When I heard of the bombings during the Boston Marathon, it first horrified me—then struck me with the dark irony. Boston enjoys a substantial Irish population, some of whom supported and may still support the Irish Republican Army. Why is this important or relevant? Well, you might say the IRA invented street bombings. Just Google “IRA street bombings.” Now, God …
Forgetting to Breathe and Preventing Spiritual Anorexia
Preventing Spiritual Anorexia: Believing Differently Preventing spiritual anorexia as I have written before, requires seeing differently, we must believe differently. Changing what I believe is usually difficult. Fasting used as a focal lens for prayer and as a tool to help me understand my true dependency upon God can aid me in shifting and changing my framework of beliefs. Getting …
Fake Easter Eggs Contain a Lesson
Fake Easter eggs? Ask any child about fake Easter eggs? They’ll reply that it is a plastic shell filled with candy. These eggs are lots of fun because they contain candy, and sometimes money. Well there’s a new fake egg in town, and this counterfeit egg is no fun. These fake Easter eggs have no candy. According to the Borneo …
View of Others? Changing It Requires Raising the Dead
In thinking about how to change my view of others or forgiving, I find it appropriate and divinely serendipitous that today’s writing in Chamber’s My Utmost for His Highest coincides with my reading of Mark 9 and occurs the week before Easter. During Easter I think more about miracles. This relates greatly to what I think and believe about people. …
We Might Be Pharisees If…
The Jews knew the Pharisees as the strictly religious people of Jesus’s day. Consequently, readers of the Bible interchange Pharisee with self-righteous. To think as a Pharisee generally requires a social group to reinforce self-righteous beliefs. As a recovering legalist, I know how easy it is to slide into self-righteous attitudes. Without an on-going relationship with God, I slide into a self-righteous …
The Lure of Legalism
The lure of legalism comes from the desire to be right which can be greater than the desire to believe. Being right means personal and public control. Belief means surrender and submission to something greater. Jesus warned the disciples about the the lure of legalism from the Pharisees and Sadducees because of this control aspect. Kent commenting on my last post gave great …
New Version of the Bible
To Promote Relevance a New Version of the Bible is Available To promote tolerance, pluralism, ambiguity and ambivalence, a new version of the Bible has recently been released. This new version of the Bible, called Anybody’s Version of the Bible (ABV), promises to be one of the most exciting versions released in recent history. As some church leaders and consultants …
Authentic Christianity
Many think detecting authentic Christianity difficult. Unfortunately, no brand receives less protection than the brand, Christian. In comparison to authentic products, no great certification programs exist for Christianity. External forms, especially religious jewelry, T-shirts, bumper stickers, or nameplates offer little to help identify authentic Christians. Sometimes these things fool people. Sometimes they fool the people wearing them. Further, external forms …