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A slowly growing collection of links from a daily stumble through the post-Christendom culture of today. Links that sample culture to help us reflect on how we live for Jesus.
1 Cor 9:19-23 The links IN NO WAY imply endorsement of the views. In fact, it's quite likely that some of these links reflect perspectives we DON'T agree with. The challenge is: think! |
Source: http://bit.ly/1wx9Qc6
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26-08-2014
A place about Christianity will only attract those already searching or interested in faith. For those whose interests lie elsewhere, Christians should be developing ways to connect with those interests, and then bring in the relevance of Christianity to those interests. Communicating the Gospel in a secular postmodern culture -- what will it take to get Christians to become educated in this challenge?
Postmodernism is something all Christians need to reckon with—especially when it comes to apologetics. Here's how to blow a conversation on theology.
7 Christian Classics that Could Not Be Published in Today's Christian Market
25-07-2014
A dark side to social media and religious persecution.
Doubt is a fear common among Christians ... yet doubt can be a friend to be embraced.
24-07-2014
Here's a MAJOR challenge for StB: Are you able to sensibly discuss Jesus with the increasing number of people who say they are SBNR? This is arguably the biggest challenge to us today! “Spiritual but not religious” (SBNR) describes possibly more than half of twenty-somethings. Here are 10 top reasons why people describe themselves as SBNR.
22-07-2014
The incidence of narcissistic personality disorder is nearly three times as high for people in their 20s as for the generation that’s now 65 or older, according to the National Institutes of Health; 58% more college students scored higher on a narcissism scale in 2009 than in 1982.
A Rabbi Preaches From Church Pulpits To Raise Awareness Of Climate Change. Are we Christian's lagging once again?
13-07-2014
"While the executives finished Caesar salads, I reflected on the difference between urban and suburban ministry. During roast beef sandwiches, I described our shift to a more Trinitarian urban ministry model. Over brownies, I talked about coaching an urban youth swim team." The reality that many don't see, and a trinitarian view.
Assisted dying ... is that a far off reality, or do you feel some pressure?
09-07-2014
You've been asked if your church would like a group booking to attend a "Christian" festival ... where the basis is "You are invited to come talk, listen, eat, and camp together as equals, as those who are captivated by the story of Jesus seek to celebrate the rich learning of community, remembering that none of us by ourselves can understand all that is God." Would you encourage your church to go? Why or why not ... can you give a biblical reason? The festival website is here, and one persons critique is here. Does this disturb or entice? For this is important ... its a microcosm of the trajectory the world is taking in how to understand Jesus.
08-07-2014
Where did Chrstianity miss the boat? Playboy bunny converts to Islam after considering Chrstianity.
My iPhone slipped out of my fingers, dangled momentarily at the end of its white headphone cable, then disappeared into the gap between the train carriage and the platform". Can anyone say "addiction"?
The supression of Christianity is spreading. An organization that promotes open-air preaching and evangelism says the United Kingdom has become very hostile to the Gospel.
07-07-2014
Would StB field a team? Brazilian prostitutes and Christian evangelicals play soccer match on World Cup sidelines.
The Pope trolled his critics! "... the communists have stolen our flag. The flag of the poor is Christian" (Do you know what it means to troll?) To bad the Christians are seemingly as ineffective as the communists in their response to the flag!
Illustration in sermons, illustrations over the dinner table, illustrations in the work place ... be very, very careful!
02-07-2014
It seems we don't like to be left alone with our thoughts and would rather receive an electrical shock. No wonder our insight into biblical theology is so weak ... when that requires reflective meditation in order to internalize knowledge as understanding.
Just in time for the USA's 4th July celebration "Nature's God: The Heretical Origins of the American Republic". "The book's thesis—like its subtitle—is hardly subtle: America's key founders were the most radical of skeptics." My question: Is today's Christian culture in the USA a legacy of this beginning?
03-07-2014
"Modern Africa has lost its shape and sees both Christianity and Islam as foreign impositions", so says Wole Soyinka. What's the Christians voice on that?
