Friends of mine will tell you that I have a tendency to turn conversations towards theology. I can’t help it – it’s a topic I’m passionate about. In a recent conversation, a friend was telling me about the journey that he is on in an effort to grow closer to God. He’s engaging in the [...]
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: Christianity, God, Gospel, Grace, Jesus, Salvation, Theology | 3 Comments »
Prominent (and hilarious) Christian blogger, Matther Paul Turner, the man behind the mask of Jesus Needs New PR started a brief conversation on his Facebook today, asking whether an evangelical can be a universalist and linking to an article. The article is worth the read, but I think the conversation that ensued was more interesting. [...]
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: Bible, Christianity, Eschatology, God, Heaven, hell, Jesus, Matthew Paul Turner, Theology | 3 Comments »
And then there are those whose lessons about heaven consist primarily of who will be there and who won’t be there. (p. 25) … It’s very common to hear talk about heaven framed in terms of who “gets in” or how to “get in.” (p. 50) The Emergent church peeps all play a familiar tune [...]
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: Book Review, Christianity, Eschatology, God, Heaven, hell, Hypocrisy, Rob Bell, Theology | Leave a Comment »
As you may or may not know, I desire to someday be a pastor. I’ve wanted to be one (and have felt called to be one) for probably around ten years now. It is what led me to obtain a degree in Pastoral Leadership Studies. Long story short, I’m not one…not yet. But I do [...]
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: Arrogance, Church, Confession, God, Grace, Hypocrisy, Pastoring, Prayer, Preaching, Pride, Tension | 2 Comments »
First, watch this: C.S. Lewis once observed that, in a world where we’re likely to be so self-focused that we ignore God completely, pain has the ability to soften our hearts and open our eyes to the reality we often ignore. For many, no doubt, this reality hit closer to home than they [...]
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: America, Apathy, Bible, Christianity, Church, Comfort, Culture, God, Gospel, Hope, Jesus, Pain, Preaching, Redemption, Salvation, Scripture, Theology | 2 Comments »
My new friend and fellow blogger Jason Huffman recently blogged about the Christian buzzword “Relevant” and we had a brief conversation there that I think is worth rehashing and expanding here. The question is this: is it important for the church to be relevant? At first glance, it seems like this might be a trick [...]
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: Christianity, Church, God, Gospel, Jesus, Relevance, Sermon | 1 Comment »
Innovation is one of those buzzwords that everybody likes. What, after all, is there to not like about innovation? It’s innovation! It’s new and exciting. Innovation has made things like the internet (ever heard of it?) possible. And the iPad. And the Macbook Pro on which I am currently typing. Innovation makes life interesting. Just [...]
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: America, Christianity, Church, Culture, Entertainment, God, Gospel, Jesus, Scripture, Theology | Leave a Comment »
When attempting to distinguish between the Law and the Gospel, things can get tricky for those who are not very familiar with these categories. As a general rule of thumb, in my experience, we tend to call the Old Testament “the Law” and the New Testament “the Gospel.” But the delineation is not so clean [...]
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Bad words. That’s what usually comes to mind for Christians when they hear the reiteration of the commandment that says, “Thou shalt not take the Lord’s name in vain.” We’ve been taught, or perhaps just picked up unknowingly, that certain word combinations are particularly heinous. Like “Jesus Christ” and “God dammit.” Although, it should be [...]
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: Bible, Cussing, God, Jesus, Relationship, Revelation, Scripture, Sin, Theology | 2 Comments »
Christians have favorite Bible verses. They’re the ones you find on posters with pictures of eagles and mountains; on coffee cups or bumper stickers; and underlined and memorized. Jeremiah 29:11 is one such verse. It reads, For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to [...]
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: Bible, Bible Verse, Christianity, God, Gospel, Hope, Jesus, Redemption, Scripture | Leave a Comment »
