Question Submitted: When did a passionate movement about believer’s baptism and separation from church and state (and eventually pacifism) become a movement of sullen, strict, sticklers for coverings and modest clothing?
With the uprise of gun violence in churches, should we consider securing ourselves with armed security guards? With the threat of North Korea and a nuclear strike, should America preemptively strike them first? America’s militarism is justified, right? I mean, God ordains violence when used by good government, not?
Well, allow me to turn your world upside down. I think we’ve had this wrong all along.
Today, we know the church primarily as either a building or a group of people gathered together around a common set of ideas. The problem with this view of the church is that it’s incomplete, at best. If not downright unbiblical. As long as we can relegate the church to a building or a group of people who believe certain things and abide by certain guidelines, the church will always be disposable to us. There is nothing intrinsically eternal about a church established around man-made material or beliefs.
There are so many people who are disillusioned with church, today. It is easy to get overly focused on the negatives and weaknesses of church that we miss the profound beauty and glory it displays to the world. So, in an attempt to help us regain (or stay focused on) the beauty of the Bride of Christ, I am going to share a three-part series entitled, “What I love about…,” starting with Jesus.
A couple months ago I wrote an article titled, No, You Don’t Have to Read the Bible. I received quite a basket of mixed feedback, so I thought it beneficial to follow-up and bring clarity where I may have failed to before.
This is an open letter. Quite long, to be honest. But necessary for clarifying a few things I deeply believe. The letter is separated into the following sections. Feel free to skip ahead to whatever interests you most by clicking on the heading below:
And now we come to the current problem in the refugee crisis. Refugees can’t come to America. Not now, at least. If we can’t be Christian and not accept them, what are we to do?
I have heard a lot of discussion about the Parable of the Good Samaritan among Christians debating the crisis and Trump’s ban. What surprises me as I listen to these conversations is that many people are using the parable to justify not taking care of their refugee neighbors.
“The Good Samaritan didn’t take the injured Jew home with him.” “The Good Samaritan found him on his way.”
I’m afraid in justifying ourselves, we are missing the very point Jesus was trying to make.
There are more refugees in the world today than any other time since WW2, yet our President has administered an executive order banning refugees from seven prime terrorist countries.
The seven main countries refugees are fleeing from.
I am not concerned about the executive order. We will get into that in the next post. What concerns me is the unwillingness on the part of many followers of Christ to open their doors to those fleeing for their lives.
Without adding to the meaningless noise of opinions on the current refugee crisis, in this post I want to wrestle with some questions specific to those of us who claim to be disciples of Jesus Christ. Can we say we are “little Christs” and not accept refugees?
Have we in the American church become so obsessed about the cares of this world and deceived by riches, and have we become so in love with other things that God’s word has been choked out of our midst and we are proving unfruitful?
If we do not accept refugees, can we claim Christ as our Lord? If we do not commit to suffering for the Gospel, can we expect to share in the resurrection?
There’s nothing wrong in and of itself with doing things different from the world. The problem comes when we spiritualize what we decide to do instead.
God does not have a reverse economy. Satan does, and we chose to settle for his perversion of God’s economy, God’s perfect creation.
Nothing exists that God did not create. No creature, no desire, no ability, and no pleasure. He made it all and it is good. The normal way life functions is the way God designed it to. We are the ones who reversed the economy of life. We are upside-down from what God created.
Lust is not our longing of something Satan created, but our settling for his perversions as a way of fulfilling our longing for what God created. In order to live a life that truly matters, life as God intended, we need a supernatural salvation.
It’s not a new discussion. Ever since it hit the market, there’s been tense controversy over it. So why would I dare waste my morning writing a few thousand words that may only cause more arguments?
Because Plexus exposes something about the American church. Not the product itself, although I do plan to share a few statistics and resources concerning it. But rather, the phenomenon of Plexus Worldwide exposes something about the hearts of American christians.
This article is not about finalizing an opinion on the brand, but on what it exposes and how to deal with it. This issue has everything to do with the future spiritual life and health of the church. That’s why I feel compelled to address it.
Within the Christian culture, we don’t do well at caring for broken people, especially in a church mainly filled with multigenerational believers. We’ve known all of our lives how to live appropriately and so Christianity becomes more about living rightly than faith and transformation in Christ.
Requirements for church membership focus more on outside sins (smoking, dress, habits of leisure) instead of internal sins such as gluttony, gossip, self-righteousness, hypocrisy, anger, rebellion, materialism and many more. The idea is, once you have your outside life altogether you can become a member. And then, don’t show anymore imperfections after that.
The problem is, that only cultivates fake Christians.
Author Asher Witmer knows what it’s like to want freedom from sexual sin only to continually fail. We’re often told we need more personal discipline, that we need to think godly things instead of fleshly things.
What if I told you that discipline won’t solve your problem with lust?
Our male sexuality is given by God for advancing beauty and goodness. But somewhere along the line it becomes something that causes devastation and guilt. The good news is we don’t have to live with guilt. In Live Free, Asher Witmer shows us how we can find freedom from sexual sin, live with nothing to hide, and be able to fight for others.
