Idolatry
The Patriot’s Bible — Really?
Category: General
Tags: Book Reviews, Idolatry, National Idolatry, Patriot's Bible, Political Idolatry
Have you ever seen the Saturday Night Live skit entitled “Really? With Seth and Amy”? Sometimes it’s pretty funny. I was thinking that perhaps the best way to get through my critique of The American…
The Trap of Religious Idolatry
Category: General
Tags: Identity in Christ, Idolatry, Life in Christ
We live in a world that seems to be full of religious idols. These are beliefs, rituals, and behaviors from which religious people draw life. Religious idolaters of course don’t recognize their idols as such….
Coming Home
Category: General
Tags: Idolatry, Kingdom Living, Practicing the Presence of God
The only way we can experience the life God has for us is to give up trying to acquire it on our own. We must surrender ourselves completely to God. This is not merely a…
What is “Original Sin”?
Category: General
Tags: Idolatry, Sin, Sinful Nature, Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil
Topics: Sin
I get asked about “original sin” quite a bit. Are people born guilty? Many times questions like this originate from folks who are worried about whether babies who die without being baptized go to hell….
ReThinking the Source of Life
Category: General
Tags: Idolatry, Life, Love, Religious Idolatry, Theology
Topics: Following Jesus
Over the next few weeks, we will be exploring the twelve convictions of the ReKnew Manifesto. The first of which focuses on where we get life. In many of my writings, I speak about the…
Judgment and Idolatry
Category: General
Tags: Adam and Eve, Idolatry, Judgment, Love, Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil
Topics: Following Jesus
Why was the forbidden tree in the center of the garden called The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil? Since the Bible depicts eating from this tree as the reason humans are estranged…
What Motivates Torture “In Jesus’ Name”?
Category: General
Tags: Holiness, Humility, Idolatry, Judgment, Kingdom Living, Love, Religious Idolatry, Torture
Topics: Following Jesus
Why has the church, at times, tortured and murdered people? What motivates killing and persecution “in the name of Jesus” or “for the glory of God”? (See the post from yesterday about how the church…
What Went Wrong in the Garden of Eden?
Category: General
Tags: Garden of Eden, Idolatry, Judgment, Repenting of Religion, Sin, Temptation
Topics: Creation Care
When Adam and Eve ate from the tree, they imposed their will into the center of Paradise, and this was the act that destroyed Paradise. They invaded the proper domain of God. Instead of recognizing…
Get LIFE!
Category: General
Tags: Christian Life, Idolatry, Life, Life in Christ
We must always be aware of the fact that there is a constant lure toward idolatry in our demonically-oppressed world. It is profoundly easy to be getting all one’s LIFE from Christ and to be…
Escaping the Feeding Frenzy of “The Flesh”
Category: General
Tags: Flesh, Idolatry, Life, Life in Christ
Every human is created with a desperate, insatiable, non-negotiable need to experience LIFE. (For the purpose of clarity, I put “LIFE” in all caps to clarify a reference to the worth, significance and security we’re…
Lighten Up: America is NOT the Kingdom of God
Category: General, Lighten Up
Tags: Idolatry, Kingdom, Nationalism
For some thoughts from Greg on the 4th of July and the Kingdom of God, see The Birth of Two Kingdoms: A Fourth of July Reflection. And now for one of the most ridiculous examples of confusing…
Imaging God Wrongly: God’s Self-Portrait, Part 2
Category: Essays
Tags: Adam and Eve, Character of God, Essay, Idolatry, Imaginative Prayer, Picture of God, Religious Idolatry, Repenting of Religion, Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil
Topics: Christology
Our relationship with God depends on the way we imagine God. When we get the image of God right, the doors open for us to trust and relate to God in the ways we were…
Lighten Up: Christmas Gift Suggestion
Category: General, Lighten Up
Tags: Christmas, Humor, Idolatry, Lighten Up
Finally, a toy that will help kids learn about the true character of God and the type of assault weapon he favors. *sarcasm* (Thanks to Robert Martin and Benjamin L. Corey for the heads up.)
Conference: Faith, Doubt & the Idol of Certainty
Category: General
Tags: Benefit of the Doubt, Doubt, Doubt and the Idol of Certainty, Faith, Idolatry
We’re really excited about Greg’s book, Benefit of the Doubt, coming out in September. In fact, we’re SO excited that we want to invite you all to a conference we’re holding September 27-28, 2013 at Woodland Hills…
As We Approach the 4th
Category: General
Tags: America, David D. Flowers, Idolatry, July 4th, Nationalism, Pledge of Allegiance
zen Sutherland via Compfight This is the time of year when we start hearing loud bangs at night and you have to ask yourself the following multiple choice question: Was that bang: a car backfiring?…
Do You Need to Starve a Little?
Category: General
Tags: Ash Wednesday, Fasting, Idolatry, Jesus, Kurt Willems, Lent
Sarah (Rosenau) Korf via Compfight Here’s a challenging reflection on Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent by Kurt Willems. He notes that Lent is a season where we choose to starve ourselves of our…