We received some wonderful news today. Our son, Clay, and his longtime friend/recent girlfriend Taylor Claypool, are engaged to be married in December of next year. We love both our kids and they have brought us so much happiness by finding spouses who are Christians and wonderful additions to our extended family.Continue reading “Miscellaneous: Family News, Christmas and More”
Open Thread: What Might Be God’s Purposes In A Major Economic Downturn?
None of us know God’s ways and purposes beyond what He has revealed in scripture or in our own experience. But taking those lessons and “sanctified common sense,” we can think in terms of possibilities.
For instance, I have my students answer the question: “What were God’s possible purposes in allowing Saul to be such a failure as king of Israel?” Their answers help them think about what God was doing in the nation and for David.
So here’s an open thread question that I promised on last week’s podcast:
“What Might Be Some of God’s Purposes In Allowing A Major Economic Downturn?”
Talk amongst yourselves.
David Hayward, “The Naked Pastor:” The IM Interview
I’ve long admired pastor, blogger and cartoonist David Hayward, aka The Naked Pastor. (That’s Naked. Not “Nekkid.” He’s not up to anything.) I’ve been excited about this interview and it’s proven to be everything I hoped for.
David has a fascinating journey and a point of view the IM audience will appreciate. I’ve already gotten one email telling me I should have nothing to do with him, so he’s good people.
David pastors a Vineyard in Canada, and he will give you the whole story. And those of you who like a little Vineyard excitement, don’t give up before the last question!
1. Thanks for doing the IM interview David. Tell us about the name “The Naked Pastor.”
Thanks for inviting me to do this interview. My first post on nakedpastor was on February 3, 2006. I wanted to lay my life out there as a pastor. I wanted to bare my soul. Many pastors hide behind a wall of illusion that we co-dependently create with our communities. We try to act as if we have it together and people like to think we have it together just like they want us to think that they have it together. That’s a debilitating lie. I think my blog helps to dispel that. Which is why I think it is offensive to some. Some read my blog and say: here’s a guy who struggles with the same things I do and he’s a pastor of a church! Some see that as dangerous.Continue reading “David Hayward, “The Naked Pastor:” The IM Interview”
Response Part 1: The Biblical Worldview and Christian Experience
I now come to the last two posts in this series on The Unresolved Tensions of Evangelicalism. All four posts are accessible here.
In these posts I will write a response to each of the four topics of personal disillusionment: The Biblical worldview, Christian experience, Christian community and Christian commitment itself.
In my responses, I hope to say something constructive to those evangelicals who have left or are contemplating leaving evangelicalism, as well to loyal evangelicals within the church.
In this post, I’ll deal with the first two sources of personal disillusionment.
The Biblical WorldviewContinue reading “Response Part 1: The Biblical Worldview and Christian Experience”
Dear Ed Young,
Blame Bill Kinnon. And if talk about sex bothers you, then you probably need another religion. You’re out of luck in this one.
It was the grin that really got to me.
The arrogant, know-it-all, self-confident, re-inventing the wheel, just got me some grin.
The “I am a young pastor and I know everything in the world” grin.
You were sitting there on CNN, with your wife, talking about having sex 6 out of 7 nights this week.
Your wife said it was great. (That’s a relief. Bummer if she said she would rather not be forced into daily marital relations by pastoral demand.)
And the reporters are interested, because your church isn’t talking about God. It’s talking about sex so it can talk about God.Continue reading “Dear Ed Young,”
The Unresolved Tensions of Evangelicalism: Abandoning Christian Commitment Itself
I am continuing my series on The Unresolved Tensions of Evangelicalism.
Here is part 1 and part 2 and part 3.
4. Disillusionment With Christian Commitment Itself
In these posts, I have explored the various personal reasons evangelicals have for leaving the church. I have discussed the difficulty many have in coming to terms with the “Biblical worldview” as it is increasingly interpreted within conservative evangelical circles. I have examined the abuse of Christian experience and the multiple failures of Christian community that are bringing many evangelicals to leave the institutional church.
