An Expedition...

Over the last few days I have been interacting with folks about a great many things. Something that has struck me is the cavalier attitude toward doctrine. Many of us no longer seem to think that doctrine matters. We say things like, "I am not a theologian, but..."Here's the reality: doctrine does...

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What's Worse? (Part 2)

In our previous post we saw how Jesus engaged the world. He entered in and sought to transform the culture within which he lived. He did so with passion, without regret, and in perfect holiness. He did so to the point that he was called a "drunkard" and a "glutton". This is our model.How do we apply it?The first question that I hear murmuring is, "He was God. It's different isn't it?"No. It's not...

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What's Worse (Part 1)?

As we near the end of this discussion on engaging culture a few concluding points need to be made. Primarily we need to discuss which is worse, sinful thematic elements, or subtle deconstructions of worldview. This is something that we struggle to figure out on a principled level in every aspect of our lives as Christians. For us to get our minds around this reality we must first look at the life...

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Observations on the Conversation

There have been a few (and by a few, I mean more than you can shake a stick at) posts by people responding to a book by a Christian famous pastor and author.  It's reaching epidemic proportions.  Almost to the point of being annoying.I am not going to write about the pastor or the book (I haven't read it, actually it was sold out at my local bookstore, so I couldn't buy it).What I do want...

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Garden State: Good or Bad?

In our second to last post exploring how to engage with culture we will be evaluating the film Garden State. Remember the four key questions that we use in our evaluation:What does this tell us  about God?What does this tell us about man?What does this tell us about man's greatest problem?What...

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A UM Fan Not Happy About Jim Tressel

I am a pretty big University of Michigan sports fan. I enjoy it when that school down South loses and I hope that they are the first number one seed to lose to a sixteen seed in the NCAA tournament. I like it when they mess up in big games and lose their Bowl games. I really do.Today we learned that Jim Tressel would be suspended for two games and fined a good deal of money for lying to the NCAA...

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Do the Lenten Twist

This morning as I watched my Facebook and Twitter feeds fill up with what people were giving up for Lent a thought struck me. It was simple and profoundly un-original. I began thinking about what Jesus did during those last forty days. The Scriptures don't really give us a blow by blow. However, I think what we see is that Jesus did not give things up. Jesus drew closer to his disciples. He spent...

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The Lion King: A Wolf

In my previous post I suggested a method for evaluating culture. We are going to begin with an evaluation of the beloved Disney film, The Lion King. EvaluationThe first question is, "What does this communicate about God?" The Lion King communicates very little about God. Actually, there is no sense...

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