The Sorry State of the Apology

An authentic, proactive apology has the power to diffuse anger, re-establish dialogue, and bring tremendous healing. As followers of Christ, let us set the standard for what it means to apologize well.

10 Dangerous Church Paradigms

Recently, I’ve been thinking of some of the paradigms which impact a church. I’ll look at some of the negative in this post and in another post some of the positive paradigms of the church.

Ten Simple Strategies for Prayer

Sometimes we try to fix this problem by seeking to become a prayer warrior overnight. That approach seldom works, and we get discouraged. A better approach is to build your prayer life one step at a time.

Three Things To Do For Someone Who Is Being Deported

If you know someone who is going through deportation and don’t know what to do for them, today is your lucky day. Here are 3 things you can do that will go a long way in alleviating the stress and strain that they are most likely going through.

Your Congregation Stinks at Communicating: Why I’m right about this

Beyond this problem, however, lies the reality that leaders in congregations tend to think of communication as one-way. We tell, you listen. I seldom find a congregation that has planned, dependable, and open opportunities for feedback. This does not mean that leaders don’t get feedback. They do. But because there are few systematic attempts to listen to the congregation, that feedback tends to be negative.

The Problem with “Safe, Legal” Abortion

A meaningful discussion about abortion in this country must be honest, open, and complete on all sides. It is not enough to be “pro-life” and yet refuse to confess that the movement has been sorely lacking in advocating for a variety of social justice concerns that would make abortion a less attractive alternative, especially for the poor. But neither is it appropriate to take a “pro-choice” stance and fail to acknowledge the ugly reality that abortion contributes to the actual harm of people and society, especially when its legality is abused in such unspeakable ways.

3 Lies Porn Tells You

For the amount of people who struggle with this, we don’t talk about it near enough. We don’t talk about it in our families. We don’t talk about it in our churches. We think avoiding it will make it go away. Statistically speaking, over 50 percent of the men reading this post have had exposure to pornography recently. And it’s not just a “man’s problem,” either. About 30 percent of porn users online are women. It isn’t going away.

Why Going To Church Is Good For You

One of the most striking scientific discoveries about religion in recent years is that going to church weekly is good for you. Religious attendance — at least, religiosity — boosts the immune system and decreases blood pressure. It may add as much as two to three years to your life. The reason for this is not entirely clear.

Myron Rolle Leaves NFL For Medical School

“I still received interest from a few teams, and it didn’t have to be over,” Rolle told Lost Letterman. “Then I said to myself, ‘I can knock my head against the wall for 8-9 years or move on to medicine.’ I was leaving the game with no concussions and dexterity in both my hands, where I could be a neurosurgeon one day.”

Why I Object to Screen Preaching

So there are bad reasons for not liking video preaching, and thus it cannot be absolutely wrong. Having said that, however, the apostles repeatedly state that, despite writing letters, they desire to meet people face to face (e.g., 2 John 12; 3 John 13,14; Rom. 1:10-15; 1 Cor. 16:7; 2 Cor. 1:16). I think there are two kinds of reasons why remoteness ought to be regarded as the exception rather than the norm.

How Loud Should Our Church Music Be?

So what did I learn from Disney? I observed everyone, babies to grandmas, enjoying their experience. They participated. I also realized that sound is something we cannot escape. We cannot turn off our ears. We can look at something else if a light is too bright, but we cannot divert our hearing.

Why The Struggle Over The Old And The New

No congregation is dying that is hungry to see Jesus show his new ways of growth for the moment. No congregation is growing that perpetually stares at the past and tries to keep the present bound to it.

World Upside Down: Part 3, They Say There Is Another King

According to Rowe, Luke is keen to ward off accusations that, in claiming Jesus to be King, that the Christians were violent insurrectionists. The gospel is socially, economically and politically disruptive–it turns the world upside down–but it is not calling for the violent overthrow of the government.

Legalize Polygamy!

The definition of marriage is plastic. Just like heterosexual marriage is no better or worse than homosexual marriage, marriage between two consenting adults is not inherently more or less “correct” than marriage among three (or four, or six) consenting adults.

Ron Paul: Why Can’t We All Travel To Cuba?

Ironically, our restrictive travel policies toward Cuba actually mirror the travel policies of the communist countries past and present. Under communist rule in the former Soviet Union and elsewhere it was only the well-connected elites who were allowed to travel overseas – people like Jay-Z and Beyoncé. The average citizen was not permitted the right.
Although the current administration’s slight loosening of the restrictions is a small step in the right direction, it makes no sense to continue this nearly half-century old failed policy. Freedom to travel is a fundamental right. Restricting this fundamental right in the name of human rights is foolish and hypocritical.

