one of the saddest things I have read

If you want to see “the Lie” in action then read this article. It is an offering from Oprah.com.

Here is a peek or two or four:

I contemplate divorce every day. It tugs on my sleeve each morning when my husband, Will, greets me in his chipper, smug morning-person voice, because after 16 years of waking up together, he still hasn’t quite pieced out that I’m not viable before 10 a.m.

It puts two hands on my forehead and mercilessly presses when he blurts out the exact wrong thing (“Are you excited for your surprise party next Tuesday?”); when he lies to avoid the fight (“What do you mean I left our apartment door open? I never even knew our apartment had a door!”); when he buttons his shirt and jacket into the wrong buttonholes, collars and seams unaligned like a vertical game of dominoes, with possibly a scrap of shirttail zippered into his fly.

……

As one girlfriend remarked, it’s the age of rage — a period of high irritation that lasts roughly one to two decades. As a colleague e-mailed me, it’s the simmering underbelly of resentment, the 600-pound mosquito in the room. At a juncture where we thought we should have unearthed some modicum of certainty, we are turning into the Clash. If I go will there be trouble? If I stay will it be double? Should I stay or should I go?

……

What are we doing here?

We were groomed to think bigger and better — achievement was our birthright — so it’s small surprise that our marriages are more freighted. Marriage and its cruel cohort, fidelity, are a lot to expect from anyone, much less from swift-flying us. Would we agree to wear the same eyeshadow or eat in the same restaurant every day for a lifetime? Nay, cry the villagers, the echo answers nay. We believe in our superhood. We count on it.

So, did our feminist foremothers set us up for failure? Or were they just trying to empower us so that we wouldn’t buy into the notion of having to be a better better half?

…..

Because in the end, that’s basically what it’s all about: getting your order right. Our day comes down to choices — and it’s finally dawning on the long-term wives of the world that divorce may be the last-standing woman’s right to choose.

emphasis added

what can one say? do you hear the unhappiness? Do you hear the deception being fed to the writer?

The Lie is always the same. if you do the right thing, you will be miserable. If you do the wrong thing, then you can realize your full potential.

The Deceiver’s playbook hasn’t changed since Genesis 3.
“But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

Don’t be deceived.
“16Don’t be deceived, my dear brothers. 17Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.”

UPDATE: see post above this one.

HT to the Corner (KLo)

Posted in culture, family | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

offered without further comment

megan mcardle:

We live in degenerate times, my friends. Our ancestors got into ships that would hardly do for a weekend sail on the lake, crossed stormy oceans, fought mountain cats and drought, sailed their prairie schooners into the wilderness, all without as much as a single “Warning: Contains wild animal ingredients” label slapped on the prairie.
……
If it is true that Americans have come to a state when they need to be informed that their peanut butter contains, yes, peanuts, then it is time to give the land back to the Indians. Forget the injustice of our initial seizure. A people who cannot determine, merely by glancing at the label, that something called “Peanut Butter” is likely to have quite a few groundnuts in it–that people does not deserve to be in charge of the sunglass concession at the mall, much less a once-great nation.

Posted in culture | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

here is where we get hung up

originally posted on 8/27. everyone needs to listen to part two at this link. seriously.

if God is sovereign over all like He says He is in Ephesians 1:11, then it necessarily follows that God wills that evil exist.

“God wills evil to exist. (without being evil)” according to the Ligonier ministries blog, that is how John MacArthur begins the two sermons linked here. UPDATE: the quoted phrase comes at the beginning of the second message.

I am going to give these messages a listen this morning and this evening.

UPDATE: The first message was only 24 minutes long. Mainly it consisted of establishing with scripture that God is sovereign over all things. That everything is part of His plan.

oooo! part 2 starts out with a kick.

UPDATE II: Excellent 2nd message as well. as you would expect from John MacArthur, it is mostly just straight scripture. If you don’t start from the assumption that the Bible is God’s word to us and that our job is to figure out what it says and get under it, then you will not get these messages. if you do start from that assumption, then it is a wrasslin’ match. ding, ding. let the match begin.

Posted in church | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

are you serious?

