesus?  at internetmonk for the full story.

PBS Documentary on Martin Luther

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martin-lutherOver the years, PBS has produced a series of programs on the history of empires.  In 2003, they made 2 special episodes on Martin Luther.  (Liam Neeson provides the narration.)  Thanks to Hulu, these are available for your viewing pleasure at any time.

UPDATE: These were available for a very long time but have finally been removed from Hulu’s library. 3/31/14

The PBS website for the the films is still up at this address for the time being. I don’t know about getting the video but there is plenty to read.

 

 

The Invisible Sky Bully

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godThe invisible sky bully; have you ever heard God referred to that way?  Even worse than calling him the “invisible man in the sky” is the notion that God pushes people around because he is bigger than them.  A real bully is often a coward, and throws his weight around or intimidates those smaller than himself with words.  Those promoting the sky bully myth would have you to believe that God orders people to worship him, and sends to hell anyone that doesn’t.  It makes it easier to not believe in a God that could be like that, or helps people to doubt there is such a God.  In a way that’s good, because there isn’t a god like that. Continue reading →

The Godless Revolution That Never Happened

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atheismI want to link to this article on atheism, but I’m afraid to at the same time.  I’m going to wind up getting into an argument that I wish I hadn’t started.  The name of the blog is Heritage and Destiny, and while the title of the post is Culture Wars, it is really about the false claims of atheism.  Here it is, please click the link and read it.  I believe atheism is a growing trend, but this article sites Gallup Poll information that shows the numbers have been pretty consistent over the years, and atheists are still quite a minority.  The new atheists may be louder, but according to the data are not growing in numbers any faster than the old passive atheists did.

Old Testament God is the God of the New Testament

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angry_godIn a lot of people’s minds, God is this angry, loud, vengeful monster in the Old Testament of the Bible.  Some non-Christians tell us we have two gods, the Old Testament one with the commandments and judgements, and the New Testament one offering grace and mercy.  The God of the Bible is one; he gives commandments, he judges, but also offers to extend grace and mercy instead.  The dichotomy may be apparent, but isn’t a matter of fact. Continue reading →

The Bible, Uses and Misuses

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bible-pagesImagine you wanted to open a one gallon can of paint.  Most all of us have a flathead screwdriver lying around in the kitchen junk drawer or else someplace handy.  You grab that and pry the lid from the can.  It’s not exactly what the screwdriver was made for, but it does the job well enough.  The Bible is like that also. Continue reading →

On the Issue of Slavery

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slavesinegypt“And why have you made us come up out of Egypt to bring us to this evil place? It is no place for grain or figs or vines or pomegranates, and there is no water to drink.”  Numbers 20:5 

In Numbers chapter 20 the Hebrews are complaining to Moses that he has brought them out of Egypt into the wilderness.  You see, even though they had been slaves in Egypt, the Hebrews were used to having certain things.  There they had lived in houses, not tents.  There was plenty of water to drink via the Nile River.  And one thing they brought up a lot was the food.  The Hebrews missed the pomegranates of all things.  Egypt had those. Continue reading →

American Christians

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crystalcathedralpipeorgansAmerican Christians are just not exactly the same as “Christians.”  That’s a sweeping generalization that I know is not true in some cases.  There are plenty of exceptions I’m sure.  But by in large, Christianity in America is light-years away from the first century church described in the New Testament. Continue reading →