This Side of the Pulpit » Entries tagged with "Christianity"
There is Only Today
It’s an extra day. The world lengthened just a few hours, a 29th in a world of 28ths, an eighth day in a week. What to spend this extra day doing? For most of us it’s just the same: work and the usual Wednesday commitments. The same old same old grind. And its February. But it’s another thing. It’s “Today.” It is the day of salvation. Heaven and earth, angels and demons hang on this day and … Read entire article »
Filed under: Theology
Specific and Particular
I am called to particulars. I serve and minister to particulars. A pastor is called to such-and-such congregation and those actual, living, breathing people there in the pews and walking in the doors. There are no generic congregations, and there are no generic Christians, and there is no such thing as generic people. God’s Law is proclaimed and applied to that person, sitting right there, and the death of Christ is for this person’s salvation, sitting right there. This is how God works–He gives His eternal Word, but not in a vacuum. He gives it to this or that person, each one. This is the way God works. He became man–but not men, or humanity: Jesus is a guy. A dude. With a Mom, holy and virgin, but Mom nonetheless. God … Read entire article »
Filed under: Theology
Power and Humility
Rachel Held Adams writes about Mark Driscoll* and such mega-church consumerist evangelicalism: When you build your church and your culture around hierarchy and power, you are naturally going to be 1) highly-organized, and 2) personality focused. But when you build your church and your culture around humility and service, you are naturally going to be 1) organic, growing at the grassroots level, and 2) less dependent on one or two flashy personalities and more dependent on the daily faithfulness of regular people…. The Mark Driscolls of this world pull in (and publicize) the big numbers because that is how they measure success…. We are part of a living, growing Kingdom in which the last will be first and the first will be last, in which the peacemakers and the merciful and the meek … Read entire article »
Filed under: Uncategorized
Christianity, Culture, and Cult
I wish we could get back to recognizing that a culture has a cult–a worship. Cultus is the worship of a people, and the cult produces a culture. We see this most clearly in the Muslim Countries and in the “Old Countries” of the Mediterranean and Russia. The religion of the people influences their dress, their diet, their music, their art and dancing, architecture and all those expressions which we in the West have isolated … Read entire article »
Filed under: Uncategorized
Falling Skies and Christianity
Falling Skies is a new summer series on TNT, starring Noah Wylie (why is it that Dr. Carter always seems to play bookish types?). The series begins several months after bug-like aliens have invaded the earth, killed 90% of adult humans and enslaved the children. The series itself has some brilliant moments, as well as some really awkward dialogue and acting. Religion is slowly becoming a theme in the show–namely, how can one have faith after what happened? One of the characters is a former medical student who is vocally “a believer.” But what makes it even more remarkable is that she is explicitly Christian and Catholic. She just doesn’t pray, she invokes the Most Holy Trinity at the beginning of her prayer, crossing herself then and at other times. It’s refreshing … Read entire article »
What to Do if the World Ends on Saturday
First, Don’t Panic. Second, remember that you have been wrong before, and before it’s all over you’ll probably be wrong again. Still not panicking? Good. Take a deep breath and keep reading. You see, the Harold Camping and Family Radio crew were predicting that all true Christians would be raptured, or magically disappeared from this earth on Saturday, May 21 at 6:00pm ET (or is it EDT? Don’t know now, but you know by the time you’re reading … Read entire article »
Filed under: Theology
Ad Orientem: Church of England Cathedral opens its doors to sorcery
Ad Orientem: Church of England Cathedral opens its doors to sorcery. Why do they pretend to be Christian anymore? Why does anyone take this church seriously? … Read entire article »
Filed under: Theology
The Resurrection of the Dead, Part I
So what happens when you die? It’s a question we spend our whole life wondering about or fearing. When children learn of death, it’s t he very first question they ask. What happens next? Most Christians will say that believers will go to heaven and unbelievers will go to hell. When I ask them what happens after that, I get blank looks. When I ask them what happened to people before Christ, I get blank looks. When I ask them about the resurrection of the dead and life of the world to come, I get blank looks. What about the resurrection of the dead? What about the bodies lying in open caskets before the funerals? What happened to Uncle Joe and what is the hope we have? It’s not that Uncle Joe has gone … Read entire article »
Filed under: Theology
Wasteland, Revisted
Eric Brown has a nice post regarding “getting things out of the service” over at his blog. It relates to what I tell folks on occasion: if you have a problem with church, with worship, with Scripture, you can be sure the problem lies with you, and not with God. Or, if you feel the need to change things, to innovate, to “mix things up,” likewise the problem is with you and not with God or worship or whatever else. We are fickle, picky, distracted, covetous, lust-filled people. We would rather critique and criticize than submit or contribute. We are dreamers who covet something we don’t have and then blame others for our own unhappiness. It’s the wasteland, again. It is here and we did it to ourselves. When Antichrist appears and renders … Read entire article »
Filed under: Theology
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