How many times have I said that you can’t replace something with nothing. Taking christianity out of mainstream dialogue/culture/practice does not leave non-religious secularism. Instead, the human religious impulse gets directed toward the worship of nature (environmentalism) or more directly toward the worship and exaltation of man himself. Check this out if you don’t believe me:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVi4rUzf-0Q&hl=en&fs=1]
did you catch the overtly religious imagery?

just wow.

here is the writer of the song (with Bono) and maker of the video, Dave Stewart in his own words:

People long for a connection — whether it is to music, to their country, or to a big idea. Regardless of what happens in November, Senator Obama has reminded millions of people that they have the power to connect to bigger ideas. He is, in essence, the embodiment of a new anthem for change. He has continued King’s narrative from what was once thought of as a dream to a reality. I find it especially relevant that Barack Obama will accept the Democratic Party Nomination for President 45 years to the day of King’s “I Have a Dream” speech.

you don’t replace something with nothing.

Posted in culture, politics | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

part of the tension

I seek to live in the tension (see my “about” page). the main tension we live in is the tension between our responsibility for our actions and God’s sovereignty. The intersection at this point is a profound mystery that belongs to God alone. Deuteronomy 29:29. But notice that the things that have been revealed are sufficient for us to obey God.

Anyways, in bible study this morning we were wrestling with this tension and I just re-read a John Piper article that I have linked before. This bit here speaks of living life in this intense zone between God’s sovereign design and our responsibility:

Therefore, to ask, “If we don’t evangelize, will the elect be saved?” is like asking, “If there is no predestination, will the predestined be saved?” God knows those who are his and he will raise up messengers to win them. If someone refuses to be a part of that plan, because he dislikes the idea of being tampered with before he was born, then he will be the loser, not God and not the elect. “You will certainly carry out God’s purpose however you act but it makes a difference to you whether you serve like Judas or like John.” (Problem of Pain chapter 7, Anthology, p 910, cf. p 80)

Prayer is like preaching in that it is a human act also. It is a human act that God has ordained and which he delights in because it reflects the dependence of his creatures upon Him. He has promised to respond to prayer, and his response is just as contingent upon our prayer as our prayer is in accordance with his will. “And this is the confidence which we have before Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us” (I John 5:14). When we don’t know how to pray according to God’s will but desire it earnestly, “the Spirit of God intercedes for us according to the will of God” (Romans 8:27).

In other words, just as God will see to it that His Word is proclaimed as a means to saving the elect, so He will see to it that all those prayers are prayed which He has promised to respond to. I think Paul’s words in Romans 15:18 would apply equally well to his preaching and his praying ministry: “I will not presume to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me, resulting in the obedience of the Gentiles.”

emphasis added.

Do you believe the bolded parts? why or why not?

Posted in teaching | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Piper on the importance of doctrine

John Piper has a post up pointing to and discussing briefly Joseph Bottum’s essay on the decline of protestant America. Mr. Piper quotes a last point from Bottum and then concludes:

What happened?

“The churches’ desperate hunger to mean more in politics and economics had the perverse effect of making them less effective opponents of the political and economic pressures on the nation. They mattered more when they wanted to matter less.”

I pray that the younger evangelicals who are pondering where to put their energies will learn from history that doctrinal accommodation brings larger audiences in the short run but death and irrelevance in the long run.

And God forbid that any should say with Hezekiah: Who cares if the death comes in 80 years as long as I have crowds and influence in my day (2 Kings 20:19).

Posted in church, culture | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Jon Bloom on Hebrews 12

Is God punishing me? that is the question we sometimes ask when things aren’t going well. Jon Bloom takes a look at Hebrews 12 and concludes:

These saints were not to interpret their painful experiences as God’s angry punishment for their sins. That angry punishment was completely spent on Jesus—once for all—on the cross.

Rather, this was the message they were to understand from their hardships: God loves you! He has fatherly affection for you. He cares deeply for you. He is taking great pains so that you will share his holiness (12:10) because he wants you to be as happy as possible and enjoy the peaceful fruit of righteousness (12:11).

….

It is crucial that we remember that everything God feels toward us as Christians is gracious. When God disciplines us it is a precious form of his favor. It’s what a loving father does. He is not giving us what we deserve because he “canceled the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands…nailing it to the cross” (Colossians 2:14). Instead, he is training us in righteousness. Because he loves us so very much.

