We’ve been talking a lot about idolatry at church lately. The working definition that seems to be used for an idol is “anything that you express or feel more love for than you do for God”. Given that most folks don’t worship idols in the same sense that they did hundreds or thousands of years [...]

How should we treat immigrants? The Bible has a little to say: Exodus 22:21 “You shall neither mistreat a stranger nor oppress him, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.” Leviticus 19:33-34 – “And if a stranger dwells with you in your land, you shall not mistreat him. The stranger who dwells among [...]

I had an excellent chat via Facebook with my friend Adam. It involved drawing lines in what we watch and otherwise consume and using those lines to tell other people what they should and shouldn’t watch/consume. He wanted to know where I drew the line, why, and if there was a sort of universal line [...]

*BLOWS THE DUST OFF* Oh hai! I haz blog!! So, I’m listening to NPR this weekend and something comes on the radio that almost made my head spin. Apparently, the church building/expansion business in Winston Salem is booming! Why would that make me angry? Or even just a bit miffed? Isn’t that a good thing? [...]

I’ve been tackling this notion of “continuing in sin” both online and offline with various friends. I want to know what the Bible means by it and what the consequences are. This is at least in part due to the discussions I’ve had here on homosexuality. If we agree that it’s a sin most or [...]

I’ve both heard and expressed what it means to be “saved” in an untold number of ways.  For the most part I’ve always internalized and personalized it.  In other words, I made salvation all about me and my one on one relationship with God through Christ.  I also attached my ultimate destination to it and [...]

This is part three of a three part post on paedocommunion that my friend Jon put together. Part one is here. Part two is here. It’s the practice of allowing young children to partake in the Lord’s Supper. The usual disclaimers apply in that I didn’t write this, but I happen to think what he [...]

This is part two of a three part post on paedocommunion that my friend Jon put together. Part one is here.  It’s the practice of allowing young children to partake in the Lord’s Supper. The usual disclaimers apply in that I didn’t write this, but I happen to think what he says has merit. I’ve [...]

This is part one of a three part post on paedocommunion that my friend Jon put together.  It’s the practice of allowing young children to partake in the Lord’s Supper.  The usual disclaimers apply in that I didn’t write this, but I happen to think what he says has merit.  I’ve posted this as is, [...]

Jesus said that he came not to bring peace, but a sword. In context he seems to be saying that a natural outcome of his ministry would be division. I tweeted the other day asking how many of our questions were like that of the Pharisees. They often asked questions designed to misdirect or to [...]