Friday, September 12, 2008
God is Love
Yesterday I took part in some interviews of ministerial candidates. I asked one of the candidates if there were any doctrinal or theological issues of particular importance facing ministers today. The concern he mentioned was the tendency today to over-emphasize God's love to the neglect of God's holiness. I was pleased that he recognized this prevalent distortion of the phrase "God is love" (1 John 4:8, 16). I can't count the number of times I have heard people use this verse to define God as "love". The statement ‘God is love’ is not defining God, but describing Him. Instead of defining God according to our understanding (romantically-laden) of the word “love” we need to define “love” according to God. We would do better to stop using the word love to define God and spend more time learning God's definition of love!
Monday, September 8, 2008
Great Quote
“It is one of the remarkable features of contemporary church life that so many are attempting to heal the church by tinkering with its structures, its services, its public face.
This is clear evidence that modernity has successfully palmed off one of its great deceits on us, convincing us that God Himself is secondary to organization and image, that the church’s health lies in its flow charts, its convenience, and its offerings rather than in its inner life, its spiritual authenticity, the toughness of its moral intentions, its understanding of what it means to have God’s Word in this world. Those who do not see this are out of touch with the deep realities of life, mistaking changes on the surface for changes in the deep waters which flow beneath. An inspired group of marketers might find a way of reviving a flagging business by modifying its image and offerings, but the matters of the heart, the matters of God, are not susceptible to such cosmetic alteration. The world’s business and God’s business are two different things.
Davis Wells, God in the Wasteland
This is clear evidence that modernity has successfully palmed off one of its great deceits on us, convincing us that God Himself is secondary to organization and image, that the church’s health lies in its flow charts, its convenience, and its offerings rather than in its inner life, its spiritual authenticity, the toughness of its moral intentions, its understanding of what it means to have God’s Word in this world. Those who do not see this are out of touch with the deep realities of life, mistaking changes on the surface for changes in the deep waters which flow beneath. An inspired group of marketers might find a way of reviving a flagging business by modifying its image and offerings, but the matters of the heart, the matters of God, are not susceptible to such cosmetic alteration. The world’s business and God’s business are two different things.
Davis Wells, God in the Wasteland
Saturday, September 6, 2008
Indefensible but not unbelievable
The following link is a must see report on CNN concerning Obama's vote against the Born Alive Infant Protection Act. Here is the best evidence of someone who is so motivated by prior idealogical committments (i.e. keeping Roe v. Wade on the books) that he is unable to do the right, or moral, thing even in the most obvious situations. This is further evidence that, for Obama anyway, the issue is not a question of when human life begins, but whether the rights of a privileged class trump the rights of the weak. Obama's decision in effect says, "Infants should not be protected, and can be allowed to die, if it is necessary to protect Roe V. Wade." That is OUTRAGEOUS AND INDEFENSIBLE, but not unbelievable!
If you are an Obama supporter and leary of right-wing distortions consider that this is CNN reporting, not FOX news.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8ACR0cjdiI
If you are an Obama supporter and leary of right-wing distortions consider that this is CNN reporting, not FOX news.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8ACR0cjdiI
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