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Post “Chikin” Wars Thoughts
Okay, it won’t be “post” because this thing won’t go away for awhile. But these are my thoughts. As believers, we have gone from “It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and us” to shouting so loudly at each other we can no longer hear the Holy Spirit, let alone each other. Not only are we not listening to each…
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1 Peter and Waging War
This isn’t a post about “just war theory” or pacificism. It is about a far more important war. Peter describes it as the war that is waged against our very lives as believers (1 Peter 2:11, CEB). We are good at waging real war. We are good at waging virtual war. This week we’re REALLY good at waging cultural war.…
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Avoiding Bumper Sticker Christianity
I really wish to avoid any bumper sticker thinking of any kind. I know it’s not possible. We develop almost all of our political stances off of headlines attached to stories we don’t read, or bumper stickers we see and think, “Yeah… that makes sense.” That’s too bad, but it is what it is. We need to avoid it as…
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The Oppressed and Spree Killers
The shootings in Aurora, CO, shock us once again. It is absolutely horrifying that someone plans that much detail just to kill as many people as possible. We will keep asking “Why” and the “why” may never come. We will have conversations about gun control and violence and so many more things. Well, we won’t actually have any real conversations on those…
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The Beginning of Ramadan
Ramadan has begun for Muslims around the world. It is a month of fasting, prayer, and soul searching. It is a great time to pray for my Muslim friends. Yes… friends. I have been invited to join a very dear friend at his mosque one time to break the fast. There is a particular congresswoman I would like to invite along……
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The Things We Can NOT Talk About
In this weekend we have watched the horrifying events of Aurora, CO, and then, today, the taking down of the statue of Joe Paterno outside Beaver Stadium at Penn State. (As an aside, why is the stadium “Beaver Stadium” when the team is the Nittany Lions?) But here is what we cannot talk about due to the powers that be…
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True Religion
27 True devotion, the kind that is pure and faultless before God the Father, is this: to care for orphans and widows in their difficulties and to keep the world from contaminating us. (James 1:27, CEB) The current rage on blogs and other online sources this week is the supposed demise of “liberal” Christianity… and then the response of “liberal” Christians…
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This Just In: Sex Still Sells!
Whether it’s hot topic issues like “gay marriage” or “abortion,” or “books” like the hot selling trilogy on just plain hot sex and the current flap over how we, as evangelical Christians, should handle it, this much we know to be true: sex still sells. We are definitely not getting is this: no matter who we are, Christian or not,…
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Journalism as a Dying Trade
I grew up thinking I would be a journalist. Lou Grant, the TV series after Mary Tyler Moore, was a favorite of mine. Print media is dying, dead, beyond dead… whatever. However, does that mean we have to kill journalism as well? The internet is a wonderful tool for me because I can access all kinds of viewpoints, but I…
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Pay Attention and Don’t Drift Away
In all our hand-wringing over the demise of (insert here alternately “liberal” or “conservative”) Christianity, what should be remembered is that while we’re busy yelling at each other, we might be forgetting to listen. This is why it’s necessary for us to pay more attention to what we have heard, or else we may drift away from it. 2 If the message that…
Category: Culture
