Christianity – Page 85 – Threads from Henry's Web

Facing Detours

Having made plenty of detours in both my physical and spiritual life, I really appreciated this post from Pen of the Wayfarer.

October 17, 2009

Halloween Book Burning and Barbecue

OK, I’m very late on this one and you can find much more information at The Church of Jesus Christ where Polycarp has been following it.

Here’s the video:

I should, but can’t, resist posting my own YouTube video beside this one: Why I Hate the KJV:

I guess you can tell what I think.

October 17, 2009

Of Church Signs and Breaking Legs

I’m currently working on the final stages in the release process on two books, one of which is titled Megabelt (the other is Christian Archy by David Alan Black, but it doesn’t feature in this post), and is a fictional account of life in the Bible belt. The lead character, Gil, doesn’t much like the sayings on church signs:

Gil was going to find the church marquee guy one day and break his legs so he could never make the trip to the top of the ladder ever again.

I was driving home from buying groceries yesterday and encountered a church sign. It annoyed me so much that I turned around and used my cell phone to take a picture of it. When I turned around, however, I discovered that the other side of the sign had an equally annoying saying.

Here’s the front:

Church Sign - First Side — Church Sign – First Side

Now while there is a certain amount of truth here–faith without works is dead–I really don’t think any amount of faith will get me into heaven. In fact, I’m not sure it’s faith that gets me to church.

So here’s the second side:

Sorry that I didn’t do too good a job getting the pictures. It looks like the lens was dirty. What bugs me about this side is the idea that getting to heaven is based on getting your facts right. I call this “salvation by correct theology,” and I think it’s just a species of salvation by works.

OK, have fun. I’m sure there are some readers out there who will find something good about these signs. Personally, I’m with Gil.

October 17, 2009

A Devotional on Grace

My wife chose to use an old devotional on grace that I wrote for today’s devotional on her list. I don’t usually do this, but the devotional touched my heart again, as it did when I wrote it. The devotionals I write always hit me first!

October 16, 2009

Christian Carnival CCXCVIII Posted

… at Bible Archive. Check it out!

October 15, 2009

Christian Carnival CCXCVII Posted

… at Thinking Christian. Enjoy!

October 8, 2009

Christian Carnival CCXCVI

Welcome to the September 30, 2009 edition of the Christian Carnival CCXCVI. This is the “I can’t think of a creative theme” edition!

For His Glory presents Your Spiritual Wardrobe posted at For His Glory, saying, “God has provided everything we need for life and godliness (II Peter 1:3). Come and see the list of outfits He has provided for us to clothe ourselves in as we walk through life.”

Will Green writes about the theology of the fall and suffering, with a post titled A theory on the relationship between the Fall and suffering today at Weblog of a Christian Philosophy Student.

FMF presents Dave Ramsey, Christianity, and Money posted at Free Money Finance, and discusses the financial philosophy and style of presentation used by Dave Ramsey.

andriel presents Yom Kippur – The Foreshadowing of Christ posted at ReturningKing.com. This is part 10 of an ongoing series entitled, “A Pastoral Soteriology” (more to come).

NCSue presents The case of the errant embryo posted at IN HIM WE LIVE AND MOVE AND HAVE OUR BEING. This presents a story of very difficult questions and how a couple have responded to them.

John presents Speaking Truth to Power? posted at Brain Cramps for God, saying, “Is it possible for the members of the Body of Christ in the US to separate themselves from their attachment to their secular political divisions to truly ‘speak truth to power’?

JLS presents What Ever Happened to Frank? posted at Pastoral Musings. It’s a haunting question.

Will D presents How has Literal Interpretation Changed? posted at Fundamentally Changed. The word “literal” is used quite loosely on all sides. You will benefit by noticing the nuances presented in this post.

Edward presents A House Divided – Is Age-Segmented Ministry Failing? posted at Crimson Conservative and asks whether it is time to re-think the model of age-segregated ministry. Crimson Conservative shares his thoughts and reflections on Christianity Today’s recent article.

Diane R presents Finally….Maybe It’s Over! posted at Crossroads: Where Faith and Inquiry Meet, saying, “The time for segregating the church into age groups has to be over, hopefully.” This is a second look at this subject!

Chasing the Wind presents Does God Exist? posted at Chasing the Wind, saying, “People have been asking if God exists for thousands of years. God has already provided all the proof we need, both external and internal. All we have to do is be honest about our seeking.” A study of Pslams 19.

