All posts relating to religion, including those on the relationship of religion to other fields, such as science and politics
I think there are two major errors we can make as Christians: We can fail to have a message, and we can fail to be the message. If I follow the stereotypes I would say that liberals tend to fail in the first, and conservatives in the second. But I’m afraid we all tend to…
Shane Raynor is again stirring things up with a post on a Toolkit for Radical Methodists. He has proposed the idea of preaching faith until you have it, rather than waiting for faith. Since I recently posted some about doubt, I was interested in his phrase “wearing [your] doubt as a straitjacket.” I wonder if…
Alan Knox has reposted a series on how the church can live Romans 12:9-21 along with some current thoughts. He points out that Romans 1-11 are theological, but starting with Romans 12, Paul begins to speak about how the church can live out the theology of the first chapters. This all reminded me of one…
Bruce Alderman has written a post that is making me think. That’s a good thing! He thinks that we are misusing the word “doubts” when we suggest that believers may have doubts. To quote: Questions can and do lead to a more mature faith. Genuine doubts do not. Hmm! I must say that I have…
That’s something every editor should have laminated and stuck on the wall. There is nothing to make me cringe like a friend or relative telling me that they have a manuscript they’ve been working on for a long time. Inevitably this leads to the question, “Would you be interested in looking at it?” Depending on…
Via Shane Raynor on Twitter and the Wesley Report, I found this article on UMPortal about early Methodist evangelism. What struck me, was how many of the ideas there could be found in Acts. Here’s a key quote: She [Rev. Laceye Warner of Duke] defined evangelism as preaching the gospel of salvation in Jesus Christ…
John Piper has suggested that the tornado that struck Minneapolis was a judgment on the ELCA for the recent change in their statement on human sexuality. Piper is a great preacher, and despite some disagreements, I love to hear him present a good gospel message, but I find this, and other similar statements, quite disturbing….
Kevin at Shooting the Breeze comments on a YouTube video.
I have, on occasion, been accused of being a “love preacher.” It’s not an accusation that frightens me, but it used to puzzle me. It doesn’t so much any more. There’s a difference between a casual “all you need is love” attitude and “love one another as I have loved you” (John 13:34), especially considering…
If you’ve been on a church nominating committee and experienced the task of persuading someone to take a job that just has to be filled, or if you’ve been on the other end of that phone call when you’re begged to take a job for which you know you are not gifted or called, or…
