Friendship Between Men and Women: Sacred Friendship Gathering, Part 1

This past weekend I attended the Sacred Friendship Gathering. There was so much goodness squeezed into 24 hours that it was—and is—difficult to take it all in and comprehend all of what happened. First of all, I want to express how impressed I was with the group of people who assembled there (close to fifty in number I’m guessing). For the most part, those present were intelligent, mature, forward thinking individuals who love God and desire to truly love others without boundaries¹. I thoroughly enjoyed meeting many people there and having a number of substantial conversations as well as many lighter ones.

The main theme of the gathering was that of friendship between men and women. Most of the speakers are married and therefore Continue reading →

Being Loved

I’d like to suggest that being loved is an action. However, I think it is commonly viewed as a state of being instead. Our perception is that if we have friends and family then we are in a state of being loved. But I’m suggesting this isn’t quite right. I think being loved is something that we continually need. Unfortunately we often view it differently. We do one thing for someone and think that’s it. “See, I love you.” But being loved is like eating or breathing: it’s something we must continually receive. Knowing we have friends and family who care about us is great. But we still need to experience their love. I can know there are people who care about me, but still feel unloved. Unfortunately this typically confuses and/or insults Continue reading →

Does Your Theology Distance God?

I think I may have figured out one reason I’m turned off people start talking about popular theology (or at least one popular theological viewpoint). I feel that a lot of popular theology seems to have to do with being impressed with God from afar. It’s kind of like if someone were to talk about why they thought a certain president was so great. Or why Mother Teresa was such an inspiration. Or how smart Einstein was. That’s all fine and good, but where do you go with it? You may be enamored by the person. You may tell other people how great they were (though I doubt how compelling this will be). It seems like the most your admiration could do is to inspire you to try and be like the person you admire (though since you aren’t that person, Continue reading →

Shrewd as Snakes: Condescension as Cover for Insecurity

Going along with my previous post, while it might appear that the one condemning others may be boldly standing against sin, this is ironically a sign of insecurity. A person who is insecure about how good they are may try to show the faults of others to “prove” that others are no better. A person may bully others because of being afraid of being weak. When someone tries to cut others down, it is because they are trying to calm the insecurities they have about themselves. (Note: there is an important difference here between honest correction and insulting another’s character.)

One important area which I’ve seen this a lot is in the area of gender identification. In our culture we have many stereotypes of men and women. But there are many Continue reading →

Shrewd as Snakes: Condemning Sin or Belittling Others?

Sometimes the biggest problem with a message isn’t the main point itself. The overall message may be right and true. However the speaker or author can make major errors along the way. Many wrongs can be hidden in this way, but the ends does not justify the means. Most people miss these problems, yet they are important to be aware of. Sometimes the message communicated “in between the lines” is just as important if not more so than the direct, central message a person is trying to convey. And these problems can poison the entire work, which is why I am taking time to look at them here in this series.

The bible talks about certain actions as being wrong and that we should not be doing them. This is true and we can speak about this quite Continue reading →

Shrewd as Snakes: Forceful Messages

There are some messages I have heard which might be described as powerful, strong, or forceful. There is a world of difference between a message which is powerful because it boldly speaks the truth, and one which seems strong because of the aggressiveness of the messenger. This is a very dangerous situation, because a convincing messenger can make a message appear that it must be true based on the delivery rather than the content itself. A forceful messenger can make it seem that to disagree with their message would not only be wrong but would be foolish. Note that this is irregardless of the actual content of the message.

Done well, a person could almost convince us of something absurd, such as there being a colony of pigs on the moon. Continue reading →

Movie Review: Blue Like Jazz

Heavy. It’s the word that keeps coming to mind when I think about Blue Like Jazz. Blue Like Jazz tackles subjects which ironically both Christians and non-Christians alike want to avoid. Christians typically don’t want to talk about doubts about God and the sins of those who claim to be Christian, as though to do so would be blasphemous. On the flip side, many non-Christians aren’t open to seriously discussing Christianity as Blue Like Jazz does. The Christians have made up their mind that they’re right and non-Christians are convinced that the Christians are bad. Blue Like Jazz falls into the middle, hoping to be bridge the divide and open the dialog between these two sides.

It would be difficult for me to call Blue Like Jazz a Continue reading →

Why I’m Supporting Blue Like Jazz the Movie

The movie adaptation of the best selling book, Blue Like Jazz, is opening at theaters today. The book’s author, Don Miller, was one of the primary people involved in developing the script (so I expect that it will be a good adaptation in contrast to the stereotype of movies not being as good as the book).

I’m a fan of the movie’s director, Steve Taylor. This is something he’s given several years of his life to. They’ve had a difficult time getting support because people don’t believe there is a market for intelligent Christian media. People in the industry think that only inspirational “fluff” will sell to Christians. The hope for Blue Like Jazz is that it will be a catalyst to prove that there are people interested in intelligent, Continue reading →

Shrewd as Snakes – Work to Please God

I personally don’t like to spend much time being critical. (If I criticize, it’s usually in the context of contrasting one thing in order to try and communicate something better.) I’d much rather focus on what I perceive to be true, good, and right instead. My thought is if we focus on these things, the focus and emphasis on wrong things will naturally diminish. However, I have decided it would be good to highlight some things which are bad and yet are easily missed if not pointed out. I am calling this series “shrewd as snakes” (inspired by Matthew 10:16).

The first thing I want to point out is a very prevalent misunderstanding of Christianity. It seems that we’re naturally born with a sense that there is something higher than Continue reading →

Biblical?

I admit, many theological type words rub me the wrong way when someone throws them into a sentence. The reason for this is that it reminds me how people getting caught up into lengthy, sometimes heated debates regarding some abstract theological point of lesser significance (but which the person argues for as if vitally important).

On a related tangent, I recently attempted to look up some information about the basics of Christianity. Every site I found online focused on theology and denominations. If I were not a Christian or a very new one, I don’t believe theology of this sort would be the first thing on my mind. In fact, even if I studied my bible, I don’t believe I’d likely ever think of theology as such in a systematic, abstract, Continue reading →