Lots of great Cornerstone personality videos at Prof Rah’s You Tube page.
NOTE: Richard Twiss is going to be at Asbury October 15-17.
Internet Monk Radio Podcast #151
This week: Powerpoint is boring. Churches can be wrong. Checking in on my disciples. Church and Kingdom again.
Support the IM sponsors: New Reformation Press. New teaching available. Emmaus Retreat Center. A great place for your next group or individual retreat. E3 Sudan is church planting and training pastors in the Sudan. The Ministry to Children blog is “information central” for children’s ministry on the net.
Powerpoint is Boring. Teach Naked.
Douglas Wilson on tattoos. Also here. Also, Nancy Wilson on tats.
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Leaving Room For Churches To Be Wrong
UPDATE II: Phillip Winn has an excellent response to this post.
UPDATE: Moderation is on. My apologies that I have to do this so often.
Bill Kinnon reviews DeYoung and Kluck’s newest book, Why We Love the Church. I haven’t read the book, and won’t, but Bill did, and talks about it.
Tim Challies reviewed the book in early July.
A sympathetic DeYoung reader/hearer makes some very pertinent observations about the direction of things.
My mailbox is the constant recipient of the stories of those who have left the church, are considering leaving, or are wondering why they haven’t. Their stories are a large part of what I carry with me when I write or speak. Some of their stories are typical of leavers, and would not impress those who love the church. Other stories, however, are clearly stories of churches that are wrong. Deeply, painfully, often irreparably wrong. These stories make me angry that there exists people who, in the name of the infallibility of Christ, claim their church is right in situations of heinous and obvious wrongdoing.
I often get links to websites where individuals and groups in particular churches are using the internet to air their grievances against their church. I tend to believe a lot of what I read because it comports with human nature, but I respect the process churches may be using to deal with these situations, so I don’t ever publish those links. That may be wrong, but it’s a choice I’ve stayed with, so I am not an unaware critic with an agenda to tear up ministries and churches. Far from it.
We’re in an interesting cycle. A bunch of Protestants- Protestants, mind you- are constantly writing and blogging about the church in a way that leaves little room for their churches to be wrong and no way for the churches of their theological opponents to be right.Continue reading “Leaving Room For Churches To Be Wrong”
iMonk 101: Alastair Roberts on “The Denominational Church”
Looking over recent comments and emails, it occured to me that many of you would benefit from the writing of Alastair Roberts- a former IM favorite blogger now semi-retired- who wrote some of the most helpful thoughts about the church I’ve ever read. In fact, I carry around the originals in my brief bag all the time. This past post of mine just surveys the excerpts. Follow the links to his blog, Adverseria and get the entire original post. Those of you looking for the “right church” will be greatly challenged and helped.
Let me begin by thanking God for Alastair Roberts, his clarity in writing and his heart for the Church and Gospel of Jesus.
Alastair has a post at Adversaria called “The Denominational Church” that is, in a phrase, magnificently helpful for me where I am right now.Continue reading “iMonk 101: Alastair Roberts on “The Denominational Church””
Sheep On A Mission
Just a seed of some thoughts. Don’t have time to develop them. About to travel, etc. But maybe you can improve them.
Paul the Apostle, II Corinthians 1:3 All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is our merciful Father and the source of all comfort. 4 He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us. 5 For the more we suffer for Christ, the more God will shower us with his comfort through Christ. 6 Even when we are weighed down with troubles, it is for your comfort and salvation! For when we ourselves are comforted, we will certainly comfort you. Then you can patiently endure the same things we suffer. 7 We are confident that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in the comfort God gives us. 8 We think you ought to know, dear brothers and sisters, about the trouble we went through in the province of Asia. We were crushed and overwhelmed beyond our ability to endure, and we thought we would never live through it. 9 In fact, we expected to die. But as a result, we stopped relying on ourselves and learned to rely only on God, who raises the dead. 10 And he did rescue us from mortal danger, and he will rescue us again. We have placed our confidence in him, and he will continue to rescue us. 11 And you are helping us by praying for us. Then many people will give thanks because God has graciously answered so many prayers for our safety. (New Living Translation)
The question and answer post gave me a lot of food for thought. One question was about my experience at Advance 09 and what I had to say to younger leaders after that conference.Continue reading “Sheep On A Mission”
How to Preach What’s Not The Gospel
Note: Adrian Warnock preaches the Gospel. He also made a great picture 🙂
In a few days, I’ll gather my chapel preachers together for our orientation to the preaching work of the year. As I do every year, I’ll tell them to preach the Gospel. I’ll hand out “Two Ways To Live” and talk about the difference between preaching morality and preaching the Good News of Jesus.
Most of these men know and understand my burden that our students, many of whom we will only have for a year, get a clear and Biblical presentation of the Gospel throughout the year. They may consider me a bit of a “Johnny One Note,” but they want our kids to hear the Gospel as well. All of us, however, will use some of our preaching time to emphasize other messages in the Bible: moral lessons, character qualities, lessons to apply while a student, relationship wisdom, etc.
