Idols, Temples, and Politics I ended the previous chapter with this phrase: “As Christians, we rise above such petty, temporary, earthly allegiances because we have a higher …
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Chapter 6: Modern Applications
Modern Applications In the last chapter, I addressed the first two questions of the church’s moral dilemma: Which values are central to the Christian life and which are …
Chapter 5: Scripture’s Call to Moral Action
This is the longest chapter in the book. Over 12,300 words. Take your time with it! Scripture’s Moral Truths In Chapter 1, I described the overall dilemma facing the church as …
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Chapter 4: A Confession
A Confession I ended the previous chapter with four questions Christians need to answer as we consider our responsibility to be agents of the gospel in the world today. However, …
Chapter 3: Gospel Integration
Gospel Integration Some traditions refer to the transformative work of the gospel as “progressive sanctification," but the application of that concept is almost exclusively …
Introduction
Before getting into the main content of my book, I want to take some time to share an introduction of sorts, a brief description of the journey I have taken over the past 16 years …
Next Steps for the Church in America
Today in the New York Times, David Brooks published an opinion piece about the Evangelicals who are trying to save evangelicalism from itself. Evangelical is a word that I used to …
Time to Begin Again
With the departure of Joe and Megan Hill, the lifecycle of Lafayette Community Church has come full circle, and if we are being honest, we are a church that needs to basically …
Climate Change? In Church?
image credit: climate.nasa.gov On Sunday, in my message, I made a reference to global climate change, and since it is a hot button issue and since I got a Facebook question after …
On the Textual Reliability of 1 Corinthians 14:34-35
Before I talk about the issues with 1 Corinthians 14:34-35, I want to give a brief bit of information on the overall reliability of the text of the Bible. One of the fundamental …
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Unanswered Questions
Every now and then, I do a live Q&A session at the end of each worship gathering. This post is the place for me to record questions that deserve an article, and the links to …
Questions from an Atheist: Questions 6, 7 & 8
A couple weeks ago, I posted to facebook a link to a page on our church website introducing my then new series of messages. It's a series where I promised to tackle some of the …
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Questions from an Atheist: Question 1
Last week, I posted to facebook a link to a page on our church website introducing my new series of messages. It's a series where I promise to tackle some of the biggest questions …
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Is it Discrimination to Discriminate against Discriminators?
My church office received an email today that called me out for what was printed in the local newspaper reporting on my involvement in the City Council meeting last Monday. A …
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The Earth Commitment
Every January, we revisit the core values of the church by considering the four basic aspects of life in relationship with God. To do this, we have developed four metaphors that …
Commitment is Coming
Every January, we revisit the core values of the church by considering the four basic aspects of life in relationship with God. To do this, we have developed four metaphors that …