Survey

Please comment and answer the following questions:

1. Briefly describe your spiritual disposition and how you got there.

2. If you are a Christ-follower, what do you say when someone says "where do you go to church?"

3. If it is not good to be "lukewarm" according to the book of Revelation, is it OK to be "cold?"

4. Is there something going on in your life that is really cool?

More Church Humor

I got these via email from my grandfather...I just got a kick out of them:

Church Humor

I've gotten a couple emails recently with various cartoons. I don't know if they are copyrighted, commercial, or whatever, but they are all over the internet. So if they are your cartoons; either relish the attention and take credit for them or let me know you're uptight and I'll take 'em down. :)








































I'll post a few more in coming days...

A Great Day For Liberty

I'm extremely grateful the majority of our Supreme Court justices respect the Constitution and both the founding principles and historical legacy of our 2nd Amendment inalienable right to keep and bear arms.

It's a great day for liberty.

The Home Church Myth?

When I began to question Western Christendom and how we "do" Church in America, it was very tempting to assume the answer to my angst was home churches/cell churches.

When you take a cursory look at the book of Acts in the Scriptures you see a "churchless" body of believers communing with each other and boldly sharing the Gospel with their neighbors.  No building of their own.  No liturgy.  Just organic community.

And it sounds good.

The problem I discovered was that for thousands of attempts at home churches since the "Jesus Movement" of the 60s and 70s, there are only a very small percentage that seem to work.  Many groups I've read about or heard about seem happy enough but there is little sign of maturity of faith or of outreach.  It ends up being a home-church-clique.  Or they simply peter out.

The few that I've read about that work are led by extremely active apostle/evangelist types and the groups are constantly dividing and multiplying with new people coming to Christ through very innovative and out-of-the-box outreach.

So I don't think home churches or cell churches are impossible or out of the realm of possibility.  But it doesn't seem that they can succeed as simply an alternative or response to "church" but as a response to an influx of people coming to Christ and growing together in community.

Anyone have any first-hand experience with home churches?

MacSword

Aside from its cheesy name and basic UI, I highly recommend MacSword for any Apple/Mac user with Mac OS X.

After downloading the program you need to download whatever modules you want to use including free versions of the Bible, Lexicons, Glossaries, and even other books such as Calvin's Institutes, Josephus' works, etc.

Check it out and let me know what you think.  The previous build would crash on me occasionally but I just downloaded the latest version today and am hopeful they fixed those issues.

Sacred vs Secular

I'm weary of hearing things like "secular school," a "secular song," a "Christian car dealership," etc.

Is there really "secular music" or "christian" music?  How many nonbelievers sing "Gospel" songs?  Is it the song or the singer that defines whether something is secular or Christian?  How many "Christians" sing music but don't live what they are singing?

Is there anything different about a building people meet to worship God in than one where cards are dealt or slot machines are used?  Is the building itself holy or not holy?  What's wrong with Christians having "church" in a bar when it isn't used on Sundays?

Is there anything different about Christian divorce rates than non-Christian divorce rates? (no)  So is there a such thing as a "Christian marriage?"

So is anything really "secular?"  Are we supposed to treat "secular" things, people, or places different?  How?  Is "secular" vs. "Sacred" a creation of religious pride?  Is it the result of the overwhelming temptation to label what we think is inferior to us?