As I expected, these posts have received many confirming comments as well as the predictable criticism for allowing these disillusioned voices to be heard. Some are concerned that I am allowing these posts without endorsement or criticism of the point of view. Our fears of the implications of these voices are understandable, but the choice to hear them cannot be ethically avoided.
One last personal experience of disillusionment with evangelicalism needs to be heard before I write a response to all four. This is the disillusionment that leads a Christian to question or abandon Christian commitment itself.Continue reading “The Unresolved Tensions of Evangelicalism: Abandoning Christian Commitment Itself”
Introducing “The Liturgical Gangstas”: How Can A Person Grow Spiritually in the Next Year?
UPDATE: We have a Lutheran. Rev. William Cwirla, whom many of you know from The God Whisperers, etc. His post has been added to this one.
Welcome to “The Liturgical Gangstas,” a panel discussion among different traditions represented in the Internet Monk audience.
Every episode of the Liturgical Gangstas will feature a question, and each member of the panel will make a response from within their own tradition. Then you and the Gangstas can interact in the comments.
Who are the Gangstas?
Father Ernesto Obregon is an Eastern Orthodox priest.
Rev. Peter Vance Matthews is an Anglican priest and founding pastor of an AMIA congregation.
Dr. Wyman Richardson is a pastor of a First Baptist Church (SBC) and director of Walking Together Ministries, a resource on church discipline.
Alan Creech is a Roman Catholic with background in the Emerging church and spiritual direction.
Rev. Matthew Johnson is a United Methodist pastor.
Rev. William Cwirla is a Lutheran pastor (LCMS) and one of the hosts of The God Whisperers, which is a podcast nearly as good as Internet Monk Radio.
Welcome to the Liturgical Gangstas, and here’s the first question: “A person comes to you and says “I want to grow significantly as a Christian in the next year. Using the resources we all share and the specific resources of your tradition, what kind of guidance would you give this person? Be as specific as possible.”Continue reading “Introducing “The Liturgical Gangstas”: How Can A Person Grow Spiritually in the Next Year?”
The Unresolved Tensions of Evangelicalism part 3: Christian Community
I am continuing my look at the sources of disillusionment within evangelicalism. This will be a five part series, with four posts on the sources of personal disillusionment and one on responding to these personal sources.
3. The Disillusionment of Christian Community
[I want to be very clear that there are a lot of quality experiences of Christian community in evangelicalism, and many good people who practice it. I live in one good example. I know that many, many people have experienced the kindness of God in and through churches that demonstrated the reality of community in the Spirit. But it’s from working in churches for almost 20 years and living in a Christian community for 16 that I have developed an appreciation for what so many are going through in their own painful experience of dysfunctioning community. Despite many examples of the body of Christ being beautiful, this subject- disillusionment because of Christian community- is continually relevant.]
Does anyone really need to write this post?Continue reading “The Unresolved Tensions of Evangelicalism part 3: Christian Community”
Internet Monk Radio Podcast #119
Purposes of a Financial Downturn. Benedict 16th on Luther. “You make people feel bad.” Are the disillusioned standing at the exits with their coats?
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Drew Marshall
Confessing Evangelical on B16. And here. Here’s the Vatican article. The actual text is here.
Charlie Hall
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The Unresolved Tensions of Evangelicalism Part 2: God-Proving Christian Experience
I am continuing my series on the unresolved tensions of evangelicalism, I want to explore disillusionment with Christian experience.
2. The Disillusionment of Christian Experience
Evangelicalism makes confident claims about the religious experience of its true believers. It is not hard to conceive of disillusionment when those claims are judged to be untrue.
It’s a well known saying that a person with an experience has nothing to fear from a person with an argument. This is certainly true in the area of religious experience. Millions of evangelicals have been brought into and kept in evangelicalism by its claims of religious experience.Continue reading “The Unresolved Tensions of Evangelicalism Part 2: God-Proving Christian Experience”
The Internet Monk Archives 