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SYNCRETISM
Syncretism – “the attempted reconciliation or union of different or opposing principles, practices, or parties, as in philosophy or religion.” (dictionary.com) It’s such a cool word – but such a terrible reality within the Body of Christ. “Syncretism” is when someone decides that Jesus Christ is not enough and turns Christianity into a formula: “Jesus plus something else = salvation”. For example, I had a couple of Mormons wanting to convince me that Jesus is the Way to salvation as long as I was baptized by the proper authorities. I think, too, of Haiti. I once heard someone describe Haiti’s spiritual…
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KINGDOM TALK
I skipped writing last night because I wanted to get to bed “early” – 10:15 pm. In general, I am starting to recall that I would feel a lot better if I had a more regular bedtime routine at an earlier hour. Unfortunately, I woke up at 2:45 am, so it didn’t necessarily help. I will try again tonight! Anyway – Now it is 5 am and I am still ruminating on Dallas Willard’s words in The Divine Conspiracy. I am resonating with his observations about the lack of a proper preaching focus in the American church. What important topic is…
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JESUS THE TEACHER
Just a relevant quote from Dallas Willard’s The Divine Conspiracy tonight – one which echoes much of my thinking about current American church trends and where the disconnect lies: The situation we have just described – the disconnection of life from faith, the absence from our churches of Jesus the teacher – is not caused by the wicked world, by social oppression, or by the stubborn meanness of the people who come to our church services and carry on the work of our congregations. It is largely caused and sustained by the basic message that we constantly hear from Christian…
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3 MEN MAKE A TIGER
Tonight, I just want to share an old Chinese parable as retold by author Sahil Bloom: A minister approached the king and asked, “If one person came to you and claimed there was a tiger in the marketplace, would you believe it?” The king replied, “No, of course not.” The minister continued, “What if two people claimed there was a tiger in the marketplace?” The king paused and said, “I might begin to have some doubt.” Finally, the minister asked, “And what if three people all insisted there was a tiger in the marketplace?” The king responded, “If three people…
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QUICK TRIP TO EL PASO
The original spring break plan was that Sarah was going to El Salvador for a week with a group from the church in Columbus and Melissa and I were going to spend time sorting through all the things that still need attention at her mom’s house. But then Caleb called and said he would be off work the first weekend of our break along with the following Monday and Tuesday and wondered if we might come down to visit El Paso. We didn’t need to think about that one too long – we have been eager to see his new…
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LOGIC’S FAILURE
In “A Letter to a Young Gentleman, Lately Enter’d Into Holy Orders by a Person of Quality” (1721) Jonathan Swift wrote: “Reasoning will never make a Man correct an ill Opinion, which by Reasoning he never acquired.” Maybe you’ve heard the simplified version which emerged over time: “You can’t reason someone out of a position they didn’t reason themselves into.” Certainly rings true, right? Its only shortcoming as a truism is that it fails to acknowledge how often we run into people who hold positions they didn’t reason themselves into. Swift’s observation is even more salient when, like me, you…
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EXCUSES!
It’s a little shocking how quickly you can fall out of a habit. When I slackened my daily writing routine at the beginning of this year, I knew it would become a little easier to make an excuse each evening I just didn’t feel like sitting down to write. But It’s a part of me now and I miss it when I don’t write. No matter what else I did during the day, it feels like I am not making the most of my time if I don’t pause to process my thoughts before bed. But I did have a…
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SANCTUARY AS CLASSROOM
As I continue thinking about my dissertation work, one conviction is gaining some clarity: To be effective for the Kingdom, a pastor needs to function as a teacher. This doesn’t need to be complicated. The basics of good teaching practice are pretty straightforward. I’m talking about things like: I have started to look for resources which address these matters within the local church, but I’m not seeing much so far. If you google “teaching and Christian faith”, you will not get results outlining ways principles of good teaching practice can be applied to the teaching the Bible. Instead, you get…
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FAILED EXPERIMENT?
Is the earth and all its inhabitants God’s great failed experiment? If you are among those who believe that the essence of the gospel is Then what do you make of God’s original plan – the one where He creates a material existence in which He would share space with material/spiritual beings fashioned in His image? Did God’s wondrous work – so celebrated in Genesis chapter 1 – turn out to be the mother of all failed experiments? I guess it just didn’t work out the way God had hoped.
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“DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH”
The internet has largely obliterated intelligent discussion of opposing viewpoints – even as it intentionally drives wedges to further divide opinions. People involved in online arguments are always urging each other to “do your own research”. This cracks me up every time for at least three reasons. First, are we really going to pretend that you can trust the information you read on the internet? Seems obvious to me that it’s impossible for the layman to know which sources are credible and which are not. Second, every “fact” posted online has also been “debunked” somewhere online. The question then becomes…