Tag: church

20 Questions I Have about Church

By Asher Witmer Church Issues
aw_questions_church

Do you understand the purpose of the church? Or do you just kind of go with what others have told you?

Even though I grew up in church I still have questions about it. And even though I would say I have an understanding of what the purpose of church is, I tend to go off of what others have told me. Not that it’s entirely wrong to do that, but I’d like to study what Scripture has to say about church by doing what I can to take the Bible at face value without reading through the lenses of what others have said.

That’s why I am embarking on a Biblical study of the church and its purpose, how it should function, and the relationships therein.

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My Personal Testimony

By Asher Witmer Motivation & Inspiration
family photo

Life is rarely cookie-cutter simple. Whether it’s relationships, family, money, following God, church, our jobs, or deciding which jeans to buy, life isn’t as easy as we wish it was.

Some people live as if life is a formula to be solved, but there is no formula to solve the disillusionment and confusion we sometimes feel. Perhaps that’s why I like to tackle issues on this blog that are relevant to my generation. I want this blog to be a place that helps people sort through the hard questions they face.

It seems to be resonating.

In the last year, the readership on this blog has increased by more than six hundred percent (600%). I typically assume that my readers know me and where I come from, but as is natural with such growth and as I’ve been discovering over the last six months, many, if not most, of my readers don’t know my background. So I thought that this week I would share with you my personal testimony.

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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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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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Why Are You Obeying God?

By Asher Witmer Christian Spirituality
holding his bible

Sometimes it feels like our churches are filled with older sons, as in the parable of the prodigal son (Luke 15): our obedience is for the purpose of getting things from God.

We try to be faithful because we feel that warrants more love from our Father. Like the older son who got angry when the younger son received a feast after rebelling against his Dad. The older brother saw his obedience as something his father was indebted to. He didn’t obey because he loved his father, he obeyed because he loved the blessings his father would give him.

I look around at many conservative Anabaptists and see this same pattern happening.

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Why I’m Mennonite (and why that’s not the point)

By Asher Witmer Popular Posts, Spiritual Formation

I took a risk in asking some questions last week about Mennonite distinctives. I framed the questions so they would be probing, yet wide-open for any and all to answer. It felt risky, and proved to be so.

There’s no doubt in my mind that this is a pressure point. Call me naïve, but I honestly didn’t realize asking these questions would produce as many fireworks as it did. My intention was not to create an argument or discredit our Anabaptist heritage. It’s just that there are a few things I wanted to share with my generation and felt I had to first ask some (risky) questions.

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When You Want More Than Your Mennonite Distinctives

By Asher Witmer Spiritual Formation
when you want more

Church is confusing these days. Especially with all the different denominations and applications to scripture.

I feel a tension in my generation of Mennonites. We learn in church that a passage of Scripture means this and we should be doing that because of it.

But other believers aren’t. Other people who have authentic relationships with Jesus aren’t necessarily wearing the veiling or dressing in dresses. In fact, some of them are having a greater impact on our culture. So why do we insist on doing things our way?

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