Iron Man 3 to Get Smell-Enhanced Screenings in Japan

That’s right: Japan is getting Iron Man 3 in smell-o-vision. It’s not actually called “smell-o-vision” – that’s so last century – but according to The Hollywood Reporter the film will be shown in a theater in Nagoya in 4DX. This “fourth dimension” experience will offer wind, fog, tilting seats, and odor effects. It’s unclear exactly what the smells themselves will be, but if Tony smells like his Diesel-made eau de wiseass, it wouldn’t be the worst thing ever.

Immigration Reform and the Church: Are Churches Responding with Care for the Sojourner?

However, what you might not know is that many evangelical leaders were speaking out about the need for such reform even before the election. In other words, evangelical leaders were willing to speak about the issue when it was unpopular to many conservatives (this is another reason why Christians should not be seen as a wing of any political party; they must speak prophetically as needed on issues).
Simply put, I get that Republicans want to win elections and that often motivates much of what they decide to act upon. But Christians are called to speak out for the care and protection of the sojourner and immigrant among us regardless of any political debate. Congress may fight about the statutes, but Christians need to love the sojourner regardless of how they got here.

What Gosnell and the Gospel Mean to the Brave …

The abortion debate is not so much about how we can somehow change the law, but right now change how we love. To have credibility in lobbying for laws against the abortion of babies, we must have the dependability of opening our doors for the welcoming of children.

Why the Bias of the Gosnell Trial Goes Beyond the Media

How many times do we—do I—say, “I’m not going to consider this point because it’s made by him”? How many times do we—do I—think, “Well, there must be something wrong here because it’s coming from those people”? Every time we dismiss an article, a book, an idea, a person because the source is from an opposing tribe, we place faction over fact, party over principle, and tribe over truth. For the Christian, this can never be. As Augustine says in De Doctrina Christiana, all truth is God’s truth, wherever it might be found. In other words, truth transcends party lines, and it is more important than group loyalty.

I am at war in this world

So how do I fight the war against evil?
Not with the weapons of this world. The answer is not in passing laws or in “restoring” America. My kingdom is not of this world. My allegiance is to the kingdom of heaven. So my weapons are not political issues.
The answer is not concealed handguns for Christians or a stronger military. Weapons of the world do not defeat evil.

Boston, Bombs, and Comparative Justice

The bombings in Oklahoma City, New York, Washington and Boston were horrific, make no mistake. But let us also be very clear. God does not view the death of an innocent American as any worse than an innocent Palestinian, an innocent Israeli, an innocent Iraqi, or an innocent Afghan. Let us dispense with the comparative justice concept. The murder of any human being is a stain against the image of God – for every human was made in the image of God.
And that should make us be very careful as we consider our response to whoever it was that murdered and maimed those people in Boston, as well as the victims and the families of the latest drone attacks in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

World Upside Down: Part 2, When the Christians Show Up a Riot Breaks Out

As Rowe points out in World Upside Down, the political story told in Acts is a bit more complex. While it is true that Paul is vindicated by Imperial Roman officials, it’s also true that wherever the gospel spreads in the book of Acts there is violent social upheaval, much of it centered on economics. In these texts the gospel isn’t politically neutral but observed to be highly disruptive, something that, well, something that turns the world upside down.

A Letter to the Grandkids On Baptism

Grandad would just like to write this letter to all of you, those baptized already and those who will be. These are just a few things I really want you to know about your baptism that I’ve been thinking about.

Get to Church Early

You should be careful to get there on time because the beginning of the worship gathering is not a throw-away of announcements (which you should pay attention to anyway). Rather, at least in our case, the beginning of our corporate worship is thoughtfully put together with the aim of directing our thoughts toward God. From the opening Scripture to the closing benediction every piece of the liturgy is a piece to a puzzle that, when assembled, gives us all a fuller picture of the gospel.

How to Encourage a Blogger

How can you encourage those who are striving to use this medium for good? Here are 5 ways that are simple and don’t take much time, but that I promise will put some wind in the sails of your blogging friends.

Today (Like Everyday), We Pray For Our Enemies

We pray specifically that those involved in this violence return to their shared humanity as they confront the violence brought on fellow humans as a result of their actions. We pray that we don’t lose ours in the midst of it all.

