I had to swipe the line from a favorite Johnny Cash song to address this subject. As most of you know, I'm not a biggie on religious blogs, but as you also know, I'm a big mouth, so I have to speak my mind from time to time. I see the debate crop up on various articles about religion as to how we are to act as Christians. What puzzles me is why there's any debate at all, frankly. God gave us a standard, and we are called to obedience. While that obedience does not save us, the effort to becom...
This is a continuation of thought from my last article. I believe that being absolutely surrendered to God should be the objective of a faithful Christian. If I am absolutely surrendered to God, then everything I have and am are God's. And my choices should bear witness to that surrender. As I'm dealing with daily frustrations, there's a family that needs help. They're down, they're out, and, frankly, they're making choices that, to me, seem inexplicable. I've always had a different approa...
A recent response on an article of mine got me to thinking. The response was centered around someone who came up to a woman and asked her if she knew the name of any local pastors. When pressed for what the man wanted, the man said he needed a place to stay for the night. The woman pointed him to a $10 a night flophouse and felt she had done her Christian duty. The man, according to the tale, walked away in a huff because she hadn't given the name of a pastor, as he had requested. After all,...
I remember the hurt well, though, thankfully, I don't remember what specifically brought it on. It was some years back, and we had been very seriously stung by the actions of some of the people in our small church. The thought came to me: "The problem with the church is, it's full of people". Over the years, it's gotten me to thinking about how we often expect too much from Christians. We're looking for them to light the world on fire and to deliver something that, ironically, they can't deli...
While I am far from an ecumenical as a Christian, there is a reason I don't judge differing views too harshly. It stems from my childhood. I was raised early in my life in the LDS church. As most LDS youth my age did, I aspired to go on a mission, and to serve the church when I grew older. Even as I went to other churches, I still pretty much considered myself Mormon up until the age of about seventeen. I was about seventeen when I moved to yet another of the many foster homes I had lived ...
Note: While I shied away from religious topics for much of my time on JU, I believe that enough time has passed that readers know me well enough that I feel a little more secure in sharing my beliefs. I am what is known as a "grace only" Christian. I believe we are sinners, saved by grace through faith, and that works on our part will not get us to heaven. As I have examined what that belief means, I have had to wrestle with a startling inconsistency among many Christians who hold the same be...
As a Christian who readily describes myself as an evangelical, I have one big pet peeve among many of my contemporaries. And that is the feeling that exists among so many of them that every action, every word directed to a non believer needs to be a cleverly (or, as any non believer here will readily a firm, really a NOT so cleverly) concealed attempt at evangelism. It is certainly appropriate for a Christian to wish for nonbelieving friends to know the joy, peace and assurance they know in...
If we want to remedy the various violations of our Constitutional liberties, we must go back and revisit where many of those intrusions began. One of the most glaring examples came about when the government actively persecuted the LDS church in the 1800's. First of all, let me note that I am NOT LDS, nor am I an apologist for their doctrine. In fact, I could hold my own in a debate about the doctrines and practices of the LDS church, but do not wish to do so. They have a right to hold views c...
I am not a universalist. Far from it. I believe the belief in universalism to be, essentially, a faith in nothing, as the very word faith implies a belief system that provides definitive answers. In fact, my being a Christian has its genesis in evangelical circles. I have even worked the phones for the Billy Graham crusade (on two separate occasions, no less). But I gradually became disenchanted with the "Amway" aspect of evangelism (and the numerous people who would ask you how many people y...
On someone else's blogs, the discussion turned to a disagreement with the views expressed by another blogger on her thread. It made me think of my views on the topic. When I came to JU, I had initially wanted to blog primarily on religion. But I found that, not only are religion topics not highly read unless you're pretty controversial or it's good enough to get featured, but I take harsh criticism of my religious views pretty personally, so it's not a good "side" of me to be throwing to the ...
OK. So one of the news shows did a story on Jesus' resurrection last night. Another has an upcoming show about end times. The miniseries "Revelations" follows the Arnie Schwarzennegger "End of Days" and the schmaltzy pair of Tim Lahaye movies (who, in a related vein, has detailed the tribulation period down to the AntiChrist's every drink of water for those of us who would rather rely on fiction than an insightful study of scripture for our beliefs), and every two bit televengelist is coming out...
OK, I've written enough blogs about what evangelical tools DON'T work, now I'm going to hit the flip side (mason, this is where I was headed, I just realize that blogging is a "short attention span" medium). This article is about what DOES work. In my opinion and experience, there really is only one effective tool for evangelism. Talk is cheap, and we have all seen enough deceptive individuals to know that almost any position can be argued persuasively and eloquently, even if it is patently u...
One of the common mistakes that evangelists make is in using the bible as proof of its own authority. While this is acceptable when the common ground of faith has been established, it is not acceptable in outreach. When you are debating a person, the first thing you should do is ascertain which sources are considered credible by the person you are debating. Much of the Old Testament would be acceptable in discussion with a Jew or Muslim, but the New Testament is not common ground (it would he...
One of the most superficially compelling arguments of Christian apologists revolves around the violent, torturous deaths of many of the apostles. The argument protests that these people would not have died for a lie. While this argument plays upon emotions, it does not play upon reason. For, you see, if we want to see proof that people CAN and DO die for a lie, we need look no further back than September 11, 2001, when 19 evil men boarded 4 planes to go out and die for what most rationa...
This article is the first in a series designed to show the flaws of certain arguments of apologetics. My reasons for doing so can be seen in my previous article. One favorite story of mine is an apocryphal story that vets of many wars will swear was true of at least one man in their unit. The man wears a star of david, a crescent, a yin/yang symbol and every symbol of faith he can find. He goes to worship of every faith he can find. His rationalization is that, in the event he is killed in ba...