Forgiveness

“While we do not from our hearts forgive our neighbor his trespasses, what manner of prayer are we offering to God whenever we utter these words (Matthew 6:12)? We are indeed setting God at open defiance; we are daring him to do his worst. ‘Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass against us.’ That is, in plain terms, ‘Do not forgive us at all. We desire no favor at your hands. We pray that you will keep our sins in remembrance, and that your wrath may abide upon us.’ But can you seriously offer such a prayer to God? And has he not yet cast you quick into hell? Oh, tempt him no longer! Now, even now by his grace, forgive as you would be forgiven!”

- John Wesley

Round 2 of the Hunt for Lord Stanley’s Cup

A Calvinist in an Arminian church

Mike Patton, a stark-raving out-of-the-closet Calvinist, has some incredibly good insights here.

Driscoll dresses down the dudes

Wow.

I listened to this and…wow.

(Warning: Driscoll uses the “H-E-Double-Hockey-Sticks” word at one point.)

STR: Hitchens’ Mess

Good response here to Chris Hitchens’ book, God Is Not Great.

STR: Logic vs. Atheism

Great article here.

“Religion is capable of driving people to such dangerous folly that faith seems to me to qualify as a kind of mental illness.”  So says Richard Dawkins, author of the God Delusion and godfather to the New Atheists.  This recent breed of atheist is no longer satisfied to pronounce religion as mistaken.  Believers aren't merely wrong, they're irrational.  And to such a degree that they very likely suffer psychological disorders.

 

But is it the believer who is irrational?  I don’t think so.

 

In February, I took the high schoolers of Crossline Community Church in Mission Viejo on their first Berkeley mission trip.  For students and staff, it was a rational test of Christianity’s truth claims.  It was also an occasion to humbly yet confidently demonstrate the utter irrationality of atheism.

 

The laws of logic govern human thought and communication.  We haven’t created them, we’ve discovered them.  Logic is part of the furniture of the universe.  These laws of thought assist us in evaluating the rationality of various truth claims.  And we employed them in Berkeley with atheists we met with.

On Small Churches

Great article by Chuck Warnock here.

Let's face it: small churches, like Rodney Dangerfield, get no respect. Or at least very little. Small congregations typically are viewed as stodgy, dead, or sick—that last one according to a very prominent church consultant who will remain anonymous.

I am sure we could find small churches that would live up to each of those perceptions. But I have also seen larger churches exhibit the same characteristics. Why is it, then, that small churches get such a bad rap? Numbers. Small churches don't have the numbers to validate their success, and our culture is all about numbers, even in ministry.

Here's an example: last year a prominent denomination offered a "small church" conference. Just offering a small church conference was a minor miracle, but guess who was asked to speak? You guessed it—large-church pastors. The clear message to those small-church pastors who attended was, "Come to this small church conference and we'll teach you how to make your small church into a big church.

Great article. Go read it.

The Americans With No Abilities Act

This gag article is funny – very funny.

Unfortunately, it’s also not too far removed from the realm of possibility with our current leadership (I’ll use that term for lack of a better one) in the federal government.

But it is a very funny read…

"As a non-abled person, I can't be expected to keep up with people who have something going for them," said Mary Lou Gertz, who lost her position as a lug-nut twister at the GM plant in Flint, Mich., due to her inability to remember righty tighty, lefty loosey. "This new law should be real good for people like me." With the passage of this bill, Gertz and millions of other untalented citizens will finally see a light at the end of the tunnel.

Said Sen. Dick Durbin: "As a senator with no abilities, I believe the same privileges that elected officials enjoy ought to be extended to every American with no abilities. It is our duty as lawmakers to provide each and every American citizen, regardless of his or her inadequacy, with some sort of space to take up in this great nation and a good salary for doing so."

The Other Side of Church Growth

Bryon Mondok reviews an article by Phil Johnson, The Other Side Of Church Growth, which is a very interesting (and I would say important) read.

A very great deal of what characterizes the Western Church – and American Christianity in particular – is somewhat unique to our experience and is not in any way universal to the entire Church.  Much of what is American Christianity, for instance, does not translate well in other contexts without either ignoring those contexts entirely or imposing Americanism on them.  For instance, the triumphalism of the Word-Faith Movement does not translate well into the context of the suffering church (which is, by the way, the majority experience of the church through the world and through history).  Likewise, the seeker-sensitive movement does not translate well into other contexts where Christianity has not materially impacted and shaped the culture to the extent that it has and continues to do in America.

Church Growthism is another peculiarity of American Christianity which does not necessarily translate well into other contexts.  The Growthinista maxim that “healthy churches grow” (always with the unstated but strong undercurrent of “invariably” driving their presuppositions) only works in (many but by no means all) Western contexts.  Perfectly healthy churches can, in fact, experience decline.  Not only in the large context of regions and nations, but in local contexts as well, and for a quite possibly innumerable number of factors.

The article is very much worthy of reading (even though it is published in “Christianity” Today – you know the old adage, even a stopped clock is right twice daily); I give you, however, one quote in particular:

As I was writing this book, I became very conscious of one question, which is how you measure the success of a church. I am tempted to measure it in terms of numbers, whether it's 5 percent of the population, 40 percent, or whatever. But I suppose an argument would be made by somebody from a Mennonite or Anabaptist tradition that that's not the question—that the question is not numerical success but quality of witness, that the New Testament does not guarantee worldly success or growth or megachurches.

A Calvinist Perspective on “Jesus Loves The Little Children”

Tee hee hee…check it here.