Tag Archives: religion

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 →

Teach Us to Pray (part 3 of 4)

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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 →

God honoring, Christ centered

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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.

The Difference Jesus Makes in God

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This is a follow-up to The Difference Jesus Makes, posted April 13th. That post was really about the difference Jesus makes in us.

What is God like to you? At the mention of God, all of us conjure up some image in the mind’s eye. Some imagine God to be like Zeus on Mount Olympus, tossing thunderbolts at the earth. Others have a misty, ethereal, floaty idea of a disembodied God on a cloud somewhere. Perhaps God is an old man, sitting like a grandfather in a rocking chair, just watching over everything. Deism is the concept that God is like a clockmaker, who put the universe in motion eons ago and is not actually involved in its working. Jesus is the incarnation of God, and should shape our view of who/what God is. Continue reading →

The Difference Jesus Makes

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We could list many things Jesus makes a difference in: finances, vocation, plans for the future, etc. I want to point out the difference Jesus makes in us.

Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 5:17 “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. Old things are passed away, behold the new has come.” (ESV) When a person comes to faith in Jesus Christ, he or she is just not the same person anymore. I don’t often use the term conversion, but that’s what happens. Saving knowledge of Christ changes our mind, heart and spirit from what they were into something… new. Look up the third chapter of Colossians. Verses 1-17 are about this new self. Verse 2 says to “set your mind on things that are above…” When we change from old self to new self, other people will be able to see a difference. It might not be Christian people, either. It could be that old friends notice the difference in attitude, action and speech. Continue reading →

Isaiah 1

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I just read a very good (if not somewhat lengthy) post here on Isaiah Chp. 1. I’ve preached more than once on this text. It’s a harsh reprimand for people that “play church” by doing all the churchy things, but not worshiping in spirit and in truth. If you’ve been reading my weblog, you know how I feel about that. Isaiah mentions all the things they’re doing; the stuff God commanded. But the problem is they have innocent blood on their hands. They live in their sins, and act out the motions, but are not changed people inside. God (through Isaiah) finally tells them to stop doing evil, and learn to do good. Jesus quotes Isaiah when he says “this people love me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.” In Deuteronomy, God says to “circumcise your hearts.” Replace everything in the Isaiah 1 list with singing hymns, praise and worship choruses, powerpoint slides, taking collection, etc. Jesus talked to the Samaritan woman about worshiping in spirit and in truth. Isaiah says that true religion is to visit the widow and the fatherless, an idea echoed in the New Testament. Worship is an outward extension of what’s inside of us, not something we can rehearse until we get it right.

Let’s say there is no God…

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For the sake of this argument, the premise is that the atheists are right. God does not exist, and all religions are mistaken about any type of higher power, intelligent design, etc. I want to examine for a moment the pragmatic effects of having Christians in the world.

I know that from time to time Christians do really dumb things. Continue reading →

Blogs I read

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I didn’t start blogging because there were no good blogs out there. Quite the opposite; reading some very good blogs is what inspired me to write also. Here are some of the blogs I have found. Some of these are listed in my blogroll, some are not. Perhaps more should be. If you find your blog listed below and don’t wish to be, let me know.

UPDATE: All the blogs listed below are now in my blogroll, regardless of what each one says.

Two Channel Station: I met Ricky online by way of his blog. He recently added Adam as his blogging partner. I’ve never seen or spoken to either of these guys, but they write thought provoking material on religion, philosophy and politics. I highly recommend them – after you read my blog each day, of course:-)

Third Watch: This is a group blog also. Sometimes they have cute pictures of their kids. If you’re an old grouch about that sort of thing, stay away. But they also have very insightful commentary on the Christianity in America.

Redhead Rev: not on my blogroll yet, Red Head Rev is a female minister in the Assemblies of Christ. Her husband Chris appears with her on a video she has up right now from Palm Sunday. You’re welcome to feel however you wish about women in ministry. But before you comment, just remember this post is “Blogs I Read” not “Blogs for you to agree or disagree with.”

Pilgrim’s Journey: is on my blogroll. Brian and I met in college. He went on to get his M.Div. at Midwestern in Kansas City. Don’t ask his opinion unless you really want him to answer honestly. Atheists – stay away from this guy. He’s not nice like me.

Life in Mordor: also on my blogroll. Mike Frizzell has been blogging quite a while. His archives are extensive, and he’s pretty well read. You and I could both learn a lot from him.

Noel Heikkinen: on my blogroll. I once watched this guy throw a coconut threw a full length mirror. He then explained we’re broken by sin, and cannot be put back together. His blog is a lot of things, religion being one of them. Most of it’s hilarious. I’ll be hilarious someday; I’m working through the serious stuff first.

A Small Faith: not on my blogroll, but I should probably add it. A Small Faith is another group blog, with some good theology. By listing their blog here, it will prevent me from just copying and pasting their stuff in my own blog to make me look smarter than I really am.

Internet Monk: many of you are already familiar with Michael Spencer. I’ve seen internet monk listed on some of your blogrolls. Reading his stuff is what prompted me to go to wordpress and start my own. If you want to mess with him, send me an email and I’ll tell you how. If you want to know what post-evangelical is, ask me instead. You don’t want to get him started.

Garment of Praise: Sometimes poetry, sometimes photos, sometimes really personal insight, Garment of Praise is almost like a daily devotional in convenient blog format. I would have done my taxes by now if the IRS was in “convenient blog format.”

There you go. Some of these are listed on my blogroll, I subscribe to them all. When I’m not writing, I’m reading one of these. Is there a blog you read (or write) that I should know about? Let me know, and it might make my next list.

Creation – Intelligent Design – Big Bang debate continues

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The post on Ben Stein’s movie “Expelled” is by far the most read blog post I’ve ever written.  Below are a couple of comments I added to the discussion myself, which I thought were too good to leave buried 20 comments deep in a long thread.  So here they are as their own post, and the debate continues.

Let me suggest what an answer (to the question “where did the material of big bang fame come from in the first place?) might sound like. Continue reading →

Jesus’ Example, the Samaritan woman

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woman_at_the_wellThe story of the Samaritan woman at the well is found in the fourth chapter of John’s gospel. Jesus sets the example for us by doing several things wrong here. By “wrong” I mean he didn’t follow proper procedure for first century Jewish culture. He went against the conventions of culture to share the good news. Continue reading →