So far on this blog we’ve had some discussion led by Ryan about how the biblical manhood movement (mis)uses statistical cultural analysis when applying it to the Church (For the relevant posts in the 6-part series: #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6). I do not intend here to pick up the discussion further, or to write multiple posts on the topic of Complementarianism vs. Egalitarianism. Rather I am concerned with the way Christians talk about […]
One of my favorite sections of Scripture is Philippians 2:5-11. In this passage Paul paints for us a beautiful picture of humility and self-denial in the person of Christ. All to often I read this hymn and immediately I am struck by how I fail to model such humility. Whereas Christ climbs down the ladder of success and praise from others, I seem to want to climb as high as I can up that very […]
“Who are you to tell me what to do?” “Why can’t I do something if it doesn’t hurt anybody else?” “Big government is a big failure; keep its nose out of my business!” Such sentiments echo at Libertarian rallies across the world. Libertarians value autonomy and freedom, and they are not afraid to openly express their disdain for the viewpoints of the opposition. As Christians, however, it is prudent to evaluate such claims in the […]
“The Problem with Contentment is that we always want more of it.” There is much that could be said about our chronic compulsive need for contentment. Indeed, our narcissism and incessant hunger for more than we have is the result of an insatiable appetite of covetousness. As Francis de Sales warns, “as long as your spirit looks elsewhere than where you are, it will never apply itself rightly to profiting from where you are.”[1] Regardless of […]
Upon John Dunne’s request, I am going to write something relating Romans 13 and civil disobedience. This post does not represent my thinking on the matter but rather gives a historical perspective to the problem with hopes that a later post, reflecting my thoughts, will bring about thought provoking and engaging conversation. I will quickly give an overview of John Calvin’s resistance theory and how certain historical events forced his most loyal and fervent follows […]
On Halloween it’s good to ask, why are people drawn to what horrifies and terrifies them? Robert California, played by James Spader, has this sobering nugget to say from the most recent episode of The Office (Episode 5 of Season 8: Spooked): Fear plays an interesting role in our lives. How dare we let it motivate us. How dare we let it into our decision making, into our livelihoods, into our relationships. It’s funny isn’t […]
“I lay quiet, looking out under my eyelashes in an agony of delightful anticipation. The fair girl advanced and bent over me till I could feel the movement of her breath upon me. Sweet it was in one sense, honey-sweet, and sent the same tingling through the nerves as her voice, but with a bitter underlying the sweet, a bitter offensiveness, as one smells in blood.” Despite what you may have thought based on the […]
Finding good friends can be a tough gig. I’m talking about the type of friend that is more than a Facebook acquaintance. I’m talking about the type of friends that you share life with in the midst of its brutal winters. But, could there possibly be anything worse than not being able to find those types of friends? The answer to this question is yes. Think of Job for a moment. He thought he had […]
This is an article born out of personal conviction. I don’t like the chapel requirement at Christian schools, and if I were to be completely honest, I’m guessing that most people are with me. When I was doing my undergrad, at the beginning of each semester I would have chapel weekend. This was when I would spend an entire weekend making up every single chapel from last semester so that I didn’t get put on […]
After two thrilling weeks (I’m not overstating, am I?), we reach the conclusion of our look at multi-site churches. Having taken an overview of what multi-site churches are, and a look at some of the arguments in favor of adopting such a model, we take a turn to negative town and look at the arguments against multi-site. As I pointed out in the first post on this subject, there are a variety of ways in which […]
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