For a number of weeks now I have been looking for stories about Christians doing good in the world. When I brought up the new category entitled Let’s Show the World I thought finding Christians reaching out to the world would be an easy thing. It is sad for me to say but I found the opposite to be the case. After hours of searching … Continue reading It’s Sad…. But Joyful…
WARNING I am going to get on my soapbox here. I try not to do it very often but sometimes things just grate on me too much! I want to get this off my mind so I can start fresh in 2011 I am sorry to say that I have evidenced a strong link between what is probably the majority of Christians who call … Continue reading The Link between Evangelicals and Radical Right Politics..
Sometimes a burst of questions comes into my mind. They usually come and go before I have time to even put them on a Post-It for further study. This time I was at my keyboard. Here is what I have been thinking of this afternoon. In the past I have been a member of different Christian denominations who say we must go out and save … Continue reading The Rambling Questions of a Past Jesus Freak
Here is a picture of Yvonne at the ChristKindlMarket in Chicago last week. They had 200 booths from Germany and Eastern Europe there. She was indeed a happy shopper. Continue reading The Happy Shopper
Here is another picture of our recent time in Chicago. This is the ChristkindlMarket at Daley Plaza. There were booths from all over Germany and Eastern Europe so there were many unique things to be seen and bought. And Yvonne certainly bought her share Continue reading ChristKindlMarket
Speaking up in church is something that varies widely in the Christian world. When my wife and I joined a small startup church eight years ago everyone there felt welcomed to speak up after the service. Since the church was a liturgical one speaking up during the service was a limited to chanting the required verses as they came up in the service text. But … Continue reading Speaking up in church..
We spent the four days before Christmas this year in Chicago. The picture above was taken from our hotel room window. As you can see we stayed in the heart of the city. More pictures from this trip coming soon. Continue reading Chicago Christmas
It looks like I will make it through another year. That is if the Lord lets me survive for seven more days 🙂 I admit I have been pretty lazy with posting here lately. I guess I just got out of the mood. But I do have some excuses in that we spent much of this week in Chicago visiting some of the Christmas sites. … Continue reading It looks like I will make it….
With this post I am reviewing a book named Genesis One – A Scientific Perspective by Hugh Ross. Hugh Ross is a noted astronomer and the founder of Reasons to Believe which is a foundation dedicated to reconciling the Bible with scientific findings. This short 34 page book goes line by line through Genesis 1 – 17 and shows how each passage is backed up by scientific … Continue reading Genesis One – A book review
After the flurry of posts around my leaving my church of eight years this two week respite has been refreshing. I will probably start up again soon. Via this post I just wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas. May we all spend a few extra minutes in the next days contemplating some of the red letters. After all that is what this day is … Continue reading Merry Christmas…
Why must some versions of Christianity pit scientific discovery against religious doctrine? It seems from my personal experiences that to some if you believe in God then you cannot believe in scientific discovery. Of course much of this goes back to the literal interpretation of Bible. Since those holding that view must believe that the earth is only 6,000 years old how do they reconcile … Continue reading Science & Religion…
Now that winter is setting in let’s look at a picture of our July garden that my wife took. She is quite the flower photographer. Continue reading Winter setting in…
I don’t believe that the collection of documents put together in the fourth century by Emperor Constantine’s council which is known today as the Bible was one hundred percent dictated by God. Because I believe there is a human element to it some say that I surely must therefore deem it all worthless. No! No! No! I really tire of saying this but I must … Continue reading What about the Bible???
Some say I am too negative on this site and there is probably some truth to that. So with this post I am starting a new category called “Let’s show the world”. These posts will be about positive things we can do to make Jesus Christ more visible in the world today. They will also include stories about churches and other Christian organizations who are … Continue reading Let’s Show the World….
RJ’s Comment Wouldn’t it be great if Christian billionaires got together to make a similar pledge except in Jesus’ name and for even more? How about 90%? For that matter why not Christian millionaires too? Wouldn’t that send a message to the secular world? Continue reading How about it Christian Billionaires??
This is a quick post with a question that popped into my head. I see from an article I read a while ago that scientists think they are getting closer to being able to confirm that there is life elsewhere in the universe. I wonder what the Christian beliefs are about this possibility? I suspect that as with almost everything else in Christianity it is … Continue reading Life in the Universe?
This post will close out my current thoughts on institutional purity. I have made it a point that institutional purity has done some grievous harm to the Body of Christ. I am therefore saying that we cannot insist that there are certain things you must believe in order to call yourself a Christian? In my mind yes there are some things that are fundamental but … Continue reading The Musts of Institutional Purity
The idea of institutional purity is noble in purpose but very faulty in delivery. The idea goes something like this: “Since we are the only ones to really understand the true nature of God we must protect our ideas from getting polluted by the rest of the world and in particular other Christians who think differently but are wrong. In other words we must fight … Continue reading Institutional Purity (Part 2)
I want to bring some comments from a previous post entitled The Right of Passage to the forefront so that the issue is clear. It has to do with my leaving my church home of the last eight years. As pointed out below I did short circuit the formal process at it’s beginning stages by volunteering to leave. I chose to take immediate action rather than to … Continue reading For Clarification….
I know some of you might be confused by the title of this post. Let me assure you up front that it is not about how you make your body pure by eating worms 🙂 . This topic is much too heavy to settle well in your stomach even if it were steak. The theme of the next three posts is really about is that … Continue reading Institutional Purity & the Diet of Worms
Some people probably think that the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy applies only in the military. In reality it applies in several places in our lives. One of those is our local church. That is if you are a member of one of the churches that demand a high level of compliance to their beliefs. I was up until recently a member of one of … Continue reading Don’t Ask; Don’t Tell
There is now a thriving industry nicknamed Sick Day Bounty Hunters. They are hired detectives who check on employees who may be abusing their sick day privileges. See the full article at http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/10_50/b4207093635068.htm .The article claims a significant growth in the number of people who fraudulently claim sick days when they are actually doing something else. When I started in the corporate workplace in 1970 … Continue reading Sick Day Bounty Hunters
Here it is the first real snow of the season. We got about three inches last night. Our neighbor on top the hill behind us has been plowing our driveway since we moved here ten years ago. But, last year his antique tractor broke down and he has not been able to find any replacement parts. So this year I bought a plow blade, wheel … Continue reading Trying out the new plow…
Here I am a senior citizen so I thought I had completed all of life’s rights-of-passage. But I was recently proven wrong. Because of my stand, here and elsewhere, that I believe that the earth is more than 6,000 years old I have been asked to refrain from some worship activities at my current church! It seems I am not allowed to believe the age … Continue reading A Right of Passage….
Here is a picture of the Michigan State Capital building taken in September when we were on our way to Mackinac Island Continue reading State Capital
Here we are in the Christmas season so the virgin birth will be mentioned many times in the coming weeks in both our Bible readings and our hymns and songs. Let’s take a 21st century look at this phenomenon and also ask some first century questions about it. Let’s start with the first century questions. There are some things in the bible that require us … Continue reading Virgin Birth…
We had our first snow of the season last night. But I am too lazy right now to dig out the camera and take a picture so this one was taken in January this year. Yvonne absolutely loves snow. Me, not so much but I put up with it for her sake. We have lived here for more than ten years now but I … Continue reading First Snow…
In a recent exchange of comments with a reader of this blog he made the comment that I was demeaning other Christians when I say we are not doing a very good job of following Christ’s examples and words. By pointing out a supposed weakness in someone’s walk with Christ am I putting them down? Am I demeaning them? I think not. Am I possibly … Continue reading When you tell someone that they could do a better job of following Christ are you demeaning them?
RJ's Corner 