Archive for the ‘Gospel Centeredness’ Category:
Confessions of A Christian
2 Peter 1:3-11
“Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ”
This short confessional statement makes it clear that the realization that Jesus Christ is our Lord and Savior produces a life change. So when this confession is made, what does it mean? Most Christians hear these words so often that we can repeat them without considering their implications. As a result, I am going to attempt to define each of these loaded terms with regard to their Biblical context and describe which aspects we as a culture tend to omit or elaborate. Read more »
D***ed if I do, and D***ed if I don’t
The media has a tendency to portray Christians in one of two ways: 1) The belligerent, hellfire and brimstone, abortion clinic bombing types, and 2) The embezzling, caught in adultery, child molesting priest types. We can dismiss this portrayal as merely the media’s constant desire to focus on only the most sensational stories, or we can admit that they are providing a service. The reason these instances make the news and are disseminated into public opinion as typical of Christians all over is because ultimately, people want to see Christians (and by extension, Christianity) fail. The two ways a Christian can fail in society’s eyes is by claiming to be holier-than-thou, or by being not holier-than-thou. Let’s analyze that claim a little further. Read more »
The Value of Risk in a Risk-Averse Culture
When I was in high school, my Dad encouraged me to pursue a career in financial planning. I really did like the idea of helping people get out of debt, invest wisely, and build wealth. But the career I really wanted was in law enforcement. While my Dad wanted me safely behind a desk from 8-5, I wanted the freedom of keeping the peace in a roaming patrol car at all hours of the night.
I’ve learned over the last several years that I’m a bit of a closet adrenaline junky, and thrive in stressful or risk-inherent environments. But I’ve also learned that this is not necessarily the norm for our culture.
Read more »
The “Country Club” Church Is Crap.
Say that ten times fast…
Danielle recently made a comment concerning a post comparing Jack Bauer of the TV Series 24 with Jesus Christ:
And I think there’s a comparison to the church in there. Because although the suspense is pretty cool (as in what will happen here on earth, as well as after we die), it is the human parts of the story that compel people to keep reading/listening/feeling/believing perhaps. And the church has been nothing if not revolutionary in history. Jesus’ story is a prime example.
It instantly reminded me of a couple quotes that generally make me want to pick up sword and shield to charge headlong into this cosmic revolution. This is an axe I gring almost continually. Having not grown up in the church, paradigm for what church should be is not as convoluted by tradition and/or fundamentalism. I am perhaps more able to read how the church is portrayed in scripture without the baggage of moralistic rules and cultural taboos. Of course, I do have other things that cloud my judgment, and there are people who have grown up in the church and are able to see through much of that. But this is something that is particularly close to my heart because of my experiences.
For your reading pleasure, here are two of my favorite quotes Read more »
God’s Story: An Artistic Representation (Panel 1)
You may have seen the header for this site change once again, this time showing a four stage depiction of a tree. This is the digital print of a massive painting done by David Arms, an artist from Franklin, TN. The painting was commissioned by Pastor Scotty Smith of Christ Community Church, as a fulfillment of seeing a dream of his come true. That dream was to have a single painting depicting the whole of “God’s Story, as it progressively unfolds in the Bible, history and in broken hearts.” We have thumb-nailed the picture (above) to be displayed on a new page because it is too large to fit here without losing important details.
This next multi-part series will divide Scotty Smith’s explanation of this incredible work of art. The full explanation and article can be found here, but for the sake of introducing this work of art to commentary and discussion, I will divide it up into 4 parts. Each part will be dedicated to a separate panel in the painting.
emergent laughs
I’ve heard that one of the ways one can gauge the strength of Christianity is how well Christians are able to poke good fun at themselves. So it is with great joy that I present to you this gem of a find.
I submit this satirical article here, from Lark News. It’s hilarious, and awfully indicative of some of what I hear in seminary. Let’s face it, the Christian sub-culture can be pretty silly sometimes, but it’s pleasing that we can afford to laugh about it in good fun.
Enjoy!
But What Then?
I like to keep busy just like everyone else. In the midst of my stress a friend sent me a link to this article by Darrin Patrick called “Our Hectic Lives.” It really hits on some good questions: to what are we working towards? Is the western model of busier is better really a good one?
Take a look at the article and post what you think.