Are you conscious of an increasing polarization of communities? Climate change. The middle east. Rich-poor divide. It's huge, and leading to more and more aggression and suffering. Now we have conferences on men's rights taking off. At one recent event a man (who else?) made this sickening (in my view) comment: “If we could just get people to be nice to their babies for 5 years straight, that would be it for war, drug abuse, addiction, promiscuity, sexually transmitted diseases,” he said. “Almost all would be completely eliminated, because they all arise from dysfunctional early childhood experiences, which are all run by women.” If ever there was a need for Christians to stand in the gap and be rational, thoughtful, and spirit-led peacemakers.
02-07-2014
"The technology culture is the de-facto normality - those who fall behind will get left behind as society increasingly functions through the electronic structures we've built, and are building. So are you and I flexible enough, and do we have the base skills to adapt as new products come flying at us faster than we can realize?
Non-Christians can have a surprising reverence for the Bible ... when they know it. Yet accepting (much of) the Bible does not make them Christians. How to talk to them?
01-07-2014
Are you a millennial (do you even know what a millennial is)? And if you're a church leader, do you understand the millennial's mindset and worldview? You'd better ... because they're the next generation of leaders!
30-06-2014
"It is easily demonstrated that private belief separated from public practice is philosophically contradictory and pragmatically unworkable." The politically correct philosophy of "tolerate everything but intolerance" has profound ramifications on how one's personal Christian ethics play through our daily actions.
Have communists stolen the flag of Christianity? When Christian values are seen as Marxist, it reminds one that but for the absence of God, communism is ideologically not much different from Christianity.
What has theology got to do with the daily wrangling with attitudes? When you're looked at as the other woman, when you wrestle with a broken history, with other people's relational challenges, with same-sex relationships, what is the reference of "normal"?
29-06-2014
Sobering thoughts: churches visited by 4000 mystery visitors. In StB we would do well to consider some of the findings.
Ritual and relationship ... why, oh why, do we settle for a placatory surrogate? While repeating words of wisdom certainly helps re-frame present problems and instil an awareness of perspective, it seems the world is increasingly happy to be shortchanged.
Did Jesus make mistakes? For some Christians, even posing the question seems blasphemous. Other Christian leaders with conservative theology say yes, he did. When someone asks you this question, how would you answer?
28-06-2014
Reflecting that American culture makes it's way around the world sooner or later, and that the attitude now in the USA are likely to infiltrate locally, consider these thoughts on The Problem of Contempt in Christianity
The denomination that says "God is still speaking" becomes a major sponsor of the Gay Games.
Over at Scott Dannemiller's blog he writes on how There’s No Such Thing As The Worthy Poor, the distortions we live under, and that "Our job is not to determine who is living by the Bible and dole our rewards accordingly in an effort to win their gratitude."
26-06-2014
Tim Keller talking on culture and the Transformationist and Two Kingdoms views. Part 1 and Part 2 and the responses.
With degrees in technology, theology, and ethics, as well as being a musician and worship leader, you'd think Vicky Beeching from the UK would be a credible Christian voice on the LGBT issues. Yet she says "My readership is now so polarised – with a huge audience from the American Bible belt, and now a large proportion of LGBT readers, many of whom are not religious. I’m deeply grateful for this diverse readership and I love it. It’s my hope to bridge the two." This is perhaps a leading issue the Christian-in-the-pew needs to wrestle with, and ask themselves "what is God's view on Godly sexuality?"
Regardless on where you stand with the question of creationism, it's an interesting development when government legislates what’s allowed to be taught: Teaching creationism as scientifically valid now banned in all UK public schools
26-06-2014
In a world of increasing polarization and growing divides, will the clash of identities tear us apart?
Spiritual is not religious, and religious is not spiritual ... this is the growing reality of those in our churches.
What would you say to an atheist who believes in God? "Huh!" They exist ... more than you'd like to think, and here's the most articulate of them all.
