The thought: What if Jesus was serious when he said: Love and pray for your enemies, do not judge others, give to the poor, and don’t worry about your life?
I tweeted this thought and shortly thereafter, Greg Boyd responded and said: “THAT, my friend, would change EVERYTHING!”
Would You Pray for the New Pope?
Maybe this is a good time to re-think your own mindset toward Roman Catholics. Even in the very “liberal” circle of our fellowship which is prepared to accept into fellowship anyone who says Jesus is Lord—that’s usually how it is stated—I’ve noticed that they rarely include Roman Catholics in their circle. It’s pretty easy to include all those Christians who sing the same praise songs, have the same kinds of buildings, and who are more likely to fellowship us.
A Dangerous Heaven (What I think about the end-game of Christianity)…
The good news is, there’s a better end-game that somewhere else. I believe that the end game of Christianity is redemption; the making new of every old, broken, tired, useless, dead thing.
The Blogs, the Battles and the Gospel
Many bloggers have mastered all the practical rules of blogging, the short paragraphs, the use of subheadings, the best times and dates to post their articles. But these same bloggers, myself included, would do well to work toward mastering the spiritual rules of blogging.
Losing A Game We Deny We Are Playing
So, we are jealous of those who seem to be experiencing demonstrable success around us while unjustly criticizing them in our hearts and too often in our words. We envy the accolades we say we eschew. We tell ourselves we have risen above the surface game. But we keep looking below us to see if we are showing up on the score-tracker we said doesn’t matter. We say we only care about investing in the lives of those in front of us, but then we read the line-up in the big event brochures with a sigh because we were omitted again this year. We have been re-baptized many times in the ritual river of Nike the Triumphant and we can’t get the smell of that polluted stream out of our skin.
The New Testament’s Favorite Old Testament Stories
The last time I read through the New Testament, I decided it might be fruitful and interesting to keep track of all of the occurrences where the author made reference to narratives in the Old Testament. And since this week’s fighter passage makes reference to the Great Cloud of Witnesses, I thought it would be an appropriate time to post the list. You’ll find them below.
3 Indispensable Lessons I’ve Learned About Preaching
Among other responsibilities, I was afforded the opportunity to offer 3 indispensable lessons I’ve learned about preaching over the years I’ve preached. Obviously, there are many foundational things most preachers believe to be true. So, I took the assignment as: Share 3 indispensable lessons other than “the givens” you have learned about preaching.
The Acts 15 Problem – A New Shibboleth
There is a simple question we must deal with: Is politics going to come before faith? For many of us, the two are the same. And that is simply shameful. If your goal in to convert someone to Reaganism or Obamaism, you have traded the birthright of Christ for a bowl of political porridge. Your Christianity has no Christ. You have a party platform and no cross.
What is more, every church has a different set of membership and leadership with varying skills and abilities. This is why some churches read the newest book on ministry and it just doesn’t work for them because the congregation and minister that the book grew out of wasn’t the same context and didn’t have the same skill set at the churches on the receiving end. That can be very frustrating.
Did Venezuela’s Chavez nudge Christ to pick South American pope?
“We know that our commander ascended to the heights and is face-to-face with Christ,” Maduro said at a Caracas book fair. “Something influenced the choice of a South American pope, someone new arrived at Christ’s side and said to him: ‘Well, it seems to us South America’s time has come.'”
Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Argentina was elected in a surprise choice to be the new leader of the Roman Catholic Church on Wednesday, the first non-European pope in nearly 1,300 years.
“He (Chavez) may also call a constitutional assembly in Heaven at any moment to change the (Catholic) church on Earth so the people, the pure people of Christ, may govern the world,” Maduro added of his mentor.
Holy rivals? Brazil ponders Argentine pope
Bitter rivals in soccer. The butt of one another’s biting jokes. The samba versus the tango.
Brazil and its neighbor Argentina are bitter rivals in just about everything.
But now, in the realm of religion at least, Argentina has supremely passed the giant next door.
The Wednesday election of Pope Francis, formerly known as Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio of Argentina, put the country a step ahead of Brazil when it comes to holy matters.
36 Perfectly-Timed Animal Shots
Check out 36 perfectly timed animal shots. Taken with high precision but most of the time just lucky shots. Animal photography at it’s best, at least in a fun way..