God’s Will and Journies
The will of God is not a destination but a journey. When you don’t hear if you should go left or right, its usually because he is saying: come this way as he points to himself.
I find myself questioning what the above means. Perhaps what is meant is this: “The will of God is not a destination in itself, but a journey towards God and who God desires us to be.” In this way the ‘will of God’ becomes both a journey and a destination. A destination in two senses. The first is something akin to ‘stops along the way’ — the ‘will of God’ places us in particular circumstances at particular times. The second is in the sense of a final destination, God. Thus I can see what is meant, though it is clouded by what is said (and rather poorly expressed). If some other sense is meant, … (Read more)
Relevance, but What of the Message?
What worries me to a great extent is the drive with which future church leaders are trained to be relevant to culture, and in the process forgetting about the message they are supposed to be relevant with. The problem isn’t that the church is irrelevant, or that the presentation is irrelevant (necessarily). The problem is that the church has retreated from culture. An inability to think critically will do the church in…… (Read more)
Snap-shot Beliefs
Sensationalism is undeniably one of the marks of our culture. It would appear that not only do we all want attention, but we want to make it seem as if the things we are getting attention for, are extraordinary. Reading Pascal last night:
Vanity is so anchored in the human heart that a soldier, a cadet, a cook, a kitchen porter boasts, and wants to have admirers, and even philosophers want them, and those who write against them want the prestige of having written well, and those who read them want the prestige of having read them, and I, writing this, perhaps have this desire, and those who will read this…1
“And those who will read this…” will want recognition for having read and quoted Pascal. I suspect that in my case, this is where vanity ends.
I came across this thought thinking over book titles such as The God Delusion… (Read more)
Intellectuals and “the church”
(This may be thought of as an expansion upon an earlier post– The Two Tasks of Evangelism)
There is a problem with the “modern” church — it’s generally anti-intellectual (disclaimer: in my experience). It has thrown aside history, tradition, and many of the great thinkers of the early and medieval church, I imagine either because they were from the “old world,” or they were “Catholic”. This seems especially true of Charismatic groups, where there is so much focus on “experience” and “the Spirit” that any mention of “logic” or “rational thinking” — perhaps even worse, “philosophy” — is met with all forms of opposition. The most common objection to these words being the knee-jerk reaction, “unless you’re submitted to the Spirit, then you’re useless!” Frankly, I don’t know any (Christian) intellectuals who would argue that they shouldn’t by submitted to God. The reaction is revealing — for some reason, … (Read more)
I’m Frustrated!
I have to admit, I’m frustrated. And this is where I’m going to express my frustration, to my great dismay… and frustration.
I’m frustrated because I’m in an environment I wouldn’t have chosen to be in, outside of my wife and I being called to where we are (in this case, Quebec). I’m frustrated because the people can be difficult, the government is nonsensical (they are in the process of trying to force my wife to re-take her maiden name), and I don’t really have a choice in the matter. In some ways this follows up my previous post “But why, God?” with “What are you thinking, God?” I think a large part of “things” is that reminding myself that “God is in control” (other’s reminding me of this as well) isn’t a comforting — as I suspect it should be — thought. It can be a difficult thing coming … (Read more)
Genesis 19:1–11
The Bible and Homosexuality — Sodom and Gomorrah
It is claimed that : “Nowhere in scripture is homosexuality listed as the sin which condemned Sodom”
Genesis 19 1:11
1Now the two angels came to Sodom in the evening as Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom When Lot saw them, he rose to meet them and bowed down with his face to the ground.
2And he said, “Now behold, my lords, please turn aside into your servant’s house, and spend the night, and wash your feet; then you may rise early and go on your way.” They said however, “No, but we shall spend the night in the square.“
3Yet he urged them strongly, so they turned aside to him and entered his house; and he prepared a feast for them, and baked unleavened bread, and they ate.
4Before they lay down, the men … (Read more)
The Bible and Homosexuality: Introduction
There’s been a lot of renewed discussion (read: debate) over what the Bible says concerning homosexuality, especially where the “clobber verses” (listed below) are concerned. As it’s beginning to come up time and time again, I figured I would examine the clobber verses, both views for and against, and see if we, or I, can conclude where exactly the bible stands in regard to this issue (however obvious it may be for some on both sides). I’ll probably get one post in this series written every week, but we’ll see for sure what happens.
So then, this just serves as the (very) brief introduction.
Post Series: The Bible and Homosexuality
Part 1: Introduction
Part 2: Genesis 19:1–11
Part 3: Leviticus 18:22
Part 4: Leviticus 20:13
Part 5: Romans 1:26–27
Part 6: 1 Corinthians 6:9–10
Part 7: 1 Timothy 1:9–10
Part 8: Jude 1:7
Conclusion
**Disclaimer: I want to make clear that … (Read more)
Mohler: Christian, Muslim Dialogue
Justin Taylor has posted a link on his blog to a presentation on Islam by Dr. Al Mohler. A good introduction to the Christian / Muslim dialogue, Mohler’s talk is described as an examination of “some of the fundamental ways in which Islam and Christianity are at odds with one another, and how Christians and local churches can best think through their implications for life and ministry.” Having listened to it last night, I can say that it’s very informative and a worth the listen if you’re interested in the Christian / Muslim dynamic.
You can find the presentation here.… (Read more)
Stretched Illustrations?
(**Spoilers below**)
Some times I wonder how people arrive at certain interpretations of “art”. Strangely enough, I came across this article which sets about using Avatar as a metaphor for “emergent evangelism”. The main thrust of the article is that we “don’t bring God to the other,” rather, that “we find God in the other”–Jake Sully is the perfect example of this sort of mindset, or so it’s claimed. I don’t want to examine the entire article, only one paragraph.
Evangelism is a two-way street
This is where the Avatar movie is a great metaphor for what evangelism could and should become. Although Jake Sully entered the Na’vi world (Pandora) initially with an agenda in mind, he got to appreciate their way of life, its beauty so much so that he wanted to become part of it. Eventually his presence there really helped to save them. But it was something organic. … (Read more)
Mystery and discontent
Over the course of this past week I had a discussion with a friend who mentioned that he noticed quite a few “well educated” Christians moving from a Protestant foundation to a more “traditional” foundation, by which I mean Anglicanism and even the Roman Catholic Church. It strikes me as comparable to — for instance — when a disgruntled Evangelical chooses to identify himself as a member of the emergent church in response to a lack of authenticity in one’s faith (as I understand one of the major reasons people are part of the emergent church). At this point I agree with my friends observation as I’ve had some experiences with it myself; I would ask why some of us are choosing to affiliate with denominations (or heresies, for those who are vehemently anti-Catholic) that in recent years have come to be frowned upon as needlessly traditional, theologically errant and … (Read more)
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