Emergent Christians and 9/11
“What we’re hearing are the death cries of Christendom" --P. Tickle, EC
The New Atheists, on the other hand, seemed to gain a boost by labeling all pious citizens as potentially dangerous fanatics. Optimism faded for a short while (notice the darker colors and military surplus style in fashion or the pre-2008 cynicism in both political parties).
Rosh Hashanah and Religious Freedom
Vandalism against churches is obviously terrible anywhere it occurs. But it probably is a lot more common, even per capita, in the U.S
“The travails of a handful of Trappist monks in Israel — or Dalit and tribal Christians in India, or Nigerian Christians menaced by the Boko Haram, or the 150,000 new Christian martyrs every year generally — simply have a hard time breaking through the media filter in the West"
Iranian Christian pastor released
Authorities acquit and free pastor Youcef Nadarkhani after three years of imprisonment
Nadarkhani - who grew up in a Muslim home but never embraced Islam - refused multiple offers of release over the last three years. Iranian authorities had promised to free him if he recanted Christianity and affirmed Islam. Nadarkhani repeatedly refused, answering in court with two simple words: "I cannot."
A Week of Remembrance
September 11th, The Gospel, and the Greek/Armenian Genocide of 1915-22
Christians who had taken refuge in churches were burned to death as the buildings were locked and set on fire. Churches that remained had their crosses taken down and crescents put up in their place. All of this was part of a move to exterminate Christianity from the lands of the old Byzantine empire, to “liberate” Asia Minor from Christian influence and put it into the hands of Islam.
So, You’re Getting a New Pastor
10.5 Don’ts and Do’s You Won’t Hear at His Installation Service.
5. Don’t call your pastor on his day off, unless it is an emergency. If someone has had a heart attack, if the church is on fire, go ahead and call him. Otherwise, leave him alone for things that can just as easily be handled on another day.
What the Church Needs is Men Without Fear
The vulnerable God who, in Luke 15, is portrayed with feminine qualities, angers those obsessed with roles and authority
Men…pray this…If this is the man I am to become, may I be given the grace to lift my robe and run, like the prodigal father, with vulnerability and without fear, into the brokenness of the world – even as the onlookers jeer.
The Evangelical Jesus Prayer
It's not perfect, but the Sinner's Prayer is a work of genius.
There may be good reasons to reform or replace the Sinner's Prayer in evangelical "liturgical life." But we have to do better than theological snobbery or spiritual self-righteousness
Russian Authorities demolish Pentecostal Church
Moscow Orthodox Patriarchate calls for respect for religious
The demolition took place on the night of September 6, on alleged court order. But the community had not been given prior notice. Fears that similar cases may affect other denominations.
Evangelicals seek a future for thousands of frozen embryos
“The earliest Christians were distinguished by their care for those society discarded."
Embryo adoption is not a chief issue for many Christians, said Fluhrer, but that may be changing. He has blogged about embryo adoption on Reformation 21, a theology website he edits, and he encourages his church members to consider the option
Avoiding the Great Declension
We have no biblical mandate to limit the Great Commission to evangelists or the gifted.
Are there Calvinists who do not take seriously the Great Commission? Yep, I have met some. And, I know non-Calvinists who are neither personally nor as leaders doing much to fulfill the Great Commission. I have known some Dispensationalists to be passionate about the Great Commission and some more passionate about charts of the end... Continue Reading