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February 27, 2012 in Spirituality with 47 Comments

The Forgotten Beatitude: Part I

“Blessed is the person who is not offended by me.”

~ Matthew 11:6

To be offended means to stumble or trip. The Scripture tells us that Jesus is a rock of offense . . . or a rock of stumbling . . . to the disobedient (1 Peter 2:8). In His earthly days, the Lord Jesus was constantly offending the religious establishment.

But in the above text, Jesus has someone else in mind. He’s speaking to His followers: “Blessed are you, my followers, when you are not offended by me.” The context bears this out.

John the Baptist was utterly loyal to Jesus. He walked a life of total self-denial. He gave everything up for his God. And now he finds himself in a cold prison.

We have no record that the Lord ever visited him there. So John is questioning and doubting. He’s probably thinking, “Was it really worth it? I lived my whole life to pave the way for the Messiah, and now I’m in prison. The kingdom hasn’t yet come.”

John is wondering and wavering; he’s tempted to stumble at his Lord. So he sends word to Jesus asking, “Are you really the one who was to come? Or should we expect another?” Continue Reading…

February 24, 2012 in Spirituality with 13 Comments

Who is Jesus, Really?

Undone by the Sight of Peerless Worth . . .

If you find this video of value, share it with others using the links or buttons below.

HT to Jeremy Myers for creating it.

February 23, 2012 in Writing with 18 Comments

On Writing: Part I – How I Write My Books

Last year, Jeff Goins interviewed me on the subject of writing. I’m publishing the complete, unedited interview on the blog in three installments. Whether you are an author, a blogger, or someone who likes to post long notes on Facebook, I hope you will be inspired by the interview.

How long have you been writing, and how did you get started?

In the mid-90s, I became the host of what was known back then as internet “Bulletin Boards.” Bulletin Boards were the precursor to blogs today.

Every two weeks, I’d write a short article on a certain aspect of ecclesiology and post it on the Bulletin Board. People would comment on it and we’d have an engaging discussion (much like a blog).

As time went on, more and more people began asking me for the articles in printed form. At first, I would print them out on my computer and staple them together. Then someone suggested that I hire a printer to put them into a book. So I tried it. Continue Reading…

February 22, 2012 in Humor with 10 Comments

The Young Man and The Cowboy

To lighten things up a bit on the blog this week, here’s a short story that a friend sent me.

–

A cowboy named Bud was overseeing his herd in a remote mountainous pasture in California, when suddenly a brand-new BMW advanced out of a dust cloud towards him.

The driver, a young man in a Brioni suit, Gucci shoes, RayBan sunglasses and YSL tie, leaned out his window and asked the cowboy . . .

“If I tell you exactly how many cows and calves you have in your herd, will you give me a calf?”

Bud looked at the man, obviously a yuppie, and then looked at his peacefully grazing herd. He calmly answered, “Sure, why not?”

The yuppie parks his car, whipped out his Dell notebook computer, connected it to his Cingular RAZR V3 cell phone, and surfed to a NASA page on the Internet. He then called up a GPS satellite to get an exact fix on his location which he immediately fed to another NASA satellite that scanned the area in an ultra-high-resolution photo. Continue Reading…

February 21, 2012 in Reviews with 12 Comments

Best Christian Books of 2011

Here are my top five Christian book picks for 2011. Each title was published last year.

1. Simply Jesus by N.T. Wright (Hardcover) * Kindle Version

2. The Bible Made Impossible by Christian Smith (Hardcover) * Kindle Version

3. Scripture and the Authority of God by N.T. Wright (Hardcover) * Kindle Version

4. The King Jesus Gospel by Scot Mcknight (Hardcover) * Kindle Version

5. Jesus, Paul, and the Gospels by James D.G. Dunn (Paperback) * Kindle Version

Interview with N.T. Wright

Interview with Scot McKnight

Interview with Christian Smith

The Best 100 Christian Books Ever Written

The Best 100 Christian Theological Works & Commentaries

February 20, 2012 in Rethinking with 29 Comments

Beyond Evangelical: Part VI

”Evangelicalism is like a swimming bath: most noise at the shallow end.”

~ J. Blanchard

Note: The entire “Beyond Evangelical” series (including this post) has been compiled into an 80-page eBook with many new chapters added. Click here to learn more about the eBook.

***

We are at the point in our beyond evangelical series that I’m ready to post an essay entitled “The Uneasy Conscience of Modern Evangelicalism” by my friend Hal Miller.

Read it carefully. It’s a mind blower. I make a few important comments at the end.

–

Every form of Christianity tries to be faithful in its time. The problem comes in trying to discern when its time has passed.

Forty years ago, Carl F. Henry made that discernment in The Uneasy Conscience of Modern Fundamentalism. In his eyes, fundamentalism had become trapped in a mire of antagonism toward the world around it. Fundamentalism had become closed to the world and therefore irrelevant to the world. Its time had passed.

