Tag: 2015

“Us” vs. “Them”: the real problem with Christian denominations

By Asher Witmer Church Issues
chess opponents

I have remarkable friends. Remarkable because they are intelligent, good-looking, serve people, love God, and seem to get a kick out of me. They also ask great questions.

One of the questions I often hear my remarkable friends ask is “Why does everything have to be about being Anabaptist?”

Much of my generation is tired of the “us” vs. “them” mentality of the Anabaptist church. In fact, I believe it’s one of the primary reasons young people choose to leave. Too often, the focus is on our differences from the rest of the evangelical world and why they are wrong and evil and how we should keep away from them. That gets exhausting for young believers who simply want to follow Christ.

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9/11, the End Times, and How Christians Might Actually be Mocking God

By Asher Witmer Christian Spirituality, Church Issues
twin towers in NYC

This weekend marks fourteen years since two airplanes careened into the World Trade towers in downtown New York City. It’s been seven years since the Great Recession impacted our economy. There is a lot of speculation among Christian communities about what might take place this year.

Was God sending America a message back in 2001, and again in 2008? If so, what will it be this year? Will America finally collapse? And if America collapses, does that mark the beginning of Christ’s return?

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Why Marriage Won’t Solve Your Problem with Lust (and what will)

By Asher Witmer Personal Wholeness, Romance & Family
couple in conflict

Lust isn’t just a man’s problem. It’s a human problem. Furthermore, lust isn’t the fact that you desire sexual intimacy. That desire is good and God-given.

If you’ve been following the posts on lust and desire, than you know that single men and women aren’t necessarily lusting when they desire something that can only be satisfied in marriage. On the other hand, married men and women could be lusting when they want what can be satisfied, but their wanting it is self-focused and not motivated by love.

In other words, burning with passion may not be wrong and fulfilling sexual intimacy could be. That means many of us may not fully understand 1 Corinthians 7.

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An Anabaptist New York Times Bestseller

By Asher Witmer Christian Spirituality, Church Issues
bestseller rack

What would it be like to walk into Walmart and be able to buy a music CD from a girl wearing a head-covering? Or to have an Anabaptist author publish a NY Times Bestseller?

How do we best serve people?

Think of a restaurant. How does the owner of a restaurant best serve his customers? Does he offer only water because that is healthiest and he wants his customers to be healthy? Maybe he’ll throw in Coke because he knows that if you don’t like water you probably like Coke.

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5 Ways My Son Teaches Me How to Be a Better Dad

By Asher Witmer Romance & Family

Two years ago today, my son popped into open air after sixteen hours of labor. What a thrilling moment! And relieving for my wife. We were excited about this new thing called parenting and raising a family together. Kenaz started sleeping through the night quite easily. Around twelve weeks without much difficulty, he slept nine hours […]

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12 Secret Facts about My Wife (and why I really like her)

By Asher Witmer Miscellaneous
my wife

It’s my wife’s birthday, today. She’s as young and beautiful as ever!

I’d like to honor her today by spilling some of her best kept secrets. You may not know much about her, since I haven’t exactly detailed her life on here (and don’t plan to), but she truly is an amazing women. I’ll tell you more about that in a bit. First, here are 12 secret facts you need to know about her. (Yes, she gave reluctant permission for me to publish this. :-).)

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Flirting with Lust Has Devastating Consequences

By Asher Witmer Personal Wholeness, Popular Posts
man on laptop late at night

I learned a lesson on a recent trip I took by myself: actions have consequences.

More importantly, sin has consequences. When you and I give in to sin we will face excruciating consequences. Even though we may repent in brokenness, we cannot prevent the consequence of our actions.

I was traveling by myself and I should have known that I would be tempted, but I hadn’t experienced failure for a long time and assumed I’d be okay. Actually, I just didn’t even think about it. Life had been busy at the time, it never once dawned on me that Satan would attack me.

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11 Simple Values I Appreciate from My Anabaptist Heritage

By Asher Witmer Popular Posts, Spiritual Formation
worship service

Heritage is powerful. God saved Lot because of his family heritage through Abraham. If it wasn’t for Abraham’s intercession, Lot would have destroyed along with Sodom.

Everyone who knows the story of Lot remembers that his family became enemies to Israel. God pronounced judgement on them. The godly heritage of his uncle, which could have been passed on, was destroyed.

Why? Because of Lot’s choices. He chose the better fields, subsequently, “pitching his tent toward Sodom.” (Gen. 13:8-13) He later lived in the city of Sodom and would have gone up in flames with it if it wasn’t for Abraham. (Gen. 18:22-33)

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