Believing Myths and Ignoring Facts
Our culture seems to have mistaken vehemence for substance, mockery for intelligent critique, sarcasm for valid conclusions
Somewhere in the midst of it we forgot to listen to each other, to attempt to walk in another person’s shoes, to see it from another’s perspective, to patiently wait to ascertain what is actually known rather than what is immediately assumed. If we don’t rush to judgment there is not going to be anything... Continue Reading
On Dialog and Instruction
Browbeating was not the way of Jesus; he did not harangue; he compassionately sought to persuade
Dialog is illegitimate if the questioner has neither a sincere heart nor the humility to receive instruction. This is not to suggest that the other participant, the mature Christian, has all the answers or cannot learn from the one struggling. The only source of revealed truth is the written revelation of the Bible, not the... Continue Reading
Confessions of a Christian Skeptic: A Plea for Verification
Evangelical urban legends and myths; the need for verification
I’ll never forget the time I was sitting in a boarding gate waiting area, and the man on my left was telling two ladies sitting with him about how his life was filled with wonder ever since he started praying the Prayer of Jabez daily. I kept my mouth shut. I love Jesus. I... Continue Reading
A New Lesson on Masculinity
Wrestling with masculinity and infertility
I want to talk about the lessons I’ve learned about masculinity from my experience of infertility as a husband and a man. There is a cultural notion, though perhaps not as prominent as it once was, that men ought to produce offspring. It makes one a man to promote his genetic material into the next... Continue Reading
Parenting: What’s The Plan?
There is information overload on parenting; can we cut through the clutter of all this advice?
The Ten Commandments, of course. Each will require its own thoughts, but my contention is that Christians have hidden behind “legalism” and avoided God’s good moral law so long that we do not even recognize its use anymore. Apply his law in your home and lead your children in expressing love for God. When it comes to talking... Continue Reading
Truett Cathy, Chick-fil-A founder, Dies
Truett Cathy, 93, founder and chairman emeritus of Chick-fil-A, died Sept. 8 at 1:35 a.m.
Cathy was often quoted as saying: “I’d like to be remembered as one who kept my priorities in the right order. We live in a changing world, but we need to be reminded that the important things have not changed. I have always encouraged my restaurant operators and team members to give back to the... Continue Reading
Helping No One By Being Socially Aware And Active
Facebook rants, hashtag campaigns, meetings about how to get more people involved in social justice: these can be “busy-work” distractions.
If, as a Christian, you take the call to help the poor seriously, you have to…help the poor. Feed them. Clothe them. Hire them. Jones and Zmirak remind us that, as Christians, we are called to do the “demanding and particular.” We cannot delegate it our elected officials, blog about it, or assume that having... Continue Reading
A Tale Of Two Mars Hills
The important attitude in ministry: Watch your life and watch your doctrine closely
A third church comes to mind. It is the church led by a pastor you don’t know, a church you have never read about, a church that has never had a staff visit it to learn the “secret sauce” of its growth and influence. The pastor doesn’t have an audience outside of his church. People... Continue Reading
12 Reasons Why It Is Good To Be A Church Bully
Church bullies are not good, but being a church bully is good business these days, and here’s why
It is time for the bullying to end. But it won’t be easy. Standing up to bullies means recognizing our own anxieties and need to be liked. Standing up means risking being unpopular, it means risking the wrath of the system that protects the bullies. Standing up means knowing all the advantages that bullies have... Continue Reading
Like Job, I Too Was Surrounded By Darkness
During my times of intense grief, I made a conscious decision to “search for meaning, not happiness.”
When he was 12-years-old, he was diagnosed with a synovial sarcoma which required the total amputation of his right arm. My son’s illness persisted over a six year time frame and we tried many cancer treatments; some helped temporarily, others not at all. Finally, the cancer took his life and this loss was the most... Continue Reading
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