Terry Jones, pastor of Dove World Outreach Centre in Gainesville, FL, has declared 9/11 “Burn a Koran Day.” Publicizing the event has earned Jones multiple death threats, and many have threatened to burn down his church as well. Jones is also the author of “Islam is of the Devil,” and his church has a large sign out front that reads the same. You can read more on the event here. Many Christian groups have tried to convince the church to cancel the event, still scheduled to take place next month. Continue reading
Category Archives: religion
Religion is Bad News
If you type “religion, gospel” into the Google search bar, you get 3.6 million results in about 0.22 seconds. Search on WordPress and the results are even more along the lines of “Religion vs. the Gospel” and such like. Lots of people are aware of the shortcomings of religion compared to the Good News of Jesus Christ. But even for the believer, and certainly for everyone else, the temptation is still there to not fully trust in the concept of grace.
In Mark’s Gospel (Mk. 5:1-20) Jesus and the disciples land on the coast of the Gerasenes. They encounter Legion, a mad man filled with demons. After Jesus casts the demons into a herd of pigs, the locals are amazed to see the man formerly known as Legion clothed and in his right mind. Rather than allow him to follow, Jesus commands him to go back to his home town and tell them what God has done. In this case, the man does so. Ergo: You don’t have to fix all your problems before coming to Jesus. How many people plan to come to church as soon as they quit drinking, stop smoking, get back with their ex-wife, find a job, etc. etc. We cannot fix our own problems, and if we could then we wouldn’t need Jesus in the first place. Remember what Jesus told the Pharisees; it is the sick who need a physician, not the well.
The rich young man (Mk. 10:17-22) come to Jesus with one simple question; What must I do to be saved. Religion is about what we do. We could substitute Law if we were comparing the Law to the Gospel. Keeping the Law, very religious. This man claims to have keep each of the commandments since his youth. Unlikely. David was a man after God’s own heart, and he failed all kinds of ways to keep the Law. We simply cannot do what is right, just like we cannot in and of ourselves fix what is wrong. Religion is what we do; grace is what God has already done.
We can’t. That’s the story of fallen man. We can’t keep the Law. We can’t be right. We can’t fix what’s wrong. Religion is our attempt to either be right or fix the wrong, and we the human people are epic failures at both. Religion is bad news; the Gospel is Good News. Tell the world.
Separation of Church, State and Twitter
Read the full story here (CNN). The issue is over Rep John Shimkus (R- IL) posting Bible verses daily on his Twitter account. Political activist Barry Lynn claims that Shimkus tweeting Bible verses is a violation of separation of church and state. My argument is that the only people reading the verses are the 3,000 or so followers who subscribe to receive the tweets. There is no violation here. Hundreds of comments took the same or similar positions, including those of atheists, agnostics, and those simply identifying themselves as non-Christian.
The establishment clause states that Congress shall make no law establishing a religion. Sending personal tweets is not a legislative procedure. Shimkus is also granted the first amendment right to express himself and exercise his religious beliefs freely. Again, he is not quoting the Bible on the floor of Congress but in tweets read by his followers. Does anyone care to weigh in, or is this matter too cut and dried to debate?
Can a Homosexual be a Christian?
I’ve written before on Christians fighting the culture war. It is certainly going on, but to what degree are we expected to change this culture we live in versus walk circumspectly of it? Paul was certainly aware of what went on in the public bath houses as he planted churches across Greece, but we don’t find him standing outside those bath houses carrying signs in the first century. He went on planting churches and training pastors, and as far was we know never once made a sandwich board about God hating fags. (Google Fred Phelps if that doesn’t make sense).
Many Christians, evangelicals in particular, have done a questionable job dealing with cultural issues like homosexuality. Can a homosexual also be a Christian? Please don’t answer that question, at least not here. Check out the conversation going on over at Life in Mordor. The Fellowship has grown to three, and as far as I know the door has not been closed. Joe Derbes wasted no time, and jumped right in with both feet on this issue.