HT to the Ramblin’ Pastor Man..

UPDATE:

this is from Randy Alcorn’s blog today:

However, Luther refused to see his illness as divine punishment but rather as a natural consequence of man’s sinful state. It was to be countered with both prayer and medication but one relied ultimately on the will of God. Indeed, he felt God’s presence and power more acutely in his sickness than in times of greater vitality. After recovering from an illness so serious that his basic life signs were undetectable, Luther wrote the great hymn, “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God,” in which he expressed his trust in God’s victory over the devil’s forces with these concluding words, “Though life be wrenched away, they cannot win the day. The kingdom is ours forever.”

Also, take note of the following words from the great British preacher, Charles Spurgeon. He too dealt with poor health all his life, but especially in his last decade when he was nearly incapacitated. He writes, “I have suffered many times from severe sickness and frightful mental depression seeking almost to despair. Almost every year I’ve been laid aside for a season, for flesh and blood cannot bear the strain, at least such flesh and blood as mine. I believe, however, the affliction was necessary to me and has answered salutary ends. But I would, if it were God’s will, escape from such frequent illness. That must be according to His will and not mine.”

This is a frank admission of the pain that trials involve but, near the end of his life, Spurgeon also wrote this, “I venture to say that the greatest earthly blessing that God can give to any of us is health, with the possible exception of sickness. Sickness has frequently been of much greater use to the saints than has health.”

emphasis added

what a timely word.

Posted in teaching | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

one pollster's take on the church of the future

here is a part of Chuck Warnock’s post on one pollster’s take on the future of the church in the U.S.:

“The church of the future will be a bungalow on Maple Street, not a megastructure in a sea of parking spaces. It’s intimacy of experience people long for, not production values.” — The Way We’ll Be, p. 215.
In a previous chapter, “One True Thing,” Zogby says that people are “searching for authenticity in a make-believe world.” That’s what will drive the tremendous growth of house churches in the coming years, especially among the demographic he calls ‘First Globals” which others label Millenials. Zogby quotes one house church enthusiast, “What is so exciting about doing small-group house church is just the chance to be real.” Authenticity, not high production values, is what First Globals are seeking.

What do you think? Are small house churches the way to rediscover authenticity? Are they the only way? can a large congregation be authentic? why or why not? if a large congregation can be an authentic community, how can it do so?

Maybe more importantly, is a small group a guarantee of authentic community? why or why not? what has to happen for authentic transparent community to occur?

hat tip to Catablog.

Posted in church, culture | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

the election

Stephen Nichols has some excellent advice for Christ followers in the United States during this election year. The whole short post is worth your time. His first point is to dial down the rhetoric a notch, here are his last two points:

Number two. Let’s not make the presidency, the office, into an idol, thinking of it in either messianic or apocalyptic terms. Isaiah gives a healthier perspective on the nations. If it was true of Assyria, it’s likely true of the USA.

Number three. Let’s not be guilty of sloth. Winning elections doesn’t actually get us very far, neither does blogging about them, for that matter. The real work of being a Christian in culture and working toward a civil society is a bit more complicated and demanding. We do, however, like to take the easy way out.

The point is that we need to be salt and light to this world every day right where we live. Our kingdom is not of this world and our king will still be on the throne November 5.

Of course the election is important, but it is not the most important thing. Not even close.

Posted in politics | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

by the way,

ain’t she pretty? still makes my stomach go funny after almost twenty years.

Julie

Posted in family, photography | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

marriage

Julie and I went up to Irving, Texas yesterday (home of America’s team) for the fiftieth wedding anniversary of Lois and Ted.

fifty years together

Lois is Julie’s dad’s big sister. Julie’s mom and dad will have been married fifty-three years in a couple of weeks.

Fifty-three years together

my parents have been married forty-six years (I think. mom, is this right?)

motherBirthday Boy

my grandparents have been married sixty-eight years.

Grandma and Grandpa

Julie and I are in the middle of our twentieth year married and loving it more all the time. I just reflect on the blessing of being surrounded by all of these long marriages and realize how rare it is.

