Take It Back?
I love to “people watch” when in public. To just try and figure out relationships, possible occupations, mental attitudes, and other minutiae just by observation alone. Almost 100% of the time I am never able to verify my observations, but on the rare chance I do I find I am right more often than not, but only because I have taken a lot of time and care in my observations. As it so happens, what I do while waiting in a waiting room bored to death to entertain myself is a practice we all employ, but usually without much time given to the process, and without much intense scrutiny or thought – its called prejudice, and though the word has many negative connotations, we all do it quite naturally. Prejudice serves us well when it is right, such...
Signs of a Christian in Distress
Was surfing the web and came across this article about “Signs of Distress” to watch for. Here’s the link: http://www.washington.edu/safecampus/faculty-ta/distress-signs.html The idea is to watch for these signs in order to preempt violent behavior, and hopefully get help to the person who needs it, whether they realize it or refuse to acknowledge they need help. What about Christians in distress? Are there signs for a Christian in distress? Try surfing the web for that question. I don’t know about you, but I didn’t find anything. So as I began looking over the “Signs of Distress” article, it gave me some ideas of what to look for when trying to find signs of a Christian in distress. Here are my ideas – feel...
Christian Cliques
Is it just me, or can Christians be sort of cliquish sometimes? I’ve noticed that if you identify yourself as a particular kind of Christian, you can only surround yourself with people and things associated with that identity. It’s like high school all over again. Take for example the Emergent Christians and the Reformed Christians. If you check the bookshelves of any of my Emergent Christian peers, chances are you will see the same authors: Brian McLaren, Rob Bell, Tony Jones, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Jim Wallis, N.T. Wright, John Howard Yoder, and Shane Claiborne. Chances are emergent Christians listen to podcasts like The Nick and Josh Podcast, Something Beautiful (at least I hope they do!), Losing My Religion, and Homebrewed Christianity. The...
On Fundamentalism and Reconciliation
I originally posted this on my own blog a few weeks ago. As you know, I am not a big fan of fundamentalism. To me, it’s theological school yard bullying. However, sometimes my hatred of fundamentalism makes me do stupid things, like hurt people. First, let me start with my definition of fundamentalism. To me, a fundamentalist is some one who thinks that their interpretation of the Bible is the infallible word of God. Folks who believe that they’re always right and if you don’t fit into their cookie-cutter image then you’re a bad person. Those judgmental, holier-than-thou, authoritative, pious, “I’m right, you’re wrong, get used to it” folks. In the words of Barney Frank, trying to have a conversation with them...
God's Church – Are we bringing rubber and road together…
What is the role of God’s church when confronted with the real suffering of a fellow Christian? Relieve that suffering? Don’t answer too quickly… What if that suffering is for a reason? Let’s suppose God is teaching and growing that Christian through the suffering. But how are we to judge that and keep from interfering with His plan? Should we even attempt to? But I don’t recall the Lord saying anything about withholding aid from others in the church. Am I missing something? This is a very real and troubling question in my mind, right now, dealing with a very real and troubling situation… RIGHT NOW. This Christian is in a destructive housing situation and has no way out on their own. It appears to be heavily...
They Will Know We Are Christians By Our…..
It’s interesting for me to hear this line from the song and think of how true it is. And how I have tried so many things to finish the sentence with so many things that just haven’t worked. T-shirts, bumper stickers, piety, hypocrisy, and judgmental attitude. Surprisingly those things really don’t draw people in. Its hard for me to love someone I look down on, but an honest view of myself and where I stand with God helps me love people other then myself. Although I am still trying to get a grasp on what Godly love actually is.