We run our website the way we wished the whole internet worked: we provide high quality original content with no ads. We are funded solely by your direct support. Please consider supporting this project.

2875664352_9c3221ef01

Engaging the Culture

Mark McIntyre shares some thoughts here on the culture wars that often define our relationship to the world outside of the Church. We are called to be a people who are known by our love rather than our stance on this or that social issue. Are we really known this way? Mark’s words are a challenge to all of us to take care in how we relate to those who do not share our faith.

From the article:

I would remind followers of Jesus Christ that the one we follow told us that our defining characteristic is to be love. Jesus did not say we would be defined by our finely wrought theology. Nor did he indicate that we should be defined by our organizational prowess. It is love that is to distinguish us from the surrounding culture.

Image by Kevin Dooley. Used in accordance with Creative Commons. Sourced via Flickr. 

Related Reading

What the hell are we doing here?

Meet Collin Simula. He lives in Columbus, Ohio, and is a part of Central Vineyard church. He is a 30-year-old graphic designer, and a happily married father of three. Collin has spent his whole life in the Church, in every denomination imaginable, from Calvinist/Christian Reformed churches, to a Baptist high school, being a part of…

Christian Utopia

Fergal of Claddagh, OP via Compfight A little meditation on Christian Utopia and the Body Politic as we stand poised on the eve of the election in America. We affirm that Jesus will indeed “establish His kingdom on earth” but it won’t come through the exercise of power. Rather, God’s kingdom will come as his…

Sermon Clip: Generic God

“Let’s all just get along.” Is this what God and religion are really about? All we have to do is just be good to people? Almost all religions can agree on this, but it is a generic view of God. In this clip from Greg’s latest sermon, he talks about this generic view of God…

Little Pacifism

Richard Beck spoke about something he names Little Pacifism on his Experimental Theology website. It’s so easy, in the name of peacemaking, to become angry and aggressive. I suppose this is just part of what it means to be human. However, if we hope to bring the Kingdom of God closer the earth (and to…

Don’t Be a Functional Atheist at Christmas

All of us raised in Western culture have been strongly conditioned by what is called a secular worldview. The word secular comes from the Latin saeculum, meaning “the present world.” A secular worldview, therefore, is one that focuses on the present physical world and ignores or rejects the spiritual realm. To the extent that one…

Responding to the Negative Fallout of Trump’s Election

Yesterday I suggested that we refrain from judging the motivations of brothers and sisters who voted for Donald Trump (see post). As the young lady I spoke with illustrates, a person could genuinely grieve over the negative implications Trump’s Presidency might have for certain people groups but nevertheless believe that there are considerations that outweigh these negative implications…