Kingdom People Blog Post.

I am making a rare Saturday post to give attention to Trevin Wax’s blog posting for today. Go to http://trevinwax.com/2009/03/21/how-scholarship-shields-us-from-the-bible/ .  It gives credence to my belief that today’s Christians are generally not doing a very good job of understanding what Jesus says in the Gospels. It looks like this was also not uncommon a hundred years ago. Will we ever learn that Jesus really does expect us to actually do what he says. Thanks Trevin.  I will be picking up a book or two by Soren Kierkegaard. Continue reading Kingdom People Blog Post.

Fair Weather Christians

Here is another impromptu post related to a discussion I recently had with another Christian. First of all I am a regular supporter, both with my time and money, of a local Christian shelter and soup kitchen. During my discussions with my Christian friend I mentioned that the support of our church to this mission has almost dried up in the recent months. I have tried numerous way to spur support but to no avail. My friend made the statement that maybe we should not ask people to support things like this during these tough times. My friend said many … Continue reading Fair Weather Christians

Do we reap what we sow??

I imagine everyone has heard the term “you reap what you sow”. There is a lot of reaping and sowing going on in the Bible but I have not been able to find this reference in any of them. Are some of the bad things that happen in our lives a result of our unchristian behavior? Some of the red letters around this theme are:  John 9:2-5 His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the work … Continue reading Do we reap what we sow??

What me worry??

 For those of us who grew up with MAD magazine the title of this posting is very familiar. Alfred E. Neuman the main character in the magazine was constantly captioned to say that. I know I am giving my age away with this knowledge since Mad magazine was published in the 1950’s and that was ages ago for many bloggers. I regularly spent my 35 cent weekly allowance for a copy of Mad Magazine! If you are interested in learning more about Alfred go to Wikipedia at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_e_newman  Little did I know then that there was a biblical basis for … Continue reading What me worry??

The Overall Theme of the Lord’s Prayer – My Interpretation

  Matt 6:9-15 To me the Lord’s prayer is not as mysterious as some would like me to believe. I take the Lord’s prayer to be a call to action for Christians and not just a general statement by God. I don’t believe God wants any “couch potato Christians” but instead wants us to actively practice our faith. The individual petitions in the Lord’s prayer are things that God wants us to do so that His will is accomplished on earth as it is already done in heaven. The previous statement is probably quite shocking to those who say that … Continue reading The Overall Theme of the Lord’s Prayer – My Interpretation

The Lord’s Prayer

  I have been off the red letters for a few days so now I am going to spend the next few posts on them alone. In the past few weeks I have been reviewing the various commentaries on the Lord’s prayer. Quite frankly many of them aren’t very helpful to me. No one seems to be able to come right out and say what they think they mean in plain talk. Many theologians have “theologian speak”, that is fancy words they throw around, to describe the Lord’s prayer but nothing that the average Christian can make much sense of. This … Continue reading The Lord’s Prayer

The Thing about Mary

   I have always wondered why Catholics are so focused on the Virgin Mary and Protestants, except for Christmas Eve, almost totally ignore her? If we read the Gospels and the Book of Acts, besides for Jesus’ birth Mary is mentioned only a couple of times in the text so that doesn’t lead us to believe that Mary had a very prominent role among the early Christians. Some say this is because the culture at the time of these writings treated women more or less as property of men and therefore their accomplishments were downplayed in the writings. Maybe that … Continue reading The Thing about Mary

Jubilee

With tomorrow being the beginning of yet another year I thought it would be appropriate to talk a little about the concept of Jubilee. Here is some info about Jubilee from Wikipedia. a Jubilee year is mentioned to occur every fifty years, in which slaves and prisoners would be freed, debts would be forgiven and the mercies of God would be particularly manifest. Jubilee was an ancient Jewish tradition. It mainly mentioned in the Old Testament in Leviticus but Jesus referred to it as the year of the Lord’s favor in Luke 4 “The Spirit of the Lord is on … Continue reading Jubilee

Service Mentality

  Matt 20:26-27 Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave Jesus certainly had the service mentality. The ultimate service was for him to take human form and come to earth for us. He showed service mentality numerous times throughout the gospels. The apostles did not understand this. But, I think maybe when he insisted on washing their feet they finally “got it” or at least a little of it. Of course a central aspect of service is humility. We Christians should never think more highly … Continue reading Service Mentality

The Pope’s Christmas Message

On this blog and in my life I try to learn the Lord’s message wherever I can find it. I am just not one to cling to one particular denominational line of thought. I found some inspiring words from Pop Benedicts Christmas message yesterday. He said “wherever an increasingly uncertain future is regarded with apprehension, even in affluent nations.” “In each of these places may the light of Christmas shine forth and encourage all people to do their part in a spirit of authentic solidarity,” “If people look only to their own interests, our world will certainly fall apart.” About … Continue reading The Pope’s Christmas Message

Love your Enemies??

 Here are the red letters I will concentrate on for today’s posting. Since I haven’t learned how to make actual red letters in WordPress yet they are actually in black. But, what the heck.   “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love … Continue reading Love your Enemies??

Jesus was Anti-Stuff

 Ok this maybe anti-American but Jesus was definitely anti-stuff.  When Jesus sent out his disciples to spread the Word he told them to take nothing with them. They weren’t even allow to take and extra pair of sandals for their long walk and they did a lot of walking in those days! And then remember the rich man who approached Jesus to learn how to get to heaven. That ended up with Jesus telling him to sell everything he owned and give the money to the poor and then follow Jesus and his ragtag team.  Of course the rich man, … Continue reading Jesus was Anti-Stuff

Just What is Red Letter Living?

In general red letter living is just plain old Christians living but concentrating on the actual words of Jesus for the primary lessons in life.  To me some of the most significant red letters comes from the Sermon on the Mount. But, there are many other lessons that I am sure are almost as valuable. Red letter living serves three purposes: one is to thank God for His saving grace through Jesus Christ as shown by our compassion for others. The second it show us how to live while we are on this earth and how to treat each other. … Continue reading Just What is Red Letter Living?

Why a Red Letter Living Blog?

I am bringing up this blog for several reasons.  I am an evangelical Christian who doesn’t like how I am generally portrayed in the mainstream media. I admit that I am a more progressive Christian than perhaps most. I readily call myself a “bleeding heart”.  I want to let the world know that there are Christians around who believe and vote on more than one or two issues. I hope by opening this blog I can find and share views with like minded people ( and even those who are not so like minded as long as they keep the dialog civil). … Continue reading Why a Red Letter Living Blog?