Marriage is a commitment. It is deciding to stay together period. Hebrews 12:1 in another context but applicable here as well says that since we are surrounded by so many admirable testimonies, let us run with endurance/patience the race that is set before us. Life and marriage are marathons, not sprints. Buckle down for the long haul and enjoy the sweet everyday blessings that God sends our way during the journey.

Congratulations, Ted and Lois!

Posted in family, photography | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Puppies

These three little ones are about a week and a half old now. Anybody need a piebald dachshund?

Puppies

Posted in family, photography | Tagged , , , , , , | 9 Comments

Transparency is worth zero if you have no passion

Michelle Greer has a great post up about “transparency in marketing.” (warning, a mild expletive)

Her point is that the latest marketing buzzword means nothing to a person/company that is bored with or dislikes their own product. Here is some of what she says but go read all of it:

People are not stupid and they know when you care about them and when you are just trying to make a buck. Take care of them and they will take care of you.

Being transparent is worthless if you have no passion about what you do. You can come across as transparently greedy, or transparently bored, or transparently stupid. Having passion and feeling that the service you are providing will generally enrich someone’s life will make you transparent by default.

How many churches seem to have begun with the proposition that people are stupid? Well Michelle is correct that they aren’t.

I sometimes wonder if the reason most of us Christians don’t share our faith with our friends and family is that deep down we don’t really believe it. We believe it enough to go through the motions ourselves, plus the people at church aren’t too bad for hanging with once in a while on a Sunday morning. But we don’t believe it enough that we are consumed with passion for the gospel and consumed with the belief that we must share the gospel because people need to be reconciled to God.

This lack of faith and passion is easily recognizable by those we live among and they are not stupid. If we don’t act like we really believe it, then why should they?

Here are a couple of things that Paul said that showed his transparent passion for the gospel.

First:

12 I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel, 13 so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ. 14 And most of the brothers, having become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, are much more bold to speak the word without fear.
15 Some indeed preach Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from good will. 16 The latter do it out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. 17 The former proclaim Christ out of rivalry, not sincerely but thinking to afflict me in my imprisonment. 18 What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice.

and

1 I am speaking the truth in Christ—I am not lying; my conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit— 2 that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. 3 For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh.

We must be that transparently passionate about the Gospel of Jesus or we will be ineffective in sharing it.

hat tip Chris Marlow and Austin Cast.

UPDATE: fixed a busted link for Michelle Greer. Sorry about that. Too quick on the cut and paste draw.

Posted in culture, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Friday fotos

colors on a wall
Purple and Yellow Building

city hall
City Hall at night

Posted in photography | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

what is community?

Ok. the Thirsty Theologian had an interesting link on his page that I followed yesterday evening to discover this post. (by the way, TT has some great posts up top right now about why a literal translation of the Bible is better. Go take a look. For instance “if I relay a message inaccurately, does it matter how clearly I speak?”)

anyway, Julie Neidlinger’s post is haunting. I think she is feeling and expressing what so many people are feeling and not expressing. I know that the last few Sundays that I went to a new site/campus of a big traditional church I was just angry. I felt like it was a cheap shallow imitation of community that was completely missing the point. I didn’t want to be angry, but I was.

I have gone to church my whole life and I have felt bored and apathetic at times. I have felt energized and convicted at other times, but for seven sundays in a row, the overwhelming emotion was anger. “why are we doing this?” “why are we doing this, this way?” “WHAT IS THE POINT OF THIS?” and similar things were running through my head until it was about to explode.

When I read Julie’s thoughts, it hit me why I was angry. All we were doing is taking plastic church and putting it in a hipper wardrobe. The hunger inside me was to really be the church, not a cooler version of the church facsimile.

Listen to this excerpt and then go read the rest of her cri de couer.

Whatever. I’m not looking for a program or ministry geared for me and my situation. I’m just looking for people to connect with and be church with. I’d like marrieds and singles and old and young in that group. I’m not looking for easy homogenization.

It won’t work
As it is, I, and others like me, will walk out of churches. The coffee bars in the foyer, the casual attire, the buzz words, all the programs and activities imaginable, the big-screen video monitors, the contemporary music — it is actually repulsive and fake to a large chunk of people.

