Sign of the Times

I saw the link to this at Jesus Creed, but it’s from a story at CNN. The preacher makes up his own signs, and he says,

My intention was to use a double entendre – to demonstrate a sense of humor and cash in on the fact that many people think sermons are too long. Since I am only 5 feet 6, it seemed to work.

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Report on the Kindle in Action

As I mentioned before leaving on vacation, I bought a Kindle from Amazon. The idea was to avoid having to carry a ton of books on the flight. I’d been putting off buying several books until my birthday, and my notion of “vacation” is to sit in a quiet place on the beach reading.

And I must say the Kindle performed extremely well.

* It was easy to read in the Bahamian sun on the beach.

* The worldwide free 3G service works in Nassau and Freeport just fine. Books download in less than a minute! Continue reading

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The Holy Spirit: The Synoptic Gospels, Part 2

The baptism of Jesus

(Mat 3:15-17 ESV) 15 But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he consented.

16 And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; 17 and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” Continue reading

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The Holy Spirit: The Synoptic Gospels, Part 1

Matthew, Mark, and Luke are very similar in the teachings on the Spirit, and relate many of the same events, often in nearly the same words. I’ll work primarily in Matthew, but cite to the parallels.

Conceiving the Messiah

The New Testament begins just like the Old Testament — with a creative act done by God through the Spirit bringing order to chaos —

(Mat 1:18 ESV) Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. Continue reading

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What I Did on My Summer Vacation

Years of public schooling taught me that all summer vacations should be followed by a 500-word essay telling the world what I did.

First, I went to Miami to attend my son’s second graduation from law school. He received an LLM in Taxation from the University of Miami, which has a very fine graduate tax program. I did not enjoy the experience – largely because I am destined to be miserable at all graduation ceremonies. In the past, this was due to my bad back (now surgically repaired). This time … well, I have to go back a little in time. Continue reading

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Clergy & Laity: Introduction

https://i0.wp.com/1.bp.blogspot.com/_bLBPZAiyuwA/SQkMldOkY5I/AAAAAAAAAJY/FlxoD65cNcE/s400/clerical_collar_9.jpg?resize=179%2C179We in the Churches of Christ are about as low church as you can get. We even claim to have no clergy — because every member is a minister.

We refuse to allow our preachers to be called “pastor,” and we’d be positively apoplectic if a preacher wore a clerical collar or robes.

We are so concerned to minimize the power of the preacher that most churches consider a minister automatically disqualified to be an elder.

But not every member gets paid, and not every member gets to sit in on the elders meetings. Not every member works fulltime for the church. Continue reading

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The Holy Spirit: The Synoptic Gospels, Part 1

Matthew, Mark, and Luke are very similar in the teachings on the Spirit, and relate many of the same events, often in nearly the same words. I’ll work primarily in Matthew, but cite to the parallels.

Conceiving the Messiah

The New Testament begins just like the Old Testament — with a creative act done by God through the Spirit bringing order to chaos —

(Mat 1:18 ESV) Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. Continue reading

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The Holy Spirit: And He Lives Forever with His Saints to Reign

(Gen 1:26-27 NAS)  26 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”  27 God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.

The word translated “rule” is radah, and it’s the word used for the rule of king or of a nation over another. Now, if one of the themes of the Bible is the restoration of mankind to God’s original place for man, then we will surely see evidence of God working to restore kingship to mankind.

The Genesis account is echoed in the Psalms — Continue reading

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The Political Church: Framing the Discussion

FramePictures have frames to separate them from their surroundings, to help the eye distinguish the picture from the noise of the background. The frame helps us see the picture for what it really is.

When we discuss politics from the Christian perspective, we do well to ask what should make up the edges of the frame — what are the boundaries? What are the limits? What distinguishes Christian political discourse from secular discourse?

And there are several things, including — Continue reading

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The Gospel You’ve Never Heard: What a Protestant Bible written by Jews says about God’s work through Christ (A book for those in the church and those offended by it), by David I. Rudel

who really goes to hell book reviewWell, it finally happened. I signed up with Viral Ooze to receive books to review, the deal being I have to post a review (good, bad, or indifferent), but I get the book for free. Which is very cool, except when I have to write a bad review. I hate writing unfavorable reviews. And I can’t

This book, Who Really Goes to Hell? – The Gospel You’ve Never Heard: What a Protestant Bible written by Jews says about God’s work through Christ (A book for those in the church and those offended by it), is brilliantly bad. Ruder, a mathematician who publishes books on chess, is obviously very bright. And he is quite good at pointing out problems in much of evangelical theology. He’s not nearly so good at solving those problem — or realizing that he’s not the first to have walked these paths. Continue reading

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