My thoughts

Is there a place for Christians to be outraged? Is this ever a proper response to the sinfulness of the world or for the presentation of things contrary to the Christian worldview? Is this the way to respond to insult? I saw in the headlines today that France, as part of the opening ceremony for the Olympics, did a parody of the “Last Supper” that featured drag queens as the participants. PARIS, July 27 (Reuters) – “A parody of Leonardo Da Vinci's famous fresco 'The Last Supper' featuring drag queens in the Olympic opening ceremony in Paris has sparked fury among the Catholic church and far-right politicians, while supporters praised its message of tolerance. The unprecedented ceremony on the Seine River, which…

Maintaining the Priority of our Calling   In an ongoing discussion I am having with a friend who identifies as atheist, he often brings up, whether on topic or not, the subject of politics and Christianity. Each time it involves the most egregious actions of those who identify as Christian. He is unwilling or unable to make a distinction between those he is criticizing and the actual teachings/tenets of Christianity, which always results in his criticizing Christianity itself. Now, there are certainly those within the Church that have brought this criticism upon themselves and thus, unfairly upon the broader Church. This has been true primarily in the last decade or so, as the word Evangelical has become nearly synonymous with the farthest…

Verse mining is a practice that is done by both sides of the coin. Both believers and unbelievers. Those who wish to prove or defend the faith and those who wish to denigrate it. It is a practice that will ALWAYS lead to a shallower (at best) or horrifically wrong representation of all things God. We have hundreds, nay thousands of denominations, partly as a result of verse mining. What is verse mining? It is simply taking a single verse or passage, paying no mind to the rest of Scripture, either the immediate context of that verse or passage, or Scripture as a whole. One of the most egregious examples of this is what is known as the “prosperity gospel”. It is…

You can’t read a story nowadays without the word identity, or some variation of it, being included, if not the main thought in the piece. Most often the context of the subject has to do with the LGBTQ+ community. But, as I read these stories of people identifying as this and that and listen to the reactions to this from all sides of the issue, I was struck by how many who identify as Christian reacted. The reactions were all over the place, but sadly, many were quite harsh, hateful, and judgmental, all of which are decidedly un-Christian in nature. And, while there is much to discuss on the subject of LGBTQ+, I was more interested in the hypocrisy of the response…

Is the American Church prepared to exist in a post Christian America? Let me make clear what I mean by post-Christian American. First of all, I do not mean to suggest that American as a nation was ever Christian. No nation, as a whole, can be such. Only the individual can be a Christian. However, it is accurate to say “Christian American” in this sense. Since its founding, America has treated Christianity as a favorite son. Holding to the basic principles and tenets of its teachings, many would call this a Christian nation. Even those of an atheistic bent held to a “Ten Commandment-ish” morality. Christianity has enjoyed favored status for centuries and most who lived here professed Christianity. Those days are…

Most generations look back on history to see the changes in a society and culture. The church is in an amazing position to know the One who knows the future. Unfortunately, we, as fallen, finite, and fallible creatures, rarely take advantage of this. Today, we can see the relatively early stages of a major change in the history of our Western culture. I think we can all agree that the once favored place that Christianity held in the west has been slowly but steadily eroded. This knowledge should not make us fearful. It certainly isn’t the first time Christianity has fallen out of favor. It should however be a wakeup call for the Church. No longer is it sufficient to simply proclaim…

One of the arguments we hear from those in the LGBTQ+ community, seeking to normalize homosexuality and other gender forms within this community, is that they were “born this way” and they are just identifying as their “true” self, rather than the “self” that was foisted upon them at birth and that society (until recently) has forced them to live in. Is “born that way” a legitimate argument for a person with same-sex attraction (homosexual)? Is “born that way” a legitimate argument for any behavior? Can a person who professes Christ, for instance, use this argument to legitimize a homosexual lifestyle and still be a follower of Christian teaching? Let’s first look at a couple of other examples of “born that way”…

  Today is called the Trans Day of Visibility. I didn’t know this until this morning when I saw it on my Yahoo homepage. Along with this, or more accurately as a result of this, there were many stories regarding the “T” in LGBTQ+. A couple of the stories were of those who identify as Trans and how freeing it was to finally be “honest” about who they are. They went on to describe how they live lives that are similar if not exactly like the rest of society, but for the fact that they identify as Trans. A couple other stories where about laws in several states that have passed or are attempting to be passed that are identified by the…

Consider the Last Supper narrative. Here we have Jesus, among other things, telling his disciples that one of them will betray Him this very day. “Truly, truly, I say to you, that one of you will betray Me.” That statement alone would have been an attention getter. “The disciples began looking at one another, at a loss to know of which one He was speaking.” Ok, so they definitely were all ears now. They hear His declaration of the betrayal. It was clear that they were all paying attention to the subject at hand. They were no longer distracted by other conversations that were taking place at the table. “There was reclining on Jesus’ bosom one of His disciples, whom Jesus loved.  So, Simon Peter gestured to him, and said to him,…