Returning Hate for Hate: Perhaps Our Greatest Temptation

To return hate for hate does nothing but intensify the existence of evil in the universe. Someone must have sense enough and religion enough to cut off the chain of hate and evil, and this can only be done through love.
—-Martin Luther King, Jr., 1957

So What IS Marriage?

We are citizens of heaven. We have a social contract with Jesus and with each other. We have a higher loyalty and we do not bow down to governments. We pay our taxes and live as good citizens on earth, but we belong elsewhere and we speak the language of heaven, not government legalese. And we do not despair when governments go bad for OUR government remains secure – God is still on His throne and we are still His people.

Snap Judgments: Our Societal Obsession With Taking Pictures

The danger of using photos as markers is that images appeal to our vanity. We become quickly obsessed with accumulating experiences, capturing them in photos, and publicly displaying our photos as trophies. If we aren’t careful, our Facebook pages and blogs can become trophy cases of our own accomplishments

The “Right Time” God

I wonder today how much sin might be avoided in my life if I really believed in the perfect timing of God. Every time I think I must manufacture an opportunity I show that I don’t believe. Whenever I try and manipulate relationships to my own ends show that I don’t believe. Whenever I am discontent with what the Lord has seen fit to bring about in my life I show that I don’t believe.

The Problem With “Mental Illness”

So what do we call the disorders? “Sin” is too narrow in many cases. “Illness” is too narrow in other cases. Use of either category exclusively is inaccurate, provoking suspicion and often hostile reaction.

CENI – Having a Humble Hermeneutic

My goal in this post is to unpack CENI in a way that shows CENI can be helfpul but does have enough limitations to remind us that we must be humble in how we interpret scripture and what we bind or don’t bind on other people.

World Upside Down: Part 1, Dear Empire, You Have Nothing to Worry About

If you read the bible (at least partially) as an anti-Empire polemic and say things like “Jesus is Lord and Caesar is not” then this consensus view is worrisome. Does the state have nothing to fear from King Jesus? Is Christianity politically innocuous and inoffensive? Is that what Luke was trying to say in the book of Acts?

Windows: It’s over, tech site declares

Calling the latest operating system a “failure” and Microsoft’s leaders “idiots,” a top tech website has proclaimed the PC era over. Windows is coming to a dead end, they say.

Is Our Helping Really Hurting?

Perhaps some of the biggest criticisms in the book are aimed at the multi-billion dollar Short Term Mission industry in America and the Western world. According to the evidence (or lack of it) most STM experiences do not benefit the people they are intended to. Even those who go on them generally fall back into old patterns of life and thought within months of their return from a trip. In other words, there is very little to see for the huge sums of money being spent. Very often, the 30k needed to fund an average overseas missions trip could be better spent on the ground by local practitioners, but this is far too radical a step for many!

It’s So Much Easier To Criticize!

Because it is so easy to criticize, we must take extra effort to encourage, build up, and affirm other believers (I’m preaching to myself here). We must go the extra mile to encourage and refresh others. We must work hard to overwhelm our relationships with encouragement. If our relationships become overrun with criticism they can quickly become unfruitful.

Acceptable Pride?

We know God opposes the proud. But some forms of social media seem to have redefined what pride is and what it’s not.

Stuff Christians Like: Believing the phrase “Just saying” is some magical get out of being a jerk card

One part snark + One part bitterness + Just saying = Complete forgiveness for whatever you’ve just said.

Churches of Christ…Iconoclasm

Somewhere along the line this restoration project which began as a unity movement (“Christians only but not the only Christians) began asserting itself as the only true church, attacking all other denominations as false teaching and unchristian. The result became an anti-intellectual, anti-traditional, and tribalistic form of sectarianism. Of course, those still steeped in this sectarianism will cry foul at my assessment here but that may only show just how much we became a victim of our own iconoclasm.

I Want to be a Parent… I Think

Parenting has its share of joys. But, it has its challenges, too. Someone remarked, ”Some adults never become good parents because they can’t leave the “childhood” (selfish!) stage.” Their point was simply that there is still too much selfishness in them to turn loose and focus on the needs of other people – even their own children. What is true of biological families and parenting in particular can be true of believers with respect to our “stuckness” in faith growth.

Does reading in dim light hurt your eyes?

Dr. Sheedy says he assures his students that there isn’t enough evidence to argue that what you do with your eyes leads to myopia (nearsightedness): “The predominant determinant of myopia is genetics.” No link to long-term damage has ever been conclusively shown, says Dr. Sheedy. “It’s an old tale, a ploy used by moms to get kids to go to sleep when they wanted them to,” he says.