Saturday, January 05, 2013
Comic Art
SO BAD, THEY'RE GOOD
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Friday, January 04, 2013
Authenticity
Dan Edelen:
But the essential point Dan is making is most valid - church does seem very fake. When you point this out to people most simply say "We are all sinners." Can't argue with that, can we? I say yes. The statement "we are all sinners," is a charge, not an excuse. That may create circumstances wherein we have to make compromises, but it does not mean we should enter in to those compromises enthusiastically. And it means that we must confess our compromises.
That's where "authenticity" springs from - not perfection, not even the attempt at perfection, but from the confession of imperfection. That's as real as it gets.
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What young people find compelling in Ron Paul is he’s not ringmastering a dog and pony show. There are no smoke and mirrors. With Paul, they see a man who is not a political reptile but an authentic conservative from before the neo-cons grabbed control. They see a man with a real plan and genuine vision to fix problems and not just talk, talk, talk. To young people, authenticity matters more than just about any other trait. As they see it, Ron Paul lives what he believes, and what he believes rings true to them.
Can you see where this is going?
Oddly, the title of Jethani’s piece is more accurate than what follows in his post. Christianism does lead to atheism because Christianism (which is to Christianity as truthiness is to truth) isn’t genuine Christianity. It’s a twisted clone, inauthentic to the core.
It’s not that young people don’t like the politics of churches today. What they can’t stand is the dog and pony show that our churches have become. What throws Jethani and others is that Christian political maneuvering is nothing more than a natural outgrowth of churches gone bad. It rushes into the vacuum left behind when genuine Christianity is gutted. The political mess and the culture wars are symptoms, but they are not the root of the disease.
Before I get into this, Ron Paul is as much dog-and-pony as anybody else, but his particular dog-and-pony has more appeal to young people who tends to see correctives in massive change, not subtle. But rest assured Ron Paul is in it for the money.
Young people aren’t stupid. They can read the Book of Acts too. And the Church they find there is radically unlike the American Church of 2012.
But the essential point Dan is making is most valid - church does seem very fake. When you point this out to people most simply say "We are all sinners." Can't argue with that, can we? I say yes. The statement "we are all sinners," is a charge, not an excuse. That may create circumstances wherein we have to make compromises, but it does not mean we should enter in to those compromises enthusiastically. And it means that we must confess our compromises.
That's where "authenticity" springs from - not perfection, not even the attempt at perfection, but from the confession of imperfection. That's as real as it gets.
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Friday Humor
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Thursday, January 03, 2013
Unusual Refuge
Chaplain Mike
Chaplain MIke goes on to cite other authors that have helped him find a home in the mainlines, and that's cool, though I cannot go there with Franky Schaeffer. But I do agree that the church needs to be MORE.
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In his book, Evangelicals on the Canterbury Trail: Why Evangelicals Are Attracted to the Liturgical Church, Webber made it clear that leaving free church evangelicalism was by no means a repudiation of orthodoxy, but a deeper participation in the orthodox faith.
Webber named six aspects of orthodoxy that were not adequately fulfilled for him in his previous Christian experience, but which he found in the Anglican church:I could not agree more. The problem with Evangelicalism is not that it is wrong, it is that it is incomplete.
- A sense of mystery
- Worship that transcends intellectualism and emotionalism
- Sacraments that provide tangible symbols of Christ
- A historic sense of identity
- An ecclesiastical home
- A holistic spirituality
Webber described his own pilgrimage as a journey in three stages: from familial faith in fundamentalist Christianity to searching faith to owned faith in the Anglican church.
Chaplain MIke goes on to cite other authors that have helped him find a home in the mainlines, and that's cool, though I cannot go there with Franky Schaeffer. But I do agree that the church needs to be MORE.
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Illuminated Scripture
Wednesday, January 02, 2013
Love Changes
Mark Roberts:
Love changes, love changes everything. Anything less selfish.
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The main point of Ezekiel 18 is that all people will be held accountable for their own actions, both good and bad. For example, God will not condemn children of unjust parents because of what the parents have done. Rather, he will judge the children in light of their own works (18:10-20).
[...]
We are able to live in this new way, not by our own strength, but through the power of God's Spirit who lives within us and among the people of God. Thus, God helps us to respond to his invitation to change, not just once in our lifetimes, but each and every day. The result of this change is that we begin to live life in a whole new key, experiencing in part the fullness of life that is yet to come.I cannot help but reflect on what we have come to define "love" as - "Love makes me happy" - "Love helps me feel good about myself" - "love is never having to say you're sorry." That's just perverse.
Love changes, love changes everything. Anything less selfish.
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Tuesday, January 01, 2013
New Year Scripture
As posted originally in 2007, this has been the most viewed post on Blogotional ever. I think that merits a repeat.
Matt 9:16-17 - But no one puts a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; for the patch pulls away from the garment, and a worse tear results. Nor do {men} put new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the wineskins burst, and the wine pours out, and the wineskins are ruined; but they put new wine into fresh wineskins, and both are preserved.
Luke 22:20 - And in the same way He took the cup after they had eaten, saying, "This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in My blood."
John 13:34 - A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another."
1 Cor 5:7 - Clean out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, just as you are in fact unleavened. For Christ our Passover also has been sacrificed.
2 Cor 5:17 - Therefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.
Gal 6:15 - For neither is circumcision anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation.
Eph 2:13-15 - But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one, and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall, by abolishing in His flesh the enmity, which is the Law of commandments contained in ordinances, that in Himself He might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace,
Eph 4:21-24 - if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught in Him, just as truth is in Jesus, that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.
2 Pet 3:13 - But according to His promise we are looking for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells.
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Matt 9:16-17 - But no one puts a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; for the patch pulls away from the garment, and a worse tear results. Nor do {men} put new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the wineskins burst, and the wine pours out, and the wineskins are ruined; but they put new wine into fresh wineskins, and both are preserved.
Luke 22:20 - And in the same way He took the cup after they had eaten, saying, "This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in My blood."
John 13:34 - A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another."
1 Cor 5:7 - Clean out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, just as you are in fact unleavened. For Christ our Passover also has been sacrificed.
2 Cor 5:17 - Therefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.
Gal 6:15 - For neither is circumcision anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation.
Eph 2:13-15 - But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one, and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall, by abolishing in His flesh the enmity, which is the Law of commandments contained in ordinances, that in Himself He might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace,
Eph 4:21-24 - if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught in Him, just as truth is in Jesus, that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.
2 Pet 3:13 - But according to His promise we are looking for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells.
Related Tags: scripture, new, fresh, renew
NEW YEAR GREETINGS
Kitty Kartoons
Monday, December 31, 2012
New Year Comic Art
How do superheroes celebrate the New Year? With a...
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