Jim Munroe: a Christian and an illusionist. At 29 he was diagnosed with a rare leukemia, his immune system attacking his own body. This remarkable testimony tells how he found faith, survived leukemia, and the stunning parallels he discovered between God rescuing him physically and God rescuing us spiritually. To defeat leukemia, he was emptied... Continue Reading →
God doesn't require US to do his work. But together WE can be a force for the Kingdom.
God possesses an infuriating manner of not answering prayers sometimes. Especially if the answer is "no." Or "you decide." Often, I arrive at the point where a decision simply has to be made and God hasn't delivered a scroll from heaven with his decision, so I do what I think best. And immediately I have... Continue Reading →
A lot of great insights from Jesse! Yes, there are real problems in American churches – Yes, there is always room for reform – Yes, BUT – when put in perspective, a lot of times we have it easy, we have it good. It’s always good to be able to see through the eyes of others, and when we do often our problems don’t seem so big or the solutions seem that much clearer. Great thoughts on what committing to Church community looks like (not a buffet!), on the value of persisting loyally even when in disagreement, on how to approach reform when problems are apparent, and how to keep in perspective what real persecution looks like!
Consumer Christianity
I was listening to a lecture the other day by Francis Chan, a very popular nondenominational preacher. He was talking about how he and his family went to china to do some mission work because he wanted to help Christians who were in persecution. While he was there with them, he asked them to tell about a time they were socially or physically abused.
They looked at him like he was strange. Francis finally put together that the reason they looked at him so strange was because they have been abused countless times. They didn’t know which story to tell. Finally, one of them got up and talked about how 3 cops came in while about 20 of them were worshiping and all of the Christians started running in opposite directions screaming “you can’t scare me with heaven!” Then a girl told her last persecution story (from about…
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What was church like when our faith was in its infancy?
A follow up on our discussion about the likelihood of Matthew being the original author of the Gospel bearing his name - or at least being intimately involved with the work that brought that book together ( The Case for Matthew ). Let's look at the shortest Gospel, Mark - and the longest Gospel, Luke. The... Continue Reading →
Based on that title, some of you are here for a post all about the positives of protesting and its ability to affect legislation. Others of you are here for a post that details why protesting is the hallmark of entitled millennials and/or poor people who should be working instead. Guess what? You're all wrong.... Continue Reading →
Whether Catholic, Protestant, or Orthodox - Jewish, Muslim or Pagan - atheist or agnostic - you can learn something from this man!
Sometimes we have to go backwards to get on the right road. Help us get on that road!
We mentioned in a previous post that biblical scholarship is increasingly returning to the position that the Gospels were written by eyewitnesses (Who Wrote the Gospels?) with the intent to convey history, not folklore (Gospels: History or Folklore?). Here's a couple details of why Matthew seems very likely to have been written by the tax... Continue Reading →
Rogue Millennials 