I know Christianity today was just trying to get a rise with this, The Real Prosperity Gospel, but Christianity has enough problems with the prosperity gospel, that for them to do this strikes me as irresponsible. Just my $0.02 (worth even less now than is used to be)
Prosperity Gospel Hyperbole
21-Apr-09Change Your Name…Because We Say So
21-Apr-09In the article, Name Not on Our List? Change It, China Says, the New York Times doesn’t recognize (or know, probably) that most governments within the United States (including the federal government) may not try to force a person to change their name, but they won’t recognize your full name if the name is longer than a certain number of characters, or if you have more than three (first, 1 middle, last) names, your full name is not accepted.
A name change is not forced here, but your full name is not recognized, either.
A Manifesto for the Christian Life?
02-Mar-09I was listening this morning to the latest Accidental Creative Podcast, AC #149: Manifesto, and I was struck by how much the manifesto strikes me as a healthy Christian way of life. Todd Henry (the owner/creator of Accidental Creative) created A Manifesto For Accidental Creative. This is my “Christian” take on it.
- We witness and disciple everyday—no matter what we do, we are witnessing and discipling. It is just a matter of how well.
- No matter how good we are at what we do, what we do does not define us.
- Our vocation (messengers for Jesus)is bigger than what we do.
- Our life in Christ must be one of grown—the dead branches of the vine are trimmed.
- We must have a healthy life in Christ—it must be intentional, our choice, and it must be one of discipline.
- We must make decisions that value our faith, not that value culture, pride, money, etc. over it.
- We must always being looking at the evidence of the Lord’s hand, and taking joy in it.
- We are responsible for our spiritual health—while we can be bolstered, supported, and loved by others, ultimately our spiritual health is our responsibility.
- We are generous because we are free—we are to be generous in love, as Christ has set us free.
- We are committed to relationships—relationships are the key to a healthy church, a healthy body, and a healthy heart.
What do you think? Listen to the podcast, too.
All Mixed: Culture and Religion
24-Jan-09Critics have variously argued that Hebrew language charter schools impermissibly erode church-state boundaries, potentially balkanize Jews from the rest of society, and create a false dichotomy between Jewish religion and culture.
“The idea here is to strengthen Jewish identity, but you can’t do it in an open way because you run afoul of the law,” said Rabbi Eric Yoffie, president of the Union for Reform Judaism and a critic of Hebrew charter schools. “So you end up having rabbis and Jewish educators involved, and in all probability promoting Jewish commitment is exactly what they are looking to do, but they can’t do it openly. It simply will not work.”
Yoffie said the idea would not even work on its own terms to promote Jewish identity. “There’s absolutely nothing in 4,000 years of experience to suggest you can separate out religion and culture and simply teach culture to the exclusion of religion,” he said. “Those two pillars are inextricably intertwined.”
via Forward.com: N.Y. Okays Public School With Hebrew Focus. (hattip: GetReligion.org)
In our current University Ministry study, Engaging the Culture, we are discussing the interaction of culture and faith. in lesson one, this study discusses the five models of church/culture interaction. None of models exclude one. Rabbi Yoffie obviously feels the same way, that one is not without the other.
The Shrinking Great Divide
15-Dec-08I believe it is time to go beyond the Reformation and the Counter-Reformation. What is at stake at the start of the third millennium is no longer the same as at the beginning of the second millennium, when at the heart of Western Christianity the separation took place between Catholics and Protestants.
To give but one example, the problem is no longer that of Luther and of how to liberate man from the sense of guilt that oppresses him, but how to give again to man the true meaning of sin which has been totally lost. What sense does it make to continue to discuss how “justification of the godless comes about,” when man is convinced of not having need of any justification and says with pride: “I accuse myself today and I alone can absolve myself, I the man”?
I believe that all the age-old discussions between Catholics and Protestants about faith and works have ended up by making us lose sight of the main point of the Pauline message, often shifting attention from Christ to doctrines on Christ, in practice, from Christ to men. That which the Apostle is anxious above all to affirm in Romans 3 is not that we are justified by faith, but that we are justified by faith in Christ; it is not so much that we are justified by grace, but that we are justified by the grace of Christ. The accent is on Christ, more than on faith and grace.
via ZENIT – Father Cantalamessa’s 2nd Advent Sermon.
hattip: iMonk
It is amazing how in the last few years, the Protestants and Roman Catholics have begun to recognize their similarities, including their shared failings. The Pope is now even quoting Martin Luther in his homilies.
