Without God, maybe I can improve some things at church. About halfway through Sinclair Lewis’ 1927 classic, Elmer Gantry, Elmer boasts to another minister about all his church programs, how fast his church is growing, and how many new members have joined, etc. After this braggadocio, the other minister asks, ‘Elmer why don’t you believe in God?’ Until recently I …
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 …
Celebration of Obscurity
A celebration of obscurity counters the message of my culture. My culture labels me irrelevant and obscure, and one ignored by greatness. In contrast, the love of God, my wife, my children bless me in abundance. Any disturbance caused by Ecclesiastes in that ‘even those who are yet to come, will not be remembered by those who follow,’ will pass on …
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 …
Westboro Baptist Church – A Shining Light
I confess that sometimes it takes a while for me to fully understand situations, and I’m a little slow. The activities of Westboro Baptist Church used to worry me. Since non-Christians and neutral observers viewed them through the media, I worried that they would think Westboro Baptist Church represented Jesus and and his message. I truly failed to recognize the …
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 …
Do Not Worry – There’s a Decision You Must Make First
Many Christians love to read and quote Matthew 6:25 to 33, the Do Not Worry section. The passage provides great and true direction. Unfortunately many fail to obtain the promised peace because they lift the passage out of context from the preceding section. In order to benefit from ‘ Do Not Worry’ in verses 25 to 33, I need to …