Rick Schiano presents Let Go, for Mental Peace posted at Ricks Victory Blog. Fear can do untold harm. Can you let it go?

Andrea @ Unfailingly Loved presents Safe and Sound posted at Unfailingly Loved. Lost and unsure of your way? Call out to the Lord. He is faithful to be present. He knows your name, where you are, and where you need to go.

NtJS presents The Big Birthday Lesson: A new tradition posted at not the jet set, saying, “Starting at 6 years old we decided that a child has finally developed enough socially and mentally to understand sharing and giving, that the world is bigger then them and not centered around them.”

Ridge Burns presents Presence posted at Ridge’s Blog. “The presence of God is active and real today.” Do you notice it?

Barry Wallace presents Is theology your idol? posted at who am i?, saying, “This is a follow-up to my post on the potentially damning dangers of theology and includes a couple more excerpts from J.I. Packer’s “Knowing God.””

Rodney Sutton presents Help! My Feelings Have Been Hurt And I Can’t Get Over It! posted at Happy Hog Speaks!. Forgiveness can be very difficult–yet necessary!

Marcus Maher presents The Future of Missions? posted at Seeking the truth…. Is ‘business as misions’ a promising model?

Annette presents By Faith – Abel, Enoch and Noah posted at Fish and Cans. She examines three examples of faith from Hebrews 11 and looks at how their story might find application in our lives.

Michelle presents a praise report, 09.26.09 posted at Thoughts and Confessions of a Girl Who Loves Jesus….

Rey presents The Holy Spirit, an overview on the reality and person of the Holy Spirit, posted at The Bible Archive.

Trent Cotton presents True Understanding of Salvation-Confessions from a Converted Catholic posted at Christian Men-Christian Warriors.

My wife, Jody Neufeld, presents Speak Jesus, I am Listening at Jody’s Devotionals.

Here’s my own contribution for the week–my interview with Keith Williams about the Mosaic Bible (NLT).

And here are some blog posts that were not submitted, but that I decided it would be worthwhile to call your attention to.

Josh Mann at for the Sake of Truth wrote a post Ancient Boxing and the Apostle Paul which is just a sample of the many posts he writes on New Testament backgrounds.

One of our other contributions referenced Allan R. Bevere. Besides the that post, let me call your attention to the first post in his series on Revelation. It looks like it will be fun!

Would you approve of a conservative Bible translation project? Before you answer, check out this post from Exploring Our Matrix.

There are many other deserving posts and blogs out there, but I’ll leave it at that.

That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of The Christian Carnival using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

Technorati tags:

christian carnival ii, blog carnival.

September 30, 2009

Christian Carnival and Mosaic Bible Announcement

OK, these are not that closely related, but the Christian Carnival will appear here tomorrow, and it will be evening before it appears.

I will announce the winner of the Mosaic Bible giveaway at the same time.

September 29, 2009

Christian Carnival CCXCV Posted

… at The Evangelical Ecologist.

September 25, 2009

Doing Something

Talk is cheap, and I’m a good talker. This past Sunday I visited a new Sunday School class and met a young man who told me that he was opposed to abortion. He went on to say that he believed that if you talked about something you should be willing to act, and in his case, that meant going out and getting the home study done and being willing to adopt. He and his wife had done precisely that and had adopted an older child.

I deeply respect someone who takes that sort of action. There are many ways in which one can act. Some of us are called upon to proclaim, but even then I think the proclamation gets weak if one isn’t personally involved in taking action in some way.

Today Allan Bevere has a great post on the health care debate and how the church should be engaged. What can we do? Do we really believe the gospel has power? Consider this near Allan’s conclusion:

… But in the midst of the debate over how the Principality and Power called the United States can initiate health care reform, I believe that the church should be ahead of the game and work to cover as many people as it possibly can, and thereby demonstrate a powerful witness to others concerning what is possible. The church is a sleeping giant with resources available to it, both spiritual and physical, that can shake the very foundations of every civilization, but they are under-utilized because we continue to think the nation-state is where the real action is. We continue to believe that Caesar is more effective in accomplishing tasks than the people of God brought into existence by nothing less than the resurrection of Jesus Christ. [emphasis mine]

I think our greatest difficulty with sharing or proclaiming the gospel in this country is that we do not show the power of the gospel in the way we live as a church. If the gospel has power–resurrection power–then we should be able to point to something to show for it, as the early disciples pointed to an empty tomb.

September 23, 2009

Category: Christianity