On the bright side, I’ve found what I can do with that spare $50,000 I’m planning on coming into. This car is amazing. Feel free to turn off/down the sound, as I didn’t listen carefully enough to know if there were any adult words involved.
Tim Keller=Brainache.
I am absolutely loving the first of the two Keller books purchased recently. I don’t know how any(genuinely seeking)one could read this book and remain ambivalent toward Christianity.
More to come on this thought once I finish the book.
More verses I’ve never heard on "Christian" broadcasting.
This is the latest in a series. To read the series from the beginning, click here.
Romans 1:18 in combo with Romans 3:23
I’ll give it to Christian radio. They might have actually played these as the “verse of the day.” But I’ve never head it. The first one says that the wrath of God (not exactly a ratings-hog of a concept) is poured out against the unrighteous. The second verse then clarifies (in the same book, a couple of chapters later) that all of us are unrighteous. (Even and especially religious folks, see Romans 2:17-29, especially verse 23)
Neither positive, upbeat, nor encouraging, as I read it. God’s got a whooping stick with my name on it. And yours.
But here’s where not taking the verses out of their context is helpful. Romans is Paul’s most in-depth systematic treatment of the gospel. He spends 11 chapters explaining it’s theology, and the remaining 5 explaining how that theology ought to change the way we live. He nails all of us to the wall in the first three chapters, and then spends the remaining 8 of the first section showing us how Christ satisfies the law, and saves us, from the mass-murderer to the serial rapist to the smug, self-satisfied religious guy (who is worse than both, if you ask me).
Without the bad, discouraging, and condemning verses like Romans 1:18 and 3:23, the gospel makes no sense. Rescuing someone from a building that isn’t burning down is foolish and annoying. If you die during that rescue (as Christ did), it adds tragedy to foolishness. But if a building is burning down, it’s the ultimate display of love to die in the act of saving someone.
These verses show us just how much our spiritual “building” is crumbling in burning embers around us. And that’s encouraging, no matter how you phrase it.
Signing a Declaration? Really?
I followed a link today to www.IBelieve.com sponsored by the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, and was shocked to find this thinly guised signup for the BGEA and Christianity.com mailing lists:
It’s sad, Franklin Graham, that you would be a part of this.
The verse on the “declaration” is that our LIGHT would shine, not our WORDS. Indignantly declaring that we are Christian (with strong undertones of how we feel that makes us better than the ones “afraid to take a stand.”) will in no way cause the watching world to “glorify (our) Father in heaven.”
Yeah, I’m a Christian. No, I’m not going to prove it to you by signing up for your mailing list. And it’s precisely that type of underhandedness that makes “letting my light shine” more difficult.
For those times when ONE blog isn’t enough…
For the next few weeks I’ll be manning the helm of not only this blog, but two (count ‘em) blogs for our winter conference. I won’t be the only contributor, but I will have a significant amount of input and veto power over everything that appears on them.
The first is a live blog of the conference. In a way, our winter conference has already started, as students begin to dialogue online about what’s going on and how they can be impacted by God during their time at the Sheraton. This blog will be the frequently-updated and often-referenced hub of online activity during the conference. It’s already got two posts!
The second blog I’ll wager has never happened at any conference. Here’s my one-paragraph vision for it. I know from personal experience that each student at the conference will be trying to explain what is going on to others. They will sit across the table from Aunt Gertrude and try to explain what Encounter is, and if they are anything like me, they can go to 11 straight conferences (complete with photos and letters about them) and still have family, friends and supporters who have no real idea about what goes on at this thing.
This parents blog will be a way for parents, ministry partners (our more-correct way of referring to financial and prayerful supporters), and other interested “outsiders” to get a taste of the conference that is contextualized for those not up on all the lingo. It’ll showcase different aspects of the conference, have stories from the conference, and keep folks updated who want to know what’s going on like right now at the conference.
I’ll still be updating here, but be prepared for lots of links to there.