The Bible Is Not An Owner's Manual

Good stuff from Chaplain Mike over at Internet Monk:

The Bible is not an “owners manual for life,” a handbook that instructs us how to be healthy, wealthy, and wise, with well-behaved children and without financial debt. It does not give therapeutic counseling for emotional problems nor does it hold the key to being healthy and fit. You won’t find “15 Steps for Overcoming Discouragement” or how to build a “successful” church or ministry.

In fact, the longer we meditate on Scripture, the more we see it is not really about us at all; that is, it was not given to meet our “felt needs.” Rather it was given to tell the story of what God did to restore his blessing to creation through his Son, Jesus Christ. And it calls us to let him integrate the stories of our lives into that bigger story by his saving grace and mercy.

Best Prayer Ever...or...Worst Prayer Ever?

This is the pre-race prayer at the NASCAR Nationwide race on July 23rd, 2011.

It's hilarious.

There's no doubt about it.

And, perhaps the pastor uses a very much tongue-in-cheek style that would be appropriate to the occasion. After all, it is a race where people watch fast cars go fast.  This is not a solemn religious festival. 

But, it could also exemplify how the lines between Christ and culture get muddied...although "muddied" is way to mild a term for what happens here.  It's a prayer with not very much Jesus but a whole lot of racing.

Enjoy.



So, is it the best or worst?

(HT to Hacking Christianity)

Red Letter Christians. Emergents. New Evangelicals.

Image via WikipediaThis is from Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove's America's Next Revival:

Arising out of different church communities, these Red Letter Christians are variously labeled as 'progressives,' 'Emergents,' 'new evangelicals' and 'new monastics.' Though we don't agree on everything, we all have this in common: we feel deep in our bones the need for the hope of the gospel to connect with the material needs of our world today.


This will be the hallmark of America's next revival: an embodied faith that makes the connections between conviction and practice, between Spirit and flesh, between the world that is and the world that ought to be. Something is stirring in a dozen different movements today to teach God's people to pray, "Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." This one thing is more important than any of the smaller movements we are part of.

Does God Love Everyone?

Well, yes.  But as I watched the video below I questioned why so many people can find this love offensive.  Some, I'm sure, find the video offensive.  The song is called "God Is Not a White Man" by Gungor.  The first part of the song, with the refrain, goes like this:

God is not a man, God is not a white man
God is not a man sitting on a cloud
God cannot be bought, God will not be boxed in
God will not be owned by religion

God is love, God is love
And He loves everyone

I guess the thing that gets to people is when the song starts naming the people whom God loves...and it's everyone.  But, isn't that the same type of thing they struggled with in Jesus' time.  God loved the poor.  God loved the Samaritan?  God loved the unclean?

Watch the video.  Hear the song.  What do you think?

Doctrines

Image via Wikipedia“The insistence that doctrines do not matter is really a doctrine itself.”

Tim Keller

Via