These are the people churches aren’t aware of, because they aren’t anywhere near a church. They slip in, walk out, and aren’t even missed. They don’t fill out visitor cards. They don’t want to be part of a flow chart or be managed as part of a Church-as-Corporate-Hierarchy system. They don’t want a polite follow-up call or to hear a voice on the other end say that they just wanted to “touch bases” with them to let them know they’re important. Even if those actions are sincere and the only plausible route when a church is so huge, they ring insincere.

Such people, like myself, sound impossible to reach or include in the system of church as we know it today, which is my point. They way we do church today isn’t necessarily being church. There needs to be something else for those of us who can’t stand the way services are arranged, the way emotions are herded into a set time frame (which today involved — what was impossible for me — going from the whole congregation doing “the wave” as instigated by the children’s pastor into, about ten minutes later, “surrendering to Jesus” with soft piano music and hushed tones), how discussion is nil and being preached at in silence is the accepted method of learning…

…nope. Not gonna work.

I’m not looking for starched Baptist legalism, but Casual Friday Church is as equally fake and disgusting.

“Casual Friday Church” what an excellent name.

recently my family and I have been trying to find an authentic church community with which to join hands. With which to love God with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength. With which to love our neighbors as ourselves.

We have found a place where that is the desire of the leaders. You know what? plastic church is there too and it appears to frustrate the leadership. They desire for their people to break through to authentic community. Progress is slow.

Why? Why are we this way? Why do we persist in creating/maintaining a safe distance from one another?

I read an article sent to me by a friend. The article accurately pinpoints the reason as rebellious sinful hearts. The author is unnecessarily provocative in his title and thesis because the problem really is individualism and the solution really is community.

But he is also correct that the real underlying heart issue is rebellion. Rebellion against the command of God to put Him first in our affections. We want to do what we want to do with our time, money, words, talents, family etc. Rebellion against His command to love one another as we love ourselves. We want to be friends and show love to who we want to be friends with and show love to. Usually only those people who are a lot like us. Usually those people who can show us love in return. Usually those people who have the ability to return the favor.

Just sayin’. Julie N. touched a nerve in me. she expressed well what I have been feeling. I feel inside the hunger she expresses. I am glad she put her words down for all of us to see.

Posted in church, culture | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

personal revelation?

the Thirsty Theologian is hard core when it comes to personal revelations from God. Quoting Sinclair Ferguson who gives three reasons why people these days prefer personal revelation to reading the general revelation contained in the Bible. Here is Mr. Ferguson’s third reason:

3. Direct revelation makes it unnecessary to engage in painstaking Bible study and careful consideration of Christian doctrine in order to know the will of God. By comparison with immediate revelation, Bible study seems—to be frank—boring. Although rarely said, underlying all of this is a sinister thought: the Bible is not very clear. By contrast, it is assumed that direct revelation cannot possibly be misunderstood.

—Sinclair Ferguson, In Christ Alone: Living the Gospel Centered Life (Reformation Trust, 2007), 107.

then get a load of the Thirsty Theologian’s follow on comment:

I believe most Christians are just too lazy to do the hard work of Bible study. The less apathetic among them fall back on the entirely sentimental reasons one and two.

All this is very sad, because those people are going to learn absolutely nothing from God, because God is not going to speak to them. Yes, my subjectively-guided friend, you read that right. If you claim that God has spoken to you, I don’t believe you. I don’t think you are lying (unless you say it on TBN; then I’m quite convinced you’re making it up); I just think you are deluded, mistaking the voices in your head for the Holy Spirit.

ouch. I think TT is correct on this one. I just don’t know if it is laziness or conditioning. I think that some people don’t want to expend the mental effort of concentration to study to show themselves approved workmen. I also think that some people have been conditioned somehow into having the mistaken belief that studying the Bible requires special training.

It doesn’t. Just read it. Jesus promised that the Holy Spirit would guide us into all truth. Believe Him. Pick up a Bible, any Bible and get with it.

Hat tip to the Ramblin’ Pastor Man

Posted in bible | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

back to school

today is the first day of the new school year for the kids. hard to believe the summer is already over.

Posted in family | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

fathers

The Henry Institute has a new essay up on the importance of fathers in all of our lives. It is well worth a few minutes of your time. Very sad, but necessary for us dads to hear and reflect upon. Here is a small portion of it, but please go read the whole thing.

