The Weekend File: 09:20:08

Thanks to Issues, Etc for choosing Internetmonk.com as the “Blog of the Week.”

One of Rod Dreher’s readers at Crunchy Con sent in a deadly honest e-mail describing “white privilege.” I don’t care much for the political applications, but the observations on how some whites view their own behavior differently from the identical behaviors in African-Americans is spot on. This is a way of thinking that you have to stop in your own head, and they way you stop it is with the Gospel; with Kingdom thinking.

I try to make both my white and black students aware of this phenomenon, and I encourage discussion about it. We need to put the light on these kinds of cockroaches of the soul if we are going to make progress on the continuing sin of racism.

Oh….the application to how many Christians view their behavior as compared to other people…oh my!Continue reading “The Weekend File: 09:20:08”

iMonk 101: My Theology Can Beat Up Your Theology: Thoughts On Always Saying More Than The Other Guy

I have been thinking about this post from January of this year as I’ve read some of the current theological controversies going around the blogosphere and evangelicalism: My Theology Can Beat Up Your Theology.Continue reading “iMonk 101: My Theology Can Beat Up Your Theology: Thoughts On Always Saying More Than The Other Guy”

Evangelism Won’t Cure It

It’s a rant. Adjust your volume and thinking accordingly.

My denomination is about to have a ten year emphasis on evangelism.

I’ve been a Southern Baptist since birth. As far as I know, my denomination has never had any other emphasis than evangelism.

My denomination is more interested in evangelism than any other denomination in existence or Christian history. Its entire apparatus of denominational machinery is devoted to the promotion of evangelism. Its denominational publications and web sites are basically all evangelism, all the time.

Oh there’s the occasional break for the culture war and to promote the new Kirk Cameron movie, but no one is missing the SBC’s concern with evangelism.

I’ve lived through more evangelism training programs than I can name.Continue reading “Evangelism Won’t Cure It”

How My Wife’s Catholicism Has Changed Me For The Better: A Birthday Reflection

For you people that don’t know this story, I’ve pulled almost everything off the site that refers to it, so I’m sorry about that.

I got some nice things for my 52nd birthday. A new iPod. (Blue, 4th generation Nano. Be envious.) A book of Benedictine Daily Prayer. (I’m figuring it out.) Birthday cake (Oatmeal. Mmmm) with my wife, daughter and son-in-law. (Their rendition of Happy Birthday somehow made me feel I was boarding a train for Siberia.) A lot of Facebook greetings. Two cards. Many birthday wishes from my students. And right after I’d preached, a large lipsticky kiss on my cheek from a long-time co-worker. (It’s a tradition where I work. My wife approves.)

I missed getting a birthday card from my mom. Twenty-five dollars, as regular as clockwork. I miss hearing her voice on the phone telling me she was in labor for two days and it almost killed her.

I would have liked to go to church on my birthday, but instead I preached for our students. I Corinthians 3:5-9. “On Christians and Those Who Grow Them.” I enjoyed that opportunity.Continue reading “How My Wife’s Catholicism Has Changed Me For The Better: A Birthday Reflection”

The “Real” Prosperity Gospel

A reader sent me a very nice note yesterday, talking about a bit of the scope and direction of my writing on this blog over the years. He mentioned something I want to share with you. Hear his idea and initial direction; then I want the ball.

It’s funny how among some of the religious types you seem to be surrounded by, there is both a deep hatred for the prosperity gospel, and something that at a functional level, is the prosperity gospel. A gospel where although Jesus may not give you a BMW, He will make sure you’re always happy, never struggle with doubt, and most of all, He’ll keep you from feeling like you might need to ask a question of Him. It’s subtle, but I had adopted many of these beliefs into my own life, and as God has been taking those ideas apart over the past few years, yours has been a voice letting me know I’m not alone. Your writing has helped keep me sane.

The real prosperity gospel isnÒ€ℒt the overt appeal to wealth. It is the more subtle appeal to God guaranteeing that we are going to be happy, and the accompanying pressure to be happy in ways that are acceptable and recognizable to the community of Christians we belong to.Continue reading “The “Real” Prosperity Gospel”

Another Denise Spencer Christmas Program

Here’s another- more recent πŸ™‚ – Denise Spencer Christmas program. These are simply programs appropriate for many churches looking for something that allows traditional music and encourages a Biblical theme.

The first Sunday of Advent is just over two months away. Time to start thinking about such things. Denise has a real gift for simple creative worship programs. All her programs have been done here at our ministry and are received very well.

Denise Spencer Christmas/Advent Program.

iMonk 101: “I Hate Theology”

iMonk 101 is a series of past essays and posts reposted for the enjoyment and edification of the IM audience.

“I Hate Theology.” Occasionally.

I don’t think I have reposted this iMonk classic “crisis” post in a couple of years. It definitely needs some light and air.

It’s provocative and a bit extreme, but sometimes, y’know, you just want to put your head through a tiny hole in a brick wall, and when I do, it’s some theological crusade that put me there.

Don’t get me wrong. Some of you people need a lot more theology than what you’re getting from your pastor or your radio. But there’s a bunch of you who have ingested so much theology that you need to volunteer to go the International Space Station for a couple of months.

[I’m not a Calvinist. I was- sortof- when I wrote this.]

Read: “I Hate Theology.”