Much of contemporary Christianity, specifically those in preaching ministry, seeks to be relevant. And there is nothing inherently wrong with doing so (attempting to be relevant or being relevant). But there is a fine line and some definitive boundaries that must be set. Namely, there is a huge difference between preaching relevance (noun) and relevant preaching (adjective; or “preaching relevantly”—adverb). In the former case, relevance defines the content of the message, the content of what is preached. In the latter, relevance describes how the content of the message (scriptural truth) is presented.
Abortion and the Beginning of Personhood
In a previous post, I made a paper I wrote last semester for Ethics class entiled A Scriptural Evaluation on the NT Believer’s Use of Tattoos and Body Piercings available for download. Another paper that I wrote for this class was on the issue of abortion. It was a brief paper, so I narrowed my topic to the specific issue of when personhood begins. In other words, I sought to answer the question, when is the fetus a person, or, when does it become a person. The reason the answer to this question is so important is because it is the watershed issue of the abortion debate. It determines whether or not the killing of the fetus is murder (the killing of an innocent person) or simply exterminating matter.
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The Music of Keith and Kristyn Getty
For Christmas, one of the gifts my wife got me was an iTunes gift card. Before Christmas, I must have mentioned to my wife my desire to purchase some new music by some artists that I liked but did not already own any of their tracks. One musical “group” (if I can accurately call them a group) of which I bought music was the Gettys–Keith and Kristyn Getty. You may know them by their very popular song, “In Christ Alone.” My current church, Lake Drive Baptist Church in Milwaukee, tends to sing many of their songs during congregational worship. This is partly how I came to enjoy their music so much–besides the fact that the lyrics are typically fantastic and rich! I would like to recommend their works to you.
Why I Don’t Hate “Why I Hate Religion, But Love Jesus”
On January 13th I published a post analyzing and critiquing the viral video by Jefferson Bethke entitled, “Why I Hate Religion, But Love Jesus” (see my earlier post here). This post got lit up with lots of attention and traffic–far more than I expected. I got plenty of feedback from plenty of people, some positive, so not so positive. Among those who responded more negatively, some seemed to have the impression that I did not see any value or benefits in the video (on the contrary, I was simply presenting a caution). Due to this, I’ve decided to write a “part 2” on the strengths/benefits of Bethke’s “Why I Hate Religion, But Love Jesus.” By doing so, I want it to be clear that I am not attempting to retract my initial criticisms/cautions. However, I am presenting a balanced perspective that probably should be taken.
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A Scriptural Evaluation on the NT Believer’s Use of Tattoos and Body Piercings
Brian "Head" Welch - Christian, ex-guitarist of Korn, author of Save Me From Myself, and Christian musician.
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Kirk E. Miller 