As important as it is to preach the Gospel, the fact is that there is more than the Gospel in the scriptures. When we are in the business of teaching the scriptures, we need to know how to preach the Gospel, and how to preach it from anywhere in the scriptures. But we also need to know how to preach what is NOT the Gospel, but is still of value.Continue reading “How to Preach What’s Not The Gospel”
Saturday Is For Asking Questions
NOTE: A question appeared this evening about two Ky preachers. I made two factual errors in my answer. I have never met or heard the one I said I’d met and heard- completely thinking of someone else- and I said the other was dead, which was incorrect. Very bad error on my part, and my apologies to both and to the questioner. Easy to get mixed up when you’ve been out of circulation for 17+ years.
I’m done. Wow. Over 130 questions. Thanks to all who participated. This was great fun.
NOTE: Remember that you will see the “older comments” link at the bottom of the comments now.
Dr. Valerie Tarico- Non-theists and Evangelicals: The IM Interview
I have been wanting to do an interview with an articulate and perceptive non-theist, and I have found one in Dr. Valerie Tarico, author of The Dark Side: How Evangelical Teachings Corrupt Love and Truth.
What’s the point?
1. Evangelicals are constantly mischaracterizing non-theists. We need to listen and not preach.
2. There is some common ground of concern here for many of us, especially in the area of the ethical practices of religions that seek to convert.
3. We need to measure our responses against reality. Some of our typical talking points aren’t very impressive, so we might consider retiring or reworking them.
4. I want to build a bridge. Dr. Tarico is very open to that kind of dialog.
Dr. Valerie Tarico is a former evangelical who now describes herself as a spiritual nontheist. Her book The Dark Side distills her moral and rational critique of Evangelical teachings. Tarico is a graduate of Wheaton College. She obtained a Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology from the University of Iowa before completing postdoctoral studies at the University of Washington. She writes regularly for the Huffington Post and hosts a monthly series on SCAN TV Seattle: Moral Politics – Christianity in the Public Square. Last year Tarico founded www.WisdomCommons.org, an interactive website with quotes, stories and poems from around the world all promoting shared ethical values. Her essays about society, faith, and family life can be found at www.spaces.msn.com/awaypoint.
Dr. Tarico, welcome to the Internet Monk.com interview.Continue reading “Dr. Valerie Tarico- Non-theists and Evangelicals: The IM Interview”
Looking For Luther
UPDATE: A great intro to Luther is “Luther for Armchair Theologians” written by Steven Paulson, a speaker at the recent Mockingbird Conference. Also, New Reformation Press has lots of Lutheran theology resources at 10% off right now.
Apparently, by the email count, I’ve said something right.
Earlier in the day, Blue Raja and I had a discussion at the Boar’s Head Tavern about an earlier post where I quoted a Semi-Pelagian IM commenter. It’s discouraging to read that the atonement “opened the door” for us to now live a life worthy of the Kingdom of God. As I usually do, I expressed my despair at these kinds of “living to please God” systems of salvation and the blatant dishonesty they encourage and despair they induce.
So here was one of my replies.
The Gospel was never good news for me until Luther helped me see that life could continue to be tragic. I never worry about abundant life doing more than the occasional appearance in the present. I’m content with Christ in the shadowlands if he guarantees to raise me from the dead and bring me home.
This keeps coming back to me from readers who say it’s hit home with them, and where can they find more.
Before I talk about finding more of that, let me assure you that I responded to the Lutheran altar call a very long time ago.Continue reading “Looking For Luther”
David Zahl Talks About Mockingbird Ministries: The IM Interview
UPDATE: Baptists might want to read this post on semi-Pelagianism, and enjoy the Tom Petty video 🙂
If you’ve been paying attention, you should have noticed that the most interesting blog out in the Christian/Reformation blogosphere is Mockingbird, the front page to the world of Mockingbird Ministries. Dead on, provocative stuff with the strong scent of Luther’s Law/Gospel cookbook in every post.
In addition to being Lutheranized Anglicans, Mockingbird has a major connection to my current theological hero, Paul Zahl. I’ve been enjoying the blog and all the resources available at Mockingbird, and I believe we’re looking at the ground floor of something very important and significant: the beginnings of a significant voice that balances engagement of the culture at many levels- not just as fans, but as thoughtful communicators and observers- with Lutheran flavored Reformation Christianity.
I asked Mockingbird posse member David Zahl- yeah, that Zahl- to answer five questions and get all of the IM audience up to speed. (David will point out some resources at the web site. You MUST download and enjoy the 2009 Conference audio. Priceless talks and not the same old same old.)
I’m very honored to have David Zahl from Mockingbird Ministries here at the IM Interview today.Continue reading “David Zahl Talks About Mockingbird Ministries: The IM Interview”
The Internet Monk Archives 