Category Archives: Uncategorized

Prayers for the Family of John Dobbs

Many of you know John Dobbs, who regularly comments on this site and maintains his own, very popular blog. John’s 18-year old son was killed by a truck yesterday while walking on the side of the road. Terry Rush tells … Continue reading

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Are the Churches of Christ Declining? More Good News and Bad News, Part 2

From 1980 to 2000, the fastest growing denominations, as a percentage of adherents (members plus children), are as follows: Assemblies of God 58.9% Mormons 57.3% Independent Christian Churches/churches of Christ 27.6% Catholic Church 30.6% Southern Baptists 22.1% Churches of Christ … Continue reading

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The Good and Bad of Spiritual Formation (Being Formed within God’s Mission)

As I read the material quoted in the last post, I have two reactions. First, it’s indisputably true that in many churches a portion of the membership is not particularly Christ-like. There are often very few differences between the lost … Continue reading

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Buried Talents: “Women should remain silent” (The First Century woman)

In light of the questions we asked in the last post, we should consider the very real possibility that Paul’s command was caused by temporary cultural circumstances that no longer apply. There is considerable support from history that First Century … Continue reading

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Buried Talents: “Women should remain silent in the churches” (More hermeneutical considerations)

I’d like to ask the readers to harken back to the beginning of this series several weeks ago. I began with a discussion of hermeneutics, because it’s in hermeneutics where our real disagreements are often found. Let me remind the … Continue reading

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Communion Meditation: The Blood of the Covenant

The Lord’s Supper has been called a “mystery” by many, and the term seems apt enough. There are many symbols and meanings within this sacred ceremony, and many are hard to interpret. Today, I’d like to speculate a little about … Continue reading

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Buried Talents: “Women should remain silent” (Questions)

Let’s first remember that our relationship with God as Christians is defined by the overriding principles of love and grace. God doesn’t just make up arbitrary rules and impose them on us. It is, therefore, entirely proper to ask if … Continue reading

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Buried Talents: “Women should remain silent in the churches” (Does 1 Corinthians 11:2-16 address the assembly?)

[This is expanded to include responses to comments. I’ll likely edit it some more as I work further through the comments. It’s been great working through the commentaries this afternoon, digging into the word to better understand this challenging passage, … Continue reading

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Buried Talents: “Women should remain silent in the churches” (Introduction)

A. Introduction. Let’s take a closer look at the passage. “Women should remain silent.” What does this mean? As tempting as it is to say, “Means what it says; says what it means,” no thinking Christian can believe this passage … Continue reading

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The Good and Bad of Spiritual Formation (Introduction)

I’ve been thinking about spiritual formation for quite a while. It’s all the rage in evangelical circles. Many churches have hired ministers of spiritual formation. We did for a while. Type “spiritual formation” into Google, and you get lots articles … Continue reading

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