Back when the movement began in the early twentieth century, fundamentalism saw itself as an ark of refuge from the intellectual floods of the modern age. Critical study of the Bible was making it seem more and more a human book—perhaps a merely human book. Nineteenth century science had cast doubt on the Christian account of reality.

True, Christianity had survived the new astronomy of the sixteenth century and the new physics of the seventeenth century with renewed vigor. But when Darwin’s new biology came into vogue, some Christians began to wonder whether things had gone too far; the fundamentalists gathered up some gopher wood and started building. Continue Reading…

February 17, 2012 in Reviews with 9 Comments

A Personal Note to My Subscribers & Readers: One Month Reflection

We are now at the one month point since I’ve resumed blogging after taking an 8-month blog sabbatical. I’d like to pause and reflect by sharing ten things with you . . . all of which I feel are important. I believe you will also.

1. First, I’d like to say “thank you” to each of you who subscribe to this blog. Especially those of you who share my posts with others. I’ve really enjoyed my return to blogging, and I hope you have as well. You’ve blessed me greatly with your encouraging and insightful comments.

2. One day this month, we will be having “Shameless Promotion Day” on the blog. I will be giving every reader an opportunity to promote their website or blog to our blog audience (which is quite large). You won’t want to miss the opportunity. But it will only last one day; so you get one shot.

3. Since I resumed blogging on January 17th, the subscribership to this blog has almost doubled. In fact, I just found out that this blog ranks #10 out of all Christian blogs in RSS subscribers.

While many of you are RSS subscribers, I would encourage you to also subscribe by Email.

There are two reasons: Continue Reading…

February 16, 2012 in Spirituality with 48 Comments

The Art of Being a Jerk Online: 10 Sure Ways

If you’re past the age of Mosaics and Busters, you might want to make sure you’re sitting down. In fact, you may want to hold on to your chair real tight. I’m using a style of language here that some may not understand and misinterpret. I’m doing it make a point. So Frankie says relax before you read on . . .

“Jerk: Slang . a contemptibly naive, fatuous, foolish, or inconsequential person.” Not a cuss word. Source.

According to recent studies (you know, the same ones that show that research is known to cause cancer in rats), if two Christians disagree with one another online for more than three consecutive days, there is a 97.3% chance that one of them will end up calling the other a “child of Satan” or a near-equivalent.

With that in mind, here are ten sure-fire ways to perfect the art of being a jerk online:

1. Move from arguing the substance of a disagreement to attacking the person with whom you disagree. (This is called an ad hominem argument. Attack the messenger while you disagree with their message. People often do this when they can’t win an argument.)

2. Assume what other people think and believe rather than asking them directly. And state your assumption about what they think and believe as though it were gospel fact to others. (Did I say without asking the person whose name you’re dropping directly about what he/she believes or thinks? I’m always amazed when Christians do this.) Continue Reading…

February 15, 2012 in Reviews with 32 Comments

The Bible Made Impossible: Interview with Christian Smith

Christian Smith is a professor at Notre Dame and a prolific author. Smith shares an accolade with F.F. Bruce, N.T. Wright, and Scot McKnight. Each author has written books that made both my 100 Best Christian Books Ever Written and my 100 Best Academic Christian Books lists.

A double threat!

I maintain that one of the best books ever written on church practice (ecclesiology) is Christian Smith’s, Going to the Root. (I quote Smith four times in Reimagining Church.)

And one of the best books on how Christians should approach the Bible is Christian Smith’s new volume, The Bible Made Impossible.

I heartily recommend both books to every follower of Jesus. Christian Smith

What I like best about Smith’s newest book is that it argues for understanding Scripture through a Christological lens (i.e., employing a Christocentric hermeneutic). When my next book is unveiled later this year, you’ll better understand why I appreciate Smith’s point so much.

What follows is my interview with Christian Smith. He talks about his new book, answers critics, and unveils his writing routine. Continue Reading…

February 14, 2012 in Mission with 13 Comments

Living in the Divine Parenthesis: Are Good Works Bad?

Recently, I delivered a message to a group of Christians in their 20s and 30s. I entitled it “Living in the Divine Parenthesis.” Among other things, I tackled the issue of good works and the seasonal nature of a local church.

Ever since I’ve been a Christian, I’ve been taught two different things regarding good works. In my early years as a believer, my spiritual tutors told me that “good works” (also referred to as “good deeds” and “doing good” in the New Testament) was a religious duty and obligation.

Consequently, I (and everyone I knew) viewed good works with a legalistic lens, seeing them as demands that we must fulfill in our own strength and power.

If you want to make God happy, you have to do “good works,” which are the evidence of real faith (so I was told).

Later, I was exposed to another Christian tradition that reacted against this understanding. This tradition taught that good works was anathema. “We’re under grace, so good works isn’t something we have to worry about.” Therefore, those Scriptures that talked about “doing good” were associated with legalism, so we were told to ignore them. Continue Reading…

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