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Showing posts from October, 2010

Fall Allergies and the Glory of God

H ave you ever wondered what the point of allergies is? They drag a lot of people into a fog in Texas during the Fall. Allergies would seem to fit into the category of Genesis 3:17-19. What do you think, are allergens part of the Genesis three curse? The affliction of allergies then would be a sign of God's glory in that His absence from keeping things smoothly running as well as they could because the Fall has effects in the present. However, the thorns and thistles idea in Genesis is very much tied to work. This is an interesting concept, since allergies affect more than those working. Perhaps then they are not involved with hardship in work as much as they are situated in the fallenness of the world, not working as it should, before the restoration of all things later in history.

Culture and Theology in Church Starting

E d Stetzer has an article challenging the focus on relevance to the exclusion of gospel theology. This is probably a good warning for many on the edge of planting. However, on the other hand, there are many who are not very relevant to the culture. In fact, if I had to guess most churches, and church starts, probably are far from relevant in either music style, music language, language of the sermons, and presentation (of gospel, order of service, etc). Still because the enemy works cleverly to deceive all of us, we must stick with the gospel's whole content (such as Jesus' substitionary death, in our place on the cross for our sins) in every planting effort around the country. We must as planters not forget to challenge persons to believe the gospel in a personal decision. Thank you for the good warning for all of us Stetzer.

Church Planting

I n a major book on church planting in evangelical life, there is this objection to forming churches in an area in the US: 'another church ... will impede the growth of our church.' This is simply false the authors say, as "when Jesus said "I will build my church," he was not referring to the numerical growth of a particular congregation." In other words, reproduction of congregations following Jesus is the way that the church universal leads more -individuals- "to spiritual maturation." In addition, new churches are not competition but rather instruments to extend the "rule and reign of God" among a people group or city. It is nearly impossible for one church or even several really good churches to reach a whole city, let alone a corridor (several cities). Simply put: people are not doing the same things, they are not in the same place at the same time. This means new churches have an opportunity to branch out into those arenas. Another

1st Timothy 4:16

S cripture tells followers of Jesus: Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers. (NIV). I have heard more and more about the debate over Christianity and Yoga via Albert Mohler's comments, which were engaged with by the Associated Press. One of Mohler's comments stands out above even the debate among people on Christian faith and Yoga's spiritual background. It is this: "Not one–not a single one–has addressed the theological and biblical issues. There is not even a single protest communication offering a theological argument." (Mohler, Oct. 7th) This is a clear indicator about the type of responses he got (now at 100 respones per hour via his email), no one offered a theological argument. People say "oh it's no big deal." I can think of years and years of being in various churches and hearing little response to engaging with things Christians dabble in. Most of the time in