Tag Archives: Christianity

Jesus has left my building…

Posted on by

…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

Posted on by

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?

Posted on by

“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

Posted on by

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 →

The Words of Jesus

Posted on by

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.)

Pray Without Ceasing (part 4 of 4)

Posted on by

Pray without ceasing means that we are continually in a spirit of communion with our Heavenly Father. It means to pray frequently, about everything, until it becomes our nature to be in prayer, not something we have to be reminded of.

Jesus not only taught his disciples to pray, but we see in the gospels how important pray was in Jesus’ own life. On one occasion, we read that Jesus gets up early in the morning, while it is still night, and goes off by himself to pray. Another time, we find that Jesus has stayed up the entire night in prayer. Even Jesus, who was God incarnate, spent time alone with God in prayer. There is no way we can be so close to God that prayer isn’t necessary. The night before his arrest, Jesus prayed in agony until his sweat became as great drops of blood. Jesus was passionate about a lot of things, but he never did anything else until it nearly killed him the way he spent this evening in prayer. Continue reading →

Teach Us to Pray (part 3 of 4)

Posted on by

I found out that I couldn’t make just one post and say everything I wanted about prayer. I was afraid of that. On this occasion, let’s look at what we commonly call The Lord’s Prayer as Jesus’ example of how we are to pray. This is the prayer he taught his followers.

“Our Father which art in heaven,” addresses the Father to let him know we are speaking to him, and reminds us who it is we pray to. The relationship is constantly before us; he is our father, and we are his children. We are children of the adoption, having been bought with a price and redeemed. “Hallowed be thy name,” since his name is holy and above all names. If we daily pray this prayer, not using God’s name in vain is almost guaranteed. “Thy kingdom come,” is both a request that God come quickly into this world, and reminds us that the kingdom of God is presently being built. We are a part of that. Continue reading →

Word of God Speak (part 2 of 4)

Posted on by

“Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.”

The Word of God, according to Psalm 119:105, lights our way through this dark world. It gives us direction, lights our way, and guides our steps. The Bible, God’s Word, provides us with instruction on how to live: how to treat the people we meet, how to find a godly spouse and raise a family, how to treat the people we work for and those that work for us, how to be honest in business, how to select church leaders, and a myriad of other tasks in life. More importantly, it is the story of how a holy God interacts with fallen people. That story is worth not only reading, but learning, studying and memorizing. The entire Bible is about we relate to God, and the intersecting point between fallen man and Holy Almighty God is Jesus. Coming to God through faith in Jesus Christ is the only hope we have, and the Bible is that story. Continue reading →

Read the Bible and pray (part 1 of 4)

Posted on by

Weren’t we all told this as children? Perhaps as a new believer the pastor shook your hand and encouraged you to read the Bible every day. As basic as it sounds, as obvious as it seems to any believer, these two activities are the cornerstones of a close walk and fellowship with our Heavenly Father. But do we practice them?

This is an introduction to a series on reading the scriptures and praying. Continue reading →

God honoring, Christ centered

Posted on by

What’s the first thing you notice when you look at da Vinci’s Last Supper? It should be Jesus. He is in the middle of the picture, with six apostles sitting on either side. The composition of the painting is designed to draw your attention to Christ, who – here comes a revelation – is at the center.

I’ve just messed with my banner design. I looked for wallpaper, banners, something other than the large blue rectangle I used to have. I’ve played around with the sub-heading several times, and have recently chosen “God honoring, Christ centered.” It’s a good match with the portrait. I changed the color of the text as well, but not sure it’s easy enough to read. Give me some feedback.