“The idea that God, if there is a force of Logic and Love in the universe, that it would seek to explain itself is amazing enough. That it would seek to explain itself and describe itself by becoming a child born in straw poverty, in shit and straw . . . a child . . . I just thought: “Wow!” Just the poetry . . . Unknowable love, unknowable power, describes itself as the most vulnerable. There it was. I was sitting there, and it’s not that it hadn’t struck me before, but tears came streaming down my face, and I saw the genius of this, utter genius of picking a particular point in time and deciding to turn on this.”
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: atheist, evangelism, penn and teller, penn says
This is a video I found on Ed Stetzer’s website (www.edstetzer.com). This is Penn from Penn and Teller who is an atheist telling about his encounter with a Chrisitan who gave him a Bible after a show. This is a powerful video and I wish this was the reaction from more people who meet Christians.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: christmas play death, christmas plays, church performer dies
A performer in a Christmas musical at a church in Cincinnati died after a headfirst fall to the concrete floor of the church. You can read about it here.
This is a horrible tragedy and it appears to be equipment failure and no fault of the church. It sounds like the church took appropriate precautions to prevent this sort of thing from happening.
For me, there’s another issue here. Are these kind of theatrics necessary to reach people? Most churches that put these plays on are trying to reach unbelievers (at least that’s what they say). Do we really need people on ropes and harnesses to “fly into the air” in order to reach people for Christ? Do we need to have a “Broadway style musical” in order to tell people about Christ? Do we have to put on a production that rivals Hollywood in order to tell about the birth of the Savior? I can’t imagine we do.
In fact, the events that surround Christ’s birth and the simple way in which he came seem to indicate that the current church Christmas plays are the antithesis of His birth. It seems as though many churches have adopted the world’s philosophy of Christmas: spend a lot of money and go all out for the biggest holiday of the year. It’s as if the goal of some churches is to compete with the local White Christmas play or the Rockettes. I wonder if Christ would want us to spend a million dollars on a production that in all reality will probably be more hassle than it’s worth and will probably be way more fun for the people involved than the people who came. Are we really changing lives and impacting the world by our Christmas production? Probably not. I wonder how many people could be clothed and fed and how many poor children could get a gift at Christmas if we spent the same amount of money on them as we do on these productions.
Local churches here have charged as much as $15.00 a ticket for their productions. Really? $15? In the worst economy in the country? Not only do we want you to come to our Christmas play so you can hear the gospel of Christ, WE WANT YOU TO PAY FOR IT. If the main goal of the Christmas play is to give people the gospel, and you charge money for them to come, you are charging people to hear the gospel. If you want to charge believers to have a positive Christmas experience and worship God through the arts, that’s one thing. It’s completely another to charge people to hear the gospel.
GOD HELP US!
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: american church, church, cuba, service times
I was talking to someone today about a church that runs about 1,500 and is changing their service times (they have three). The problem is the times they have announced for the change have apparently caused a stir and they are going to have change them again. The speculation is that one of the services may interfere with football and/or lunch.
Only in America would Christians be upset about service times being changed because they have incovenienced our current schedule. Are we really that pathetic? I hope not. But apparently we are. I had the awesome privilege of going to Cuba and visiting the churches there. We visited a different church every night of the week because in Cuba they meet every night of the week, but American Christians want to argue about what time we meet on one day of the week.
Filed under: Uncategorized
Dave Mcdonald, pastor of Westwinds in Jackson, MI has a great post on his blog about the need for “Open Source Theology.” Click Here .
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: craigslist, manly, manly ad, nissan xterra, real men, xterra
Here is a great ad supposedly on craigslist. Thanks to Dave McDonald for this one:
OK, let me start off by saying this Xterra is only available for purchase by the manliest of men (or women). My friend, if it was possible for a vehicle to sprout chest hair and a five o’clock shadow, this Nissan would look like Tom Selleck. It is just that manly.
It was never intended to drive to the mall so you can pick up that adorable shirt at Abercrombie & Fitch that you had your eye on. It wasn’t meant to transport you to yoga class or Linens & Things. No, that’s what your Prius is for. If that’s the kind of car you’re looking for, then just do us all a favor and stop reading right now. I mean it. Just stop.
This car was engineered by 3rd degree ninja super-warriors in the highest mountains of Japan to serve the needs of the man that cheats death on a daily basis. They didn’t even consi der superfluous nancy boy amenities like navigation systems (real men don’t get lost), heated leather seats (a real man doesn’t let anything warm his butt), or On Star (real men don’t even know what the hell On Star is).
No, this brute comes with the things us testosterone-fueled super action junkies need. It has a 265 HP engine to outrun the cops. It’s got special blood/gore resistant upholstery. It even has a first-aid kit in the back. You know what the first aid kit has in it? A pint of whiskey, a stitch-your-own-wound kit and a hunk of leather to bite down on when you’re operating on yourself. The Xterra also has an automatic transmission so if you’re being chased by Libyan terrorists, you’ll still be able to shoot your machine gun out the window and drive at the same time. It’s saved my bacon more than once.
It has room for you and the four hotties you picked up on the way to the gym to blast your pecs and hammer your glutes. There’s a tow hitch to pull your 50 caliber anti-Taliban, self cooling machine gun. I also just put in a new windshield to replace the one that got shot out by The Man.
My price on this bad boy is an incredibly low $12,900, but I’ll entertain reasonable offers. And by reasonable, I mean don’t walk up and tell me you’ll give me $5,000 for it. That’s liable to earn you a Burmese-roundhouse-sphincter-kick with a follow up three fingered eye-jab. Would it hurt? Hell yeah. Let’s just say you won’t be the prettiest guy at the Coldplay concert anymore.
There’s only 69,000 miles on this four-wheeled hellcat from Planet Kickass. Trust me, it will outlive you and the offspring that will carry your name. It will live on as a monument to your machismo.
Now, go look in the mirror and tell me what you see. If it’s a rugged, no holds barred, super brute he-man macho Chuck Norris stunt double, then contact me. I might be out hang-gliding or BASE jumping or just chilling with my ladies, but I’ll get back to you. And when I do, we’ll talk about a price over a nice glass of Schmidt while we listen to Johnny Cash.
To sweeten the deal a little, I’m throwing in this pair of MC Hammer pants for the man with rippling quads that can’t fit into regular pants. Yeah, you heard me. FREE MC Hammer pants.
Rock on.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: 8 really dumb phrases, horse of a different color, pot calling kettle, six of one, straw that broke, water off a duck's back
These are not in order of dumbness, and this is only the first installment, but here are eight phrases that should be banned from our lives forever:
1. Horse of a different color
2. Shooting the breeze
3. Six of one half dozen of another (aka “Six of one”)
4. Pot calling the kettle black
5. Finders Keepers
6. A penny saved is a penny earned
7. Water off a duck’s back
8. Straw that broke the camel’s back
Please stop using this…now…forever. In fact, create a punishment for yourself if you use one of these.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Prop 8 musical, prop 8 video, proposition 8, Proposition 8 the musical
Here is a video that is a mini-musical hoping to help overturn Proposition 8. Neue Ministry had it on their website. The guy is very creative that put this together and there are a lot of stars in it. We as the church need to see how the “Christians” are characterized in this and start talking about what we can do to change that.
Great post from my friend Dave McDonald at Westwinds Church in Jackson, Michigan. He sums up my thoughts better than I ever could. Dave is one of my guides out of fundamentalism. You would do well to read this and pretty much everything else he writes.