Can You Really _______ for Jesus?
This is a promotional video for the Light of the World Ballet Company. I’ve watched two performances today, and didn’t take a single picture or video.
These are professional performers who tour the world, entering places like India and China that perhaps wouldn’t be open to missionaries (preachers) and share the Gospel while they are there. Perhaps only Baptists would even second guess ballet as ministry. Are other denominations as critical of dancing? “A praying knee and a dancing foot don’t grow on the same leg,” I was told by one preacher’s wife. Very Baptist.
I told our students (private Christian school) that whatever God has gifted them to do, do that for the glory and honor of God. How many country music singers learned to sing in church, or got their start in the church choir? But let me open this box: Can you really do anything for the glory and honor of God? David danced before the Lord; Psalm 150 mentions dancing, blowing horns and crashing symbols. But where is the line? Can you skateboard for Jesus? Bowl for Jesus? Play in a Christian rock band? Are there things “done for Jesus” that are really just whatever we wanted to do in the first place? Can you really (fill in the blank) for Jesus? Or maybe answer this question: What’s the strangest thing you’ve ever witnessed supposedly done for the glory of God? I could easily link “preaching baby” again.
Who Framed Jesus?
I can tell that Easter is near. Every year about this time, several television specials and news magazines focus on the fact that Christians still believe in Jesus even though they should not. In about a week, expect Time Magazine (or its equivalent) to run a cover story on how/why the resurrection could not have possibly taken place. Predictably, they will claim Jesus either 1) did not die 2) stayed dead, or 3) was never alive in the first place. Each year, several media outlets predict an end to Christian faith, despite the fact that each year there are still billions of Christians around the world. Continue reading
The Ten Percent Tithe
Tithing is a tricky thing. If a church pastor preaches a sermon on tithing, he will be accused of being interested only in money. The pastor’s salary (minister, priest, etc) is probably set in the church budget. It’s not like if the church has a good day at the offering plate, he’s going out to Golden Corral after the service. But try to teach on the subject of tithing if you don’t believe me, and see if words like meddling or greedy aren’t tossed around freely.
The issue I wish to address here is the practice many Christians have of tithing exactly ten percent of each dollar earned. I mean to respond to questions such as:
- Is tithing an Old Testament command?
- Are Christians required to tithe?
- Does Jesus demand a tithe?
- How much should one tithe, if anything? Continue reading
The Pagan Roots of Halloween; and Easter and Christmas
Just like the Internet Monk rants here, I was raised in a fundamentalist Baptist home. We read the King James Bible, went to Sunday School, prayer meeting, revival, and every other time the church door was open. We didn’t wear shorts at my childhood home, nor go swimming in mixed company. My dad went to the public school and had me excused from the two weeks of swimming our P.E. class had in August. Dad was a street preacher, standing on the corner of a downtown city block shouting the Gospel at passing traffic. (He still does that once a week, but I no longer hand out tracts to pedestrian passersby.)
But you know what my parents did let us do? Go trick-or-treating. Continue reading
Parable of the Sower (Fling the Gospel)
In Mark chp 4, one of the parables Jesus shares is the Parable of the Sower. If you didn’t just click the link to Mark 4, it may be that you know this parable well. I hope you either know this story already, or at least take the time to read it now. After telling this particular parable, Jesus goes on to explain its meaning. The seed is the gospel, and what happens illustrates many things that could happen to those who hear the gospel shared. What I want to foucs on for a moment is exactly what Jesus meant by “went out to sow.” Continue reading
On the Other Hand (Jesus is God)
Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned— for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come.
But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man’s trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many. And the free gift is not like the result of that one man’s sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification. For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ. -Romans 5: 12-17
In some ways, Jesus is like Adam. By one man’s transgression, sin entered the world. And by one man’s righteousness, victory over sin entered the world. Adam and Jesus are alike in that both are a type of “first man.” At the same time, they are total opposites if you think about it. Adam was the first man to sin; Jesus was the first man to live without sin. Continue reading
The Master's Table 