I have to admit, I’ve always been fascinated by stories of Bigfoot. I watched In Search Of every chance I got and checked out every book at the library I could. Today I watch MonsterQuest, subscribe to the blogs, and listen to the podcasts for any recent news or reported sightings.
But also being a Christian that is into apologetics (defending the faith), I can’t help but recognize that I get some of the same responses from people when I talk to them about Bigfoot as I do when I talk …

Let’s just get this out of the way first. If you read any online review of the book The Shack then you will inevitably see someone post a negative comment about the book. Then no matter how solid the points are and no matter how clearly they are stated, inevitably someone replies in the book’s defense by saying, “It’s just a fictional novel.” The points are not rebutted. The points are not challenged. They are dismissed by this one simple statement.

The explanation usually goes like this, “You cannot force someone to love you. That’s how God is, He doesn’t force anyone to love him. Because that wouldn’t be true love. Forcing would be God entering your brain and rewiring it so that you think and act in a certain way. God never does that.” If this is true, which of the following is true

Something I’m learning is that when you question things that are usually just taken for granted, it’s easy for people to assume the reason that you are asking the question. From there you can either be shortly entertained with answers that don’t address your question, or you are dismissed because you’re assumed to be just like all the others before you that asked the same question but for the wrong reasons. As I continue to explore the idea of evil in regards to God’s sovereignty and His eternal will, let me just say the following:

 
As I gather my thoughts about what we as the church should be about regarding the area of LGBT ministry, let’s explore more of what we shouldn’t be about.
 
Vicki previously commented:
I have a friend who’s husband was homosexual … She went to counseling with him for a while … He had felt the tension from church people that could not understand his struggle. That was her biggest complaint against the church; people couldn’t see it as a normal struggle, they want to make him out to be a criminal or …

Prop 8, Ted Haggard, day-time talk shows, prime-time sit-coms, the topic of homosexuality is everywhere. With two opposing view points, demonizing and misrepresentation is thick on both sides of the issue. Finding answers won’t be easy and agreement, impossible, but we must look to find bridges to build.

So there has been a bit of discussion regarding Rick Warren in the news these days. Here’s a quote from an article that cracked me up, “Many conservative Christians say cultural sensitivity goes way too far if it requires religious leaders to hide their beliefs.” Uhm, “cultural sensitivity” doesn’t sound very culture sensitive.

I really do plan on posting more here this coming year but I wanted to let everyone know that my friend Kev introduced me to this band called Sojourn and they have some great Christmas tunes available for free now. (All you have to do is recommend it to five of your friends.)
It’s very organic sounding and not your usual “Christian” industry fluff — yet very accessible for all my pop-minded friends.
Download it here: https://www.noisetrade.com/sojourn

Subject: Is Oprah a cult leader?
Step One: Watch the video in question
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JW4LLwkgmqA
Step Two: Watch the commentary on CNN
http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/showbiz/2008/04/22/sbt.viral.video.cnn
Step Three: Analysis of the commentary
The host begins by implying that the claim, “Oprah is against Christianity because she is promoting a different perspective on spirituality” is false/over the top. This is evidence of our culture’s relativism in the view that all spirituality is equally good and true (inclusive) — until you start making exclusive truth claims, of course.
Let’s apply that way of thinking to something else. Would you say that the claim …

The new version of GarageBand moves it out from a musical sketch pad application to actually being able to arrange songs. So, I’ve been working on recording some friends’ worship tunes and writing some of my own. In the process I am reminded of something that I took issue with back in my younger days — back when hymns weren’t cool and modern praise was becoming acceptable in “big church.” Any one remember Shine Jesus Shine? Back in the day, that was really pushing the envelope.
I always wondered why religious …