God has put in every human heart a gnawing need to look someone in the face and say, “Abba, Father.” He’s put in every human soul the need to hear the words, “You are my beloved child and in you I am well pleased.”

My father always was there, and still is. Maybe that wasn’t the case for you. Maybe your father left early on in your life. Or maybe he was there, but you remember his feet walking out the door each day for a life-sapping job, his feet propped up on the couch each night in front of some life-sapping television. Maybe you miss your Dad. Maybe you hate your Dad.

In any case, all of us have found ourselves snuggled up to a mannequin. We’ve constructed idols, covered in the scent of Deity, that give us an illusion of the protection of a Father God without his presence. Some of you may still be living that illusion.

Our adoption by Father God meets and exceeds all our earthly longings and expectations of parental joy and approval.

Posted in family, teaching | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Think like beginners

Steve is on it again. Go read his block quote from Alan Hirsch and his two concluding questions.

Rather than a quick fix or silver bullet, we need silver imaginations.

Minds that are transformed and renewed by our willingness to sacrifice everything at the feet of our Savior. Minds that are taken captive, and are captivated, by Christ. Minds fueled by the Spirit to see beyond current circumstances and past experiences. Minds that can only imagine where God is leading…

Posted in church | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

David Crowder bought me popcorn tonight

David Crowder premiered his Remedy concert DVD in 100 some odd theaters around the country this evening. We went to the Highland 10 here in Austin. David and the band were here as well as Louie Giglio. David bought us all popcorn and Dr. Pepper. Signed autographs afterward and posed for pictures. Very nice indeed.

here is the stub
david crowder

here he is signing an autograph for Emily
david crowder

and here he is talking to our friend Paula
david crowder

Good good times.

Be Remedy.

Posted in culture, family | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

the agnotheist point of view

fascinating:

if I did have a firm belief in God, I’d have a hard time reconciling the following two principles:

1. There is an omnipotent, omniscient and omnibenevolent deity, and man’s highest destiny is to fulfill His purpose

2. I routinely ignore what this deity says because my neighbors disagree

I can’t see how you can have any sort of meaningful faith and divorce it from your voting decisions. Religious faith is supposed to tell you, among other things, what is right and wrong. How are you supposed to vote without reference to your notions of goodness?

Posted in culture | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Gray morning

A little cooler, but much more humid this morning. Hopefully we will get some real rain today.

Posted in family, Uncategorized | Tagged , | Leave a comment

thought for the day

Part of the quote from Todd B’s site.

Tolerance is rightly seen as a virtue. But today what is often implied by the word is relativism, thinly disguised under the positive connotations of the word tolerance. If you do not toe the line to relativism you are branded as intolerant, which is not tolerated. There is enormous pressure to conform.

–Dick Keyes, Chameleon Christianity (Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock Publishers), p 26.

Do not be conformed (molded, shaped) by the pattern of this world (the zeitgeist, the surrounding thought climate), but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.

for even though by this time, you ought to be teachers, you still need someone to teach you again the basic principles….”solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.”

It takes constant effort, work, training and practice to avoid being pressured into conforming to the way the world thinks. A follower of Jesus must be transformed into a renewed way of thinking. this will require effort and the grace of God.

“And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.”

work out your own salvation with fear and trembling for it is God who works in you both to will and to work for His good pleasure.”

Posted in culture, teaching | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Great Story

Hat tip to Michael, who asks “how pro-life are you?”

This is a beautiful story about a girl who made a choice. Take some time to read it today and think about it.

One very disappointing bit was this:

Her mother shakes her head. ‘Most people don’t know the gory facts. To them, she is just a silly girl who got herself pregnant.

‘We had always been regular churchgoers in our community before this. But we faced so many barbed comments from people at church that we stopped going there and went somewhere else. Sometimes, it has felt like me and Elizabeth against the rest of the world.’

What a shame.

Posted in culture | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

harsh language

here is Mark Driscoll talking briefly about the use of harsh language in the Bible.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUwO1i4ImPA&hl=en&fs=1]

Hat tip to Joe Thorn.

Posted in teaching | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment