What do Gays and Lesbians Hear? (repost)

overheard.jpgBefore getting into the substance of this essay, I want to mention how little I care for much of the terminology I’m going to use.

As a Christian humanist, there are two sources for my view of human beings: The image of God in creation, and the image of humanity in the incarnation/resurrection of Jesus. I am resistant and reluctant to speak of human beings through other identifiers, such as race or sexual preference. For example, I don’t believe terms such as “black” or “gay” accurately communicate what is most important about a human being.

A person who is sexually attracted to the same gender or has participated in sexual activities with the same gender is exactly what such sentences imply. It is wrong to use terms that imply those labeled are defined by their actions or feelings. It is a particularly postmodern twist to assert that someone’s identity should come from a label assigned by a group.Continue reading “What do Gays and Lesbians Hear? (repost)”

Ian Cron: The Internet Monk Interview

jpg_of_ian_photo.jpgOne of the communicators and writers that has really fed my mind and soul this year is Ian Cron, founding pastor of Trinity Church in Greenwich, Connecticut. Ian is a unique and gifted person who incorporates so much of what I am attracted to when I talk about a “Happy Enough Protestant” and a “Post-Evangelical” journey. His podcasted sermons are just tremendous, but are only available on site for a couple of weeks. I’ve reviewed his book Chasing Francis and recommend it as well.

Ian comes at you from a lot of places. He’s not going to be forced into the box of anyone’s convenient theological labels very easily. Some of our TR friends will find his list of influences too far beyond the predictable for them, but many of you will be inspired to look into how Ian brings it all together in his preaching and church. I believe Ian is showing many of us the way to bring a lot of things together that have many of us have been told should be kept apart.

I’m extremely honored to have someone I have come to respect as a mentor and guide on board for the IM Interview: Ian Morgan Cron. I hope he quickly becomes part of the journey of many IM readers.Continue reading “Ian Cron: The Internet Monk Interview”

The “Happy Enough” Protestant

happy-baby.pngI would like to invite Internet Monk readers to write a brief response to this post. I am particularly interested in what makes you a “happy enough” Protestant. (Please read the post and get the idea first.) Your response should be expressed in the spirit of this post. If they are short, put them in the comment thread. If they are longer, well written and well edited, email them to me and I may post some of them as IM posts in this series.

Because I’ve been wrestling with Protestant/Catholic issues throughout this past year, I receive a lot of email from those who have moved outside of their lifelong evangelicalism and somewhere within sight of the catholic tradition, if not the Roman Catholic church.

Some of that mail takes me to blogs and the writing of people who are in a tortured state of mind and heart. Some are ministers strongly drawn to Roman Catholicism. They have read Hahn and Howard. They are listening to The Coming Home Network on EWTN. They are tired of evangelicalism’s circus atmosphere, its deficits and its many problems.

The unity, antiquity and beauty of Roman Catholicism and Orthodoxy stand in stark contrast to the divisions, innovations and shallowness of evangelicalism. I have no problem understanding this attraction. It seems that Luther made a terrible mistake, and every person who “goes home” can take satisfaction in healing that historically disastrous and unnecessary rift.Continue reading “The “Happy Enough” Protestant”

Open Thread: Does Conversion Include An Experience?

saves.jpgDespite the fact the the pedigree committee has recently met and found me a Barthian mutt, I am a Southern Baptist. Classic Southern Baptist fundamentalism has been a constant in my life for as long as I can remember.

I want to open up a discussion on one theological and experiential aspect of that heritage that I no longer embrace: the belief that conversion includes a definite and discernible subjective experience.

In the typical Southern Baptist sermon, a lost person is invited to come forward and “get saved.” “Getting saved” means, of course, to become a Christian, but it’s expressed in various terms, such as to “accept Christ,” or to “pray to receive Christ” or to “ask Jesus into your heart.” In many sermons, this is coupled with other statements that promise definite, discernible subjective experience.Continue reading “Open Thread: Does Conversion Include An Experience?”

In The Study: Three Stories

ssss.jpgIn my preaching to students from all over the world and many different backgrounds, I am always looking for shorthand ways to communicate the Bible’s message.

For example, I’ve taught my students over the years to say “He (Jesus) lived a perfect life for us, and died a perfect death in our place.” I use this sentence over and over, hoping the Holy Spirit will use it to implant the essence of the Gospel into their memories and hearts.

I routinely talk about the Christian story as “Christmas, Good Friday, Easter and Pentecost,” using these four holidays as a way to talk about the major points of the New Testament message. We are invited into each one of these stories, often on several levels.

Recently, I’ve been using another shorthand reference that seems to be effective. In characterizing spiritual beliefs, I talk about “three stories.”Continue reading “In The Study: Three Stories”

Post-Stupid?

smartthumb.jpg“I am on a post-evangelical journey, discovering what it means to be vitally connected to Jesus.”

A truly prominent, not-post anything blogger has put forward the following theory:

Those who use the prefix “post” to describe themselves are claiming to be smarter than those who don’t.

Example: A “post-modernist” is saying “I used to be mired in the darkness of modernism, but now, through my superior intellect, I have arisen from the tomb of modernism and ascended to the higher plane of post-modernism.”

Or: A post-conservative is saying, “Once I lived in the dark swamps of conservatism, but now I’ve finally used my brains and looked at what Neanderthals inhabit conservatism. I’ve packed my bags and left for the sunshine and springtime of post-conservatism.”Continue reading “Post-Stupid?”

“Freedom in Worship” for The Liturgically Challenged (Part 1….Maybe)

2ff7022a2b.jpgWalking through the faculty dining hall where I work, I heard someone use the phrase “freedom in worship.”

It occurred to me that I’ve heard that phrase in just about every evangelical setting I’ve ever been part of, and I’ve used it a lot myself.

As a teenage Christian, I joined with thousands of others insisting that “freedom in worship” was the right of the “Jesus Revolution” generation.

As a youth minister, I was convinced that “freedom in worship” was necessary to keep young people interested in the church.

As a charismatic, I believed that “freedom in worship” was the best evidence of the presence and work of the Holy Spirit.Continue reading ““Freedom in Worship” for The Liturgically Challenged (Part 1….Maybe)”

The New Commandment

footwashing_02.jpgThe word “commandment” is one every first century Jew understood. God had made Adam in such a way that he was responsible to obey God’s commandments. The Ten Commandments were the law of God for his covenant people, expounded and expanded in the books of the law from Exodus through Deuteronomy.

It was the law of God that measured Israel’s covenant obedience. In the Psalms, the righteous man lives by, meditates on and obeys the commandments of God. The prophets convicted Israel and Judah of their failure to obey the law of God.

The Pharisees sought to center the life of an oppressed nation around the commandments of God, fencing the commandments with traditions of exacting, comprehensive obedience.

Jesus had taught that he did not come to do away with the commandments of God, but to fulfill them in himself. His teaching took the externals of covenant obedience and revealed their internal reality and authority.Continue reading “The New Commandment”