Category Archives: Open Thread

UPDATE II: And now the announcement is that this thread means I believe all theology is equally true. See, I 1) shouldn’t be letting you people tell your stories at all. It’s rejoicing in sin. 2) I should be preaching to all of you because right belief is the answer to everything. 3) and thenContinue reading “Open Mic at the iMonk Cafe: How Theology Changed Relationships”

An atheist visits Planetshakers Church for the big show. This may be the best discussion starter you’ll see this year. If you want to take a measure of how evangelicals see their world, hand them this description of an atheist’s visit to a high-powered Australian megachurch. Read. Ask for responses. Take notes. I’ll be quiteContinue reading “Riffs/Open Mic at the iMonk Cafe: Planetshaken, But Not Stirred”

Today’s iMonk Cafe open mic question may pertain more to preachers, but also to those who read sermons, hear them, read blogs, books, etc. Anyone who hears the Word handled. Have you ever heard a text that was meant to proclaim the Gospel- the good news of what GOD has done- turned into LAW? WhatContinue reading “Open Mic at the iMonk Cafe: Gospel Texts Turned Bad (+ My SBE Guest Room Post)”

I put forward the following DESCRIPTIVE and DIAGNOSTIC proposition, not to get up in someone’s face or assert superiority, but to understand things that are: “It appears that the HIGHER the view of the church, the clergy and the administration of the sacraments (not the sacraments themselves, but the ADMINISTRATION of them), the LOWER theContinue reading “Open Mic at the iMonk Cafe: High Ecclesiology/Low Church Planting?”

Noel, Ryan and I were talking tonight about the fact that while a few middle/high school girls read, almost no middle/high school boys read. My dad died almost 15 years ago. He enjoyed Zane Grey and Tarzan. There was a time the John Carter of Mars books were popular. Also the Hardy Boys. Sherlock Holmes.Continue reading “Open Mic at the iMonk Cafe: What Might Boys Read?”

So Evangelicals….what will be your version?

Your Christian friend has been staying up late on the internet, listening to Christian short wave and now comes up with a collection of completely bizarre, totally mythological pieces of anti-factual, conspiratorial nonsense—“They drilled a hole to hell,”….”Obama is a Muslim”…..”NASA has proven the sun stands still”….”9-11 was prophesied in Ezekiel”….”Christianity is going to beContinue reading “Open Mic At The iMonk Cafe: Responding to the Whoppers”

For the sake of this question, I’m going to make an unsafe assumption: that we all have a strong commitment to the application of grace in everyday life. While all of us who love grace want to apply it to all of our relationships, we have to admit that in some relationships, we have toContinue reading “Open mic at the iMonk Cafe: Grace and Authority”

This particular open thread is going to be a bit unusual. I am limiting participation to only those readers who are either trained in some area of the sciences or currently work in a science related field (either teaching or practice.) This thread is for this question: How have you resolved the tensions in yourContinue reading “Open Mic at the iMonk Cafe: Stories of Science/Faith Resolution”