Tag Archives: religion
What Uprisings in the Middle East and Asia Suggest About Muslims…and Everyone Else
If you follow the news then you know that Egypt is in the midst of a revolution. Don’t be alarmed if you’re experiencing deja-vu. The unrest is something the whole world has witnessed recently in Tunisia, Kyrgyzstan and Iran. What are the goals? And what do these movements say about Muslims and the rest of us?
There Must Be Something More Than Our Worldview
You and I both know that we’ve been shaped by our unique experiences. That we have a worldview is inevitable, and of no inherent concern. It seems to me that a worldview only becomes a threat when we insist that it be universal, and then seek to enforce it on a larger scale.
[TELEGRAM] Haunt Me, Please
Jesus Came For The Broken
My daughter has two frogs that share a little tank. We feed these guys twice a week by dropping four pellets through a hole in their plastic roof. The idea is that they’ll play nice and only take two pellets for themselves, while letting the other two float on. The frogs were the same size when my wife and daughter brought them home six months ago. But over time, one of them has gone to the dark side. He bites the other frog once the pellets hit the water. He lunges violently at the pellets, and ends up snatching most of them before the other one can even try. As a result, he’s a huge froggish beefcake, while the smaller one is wasting away and has also lost a hand (we think the beefcake ate that too). Keep reading →
Pastors As People: Serving and Suffering
Pastor Eugene Cho wrote a fantastic post about the very measurable struggles of being a pastor. Did you know that pastors are experiencing depression, infidelity, divorce and financial hardship at alarming rates? I had no idea. Here are some of the statistics from his post:
If God Searches Our Hearts and Motives, Shouldn’t We?
The book of Proverbs says that “All the ways of a man are clean in his own sight, but the Lord weighs the motives.” In several places throughout Scripture, God examines the hearts and motives of people, often testing them to see where they really stand. Why does He bother? Is he just bored and intrusive? No, I believe God is serious about what really counts, and He’s smart enough to know that appearances can be deceptive while actions can be done with less than noble intentions. But what happens on the inside reveals our true character. So if God weighs our motivations and the condition of our heart, shouldn’t we also? Scripture is pretty clear on this. Yet those of us who study the teachings of Scripture are often the very people to fall into the trap of self-certainty.
Book Review: ‘Evolving in Monkey Town’ is an Introspective Journey Worth Taking
I was intrigued by ‘Evolving in Monkey Town’ the minute I unwrapped it from its travel envelope. What caught my attention was that the front cover talks about a girl (first-time author and friend of this site Rachel Held Evans) who learned to “ask the questions.” See, I don’t question out loud. I have them, and while they fly through my head every single day, I just care too much about what others will think of me, so these pesky questions remain inside my head, unanswered. The idea of learning to ask “the” questions, no matter what “the” might be, was very interesting indeed.
Misguided Outrage: Christians vs. Comedy Central’s Jesus Show
Comedy Central is developing a new show called ‘JC.’ The pitch from the network’s website describes it as “a half-hour animated show about JC (Jesus Christ) wanting to escape his father’s enormous shadow and to live life in NYC as a regular guy. A lot has changed in 2000 years and he is the ultimate fish out of water. Meanwhile his all-powerful yet apathetic father would rather be playing video games than listening to JC recount his life in the city.”
Some Christians are pre-emptively protesting the show, and have begun an online campaign against Comedy Central. Of course, all of this just means people are objecting to the idea of something without even having seen it. Well, I find these Christian protests to be offensive to my Christian faith.
God Knows it’s Scary Being Us
I recently borrowed Beth Moore’s book ”So Long Insecurity” on CD from a friend. If you are a woman and have never heard of Beth Moore I think that you should stop what you are doing right now (or maybe when you are done reading this) and look her up. Her studies will change your life.
The Dimming of the American Heart
Americans spend so much time trying to dodge conflict. But conflict persists; it finds those who try to avoid it, and challenges the ones who attempt to ignore it. By trying to escape from conflict, we are also abandoning a lot of people.
Ian Ebright on When Christian Blogging is a Popularity Contest (and Other Snares to...
Ken Hagerman on When Christian Blogging is a Popularity Contest (and Other Snares to...
Jim Fisher on The Conclusion of the Heartbreak Series: Saying Goodbye
Yoga Rani on Why, as a Christian, I’m Not Joining the Fight Against Gay...
Beth on [TELEGRAM] When Temptation Taps You On The Shoulder
Tiffany Lucus on The Conclusion of the Heartbreak Series: Saying Goodbye