I want to share this video I discovered on the Foundation for Economic Education's website. The lecturer, Dr Ronald Nash, explains the faulty thinking liberal Christians engage in when they think Jesus advocated for a socialistic economy. It is a good lecture, but watch it when you have a bit of time as it is almost 66 minutes long.
Morality of the Market from FEE on Vimeo.
Showing posts with label Liberals. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Liberals. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Saturday, March 6, 2010
A Tale of Two Churches
It was the best of times; it was the worst of times. It was the age of wisdom; it was the age of foolishness. It was the season of light; it was the season of darkness. There was a church which had a traditional service and contemporary thinking in one town. In the next town there was a church which had a contemporary service and traditional thinking.
The white church with a steeple that probably held a real bell has been around for at least 150 years, and the organ takes up a notable portion of the worship space. When the congregation gathers, they sing traditional hymns to the organ and then listen to an uplifting sermon by a talented preacher on Sunday morning.
The reality is this congregation practices religion. They get to go to an event filled with show and ceremony and aesthetics because that is what Christianity is all about to them. They try to preserve that bubble as much as possible.
In that church, I have been told not to put anything on the communion table and to refrain from wearing hats in the sanctuary. Rules of respect. Yes, it is a sanctuary, but when I am in it, it is not a worship service I am attending—it is usually my violin practice. They show respect for the space because that is all they have to their Christian experience. For some Christians, they hold tightly to the rules and aesthetics because that is the only thing they have left after deluding Jesus and the Gospel.
Contrast our church, or any other modern Evangelical church building. The electric guitar sits in the corner—not a traditional church music maker for sure. The space is informal, and the stained glass is usually vacant on the building. The walls are sheet-rocked. The building aesthetics don’t matter much because when it comes down to it, the building, the songs, the preacher and the people don’t matter. Jesus does.
Am I advocating wearing hat and being generally rude in Church? No. these rules are unwritten in some churches because we seek respect and honor for a person—Jesus—and not a place. It is actions which grow from a spontaneous honor for God, because we did not delude the gospel.
The white church with a steeple that probably held a real bell has been around for at least 150 years, and the organ takes up a notable portion of the worship space. When the congregation gathers, they sing traditional hymns to the organ and then listen to an uplifting sermon by a talented preacher on Sunday morning.
The reality is this congregation practices religion. They get to go to an event filled with show and ceremony and aesthetics because that is what Christianity is all about to them. They try to preserve that bubble as much as possible.
In that church, I have been told not to put anything on the communion table and to refrain from wearing hats in the sanctuary. Rules of respect. Yes, it is a sanctuary, but when I am in it, it is not a worship service I am attending—it is usually my violin practice. They show respect for the space because that is all they have to their Christian experience. For some Christians, they hold tightly to the rules and aesthetics because that is the only thing they have left after deluding Jesus and the Gospel.
Contrast our church, or any other modern Evangelical church building. The electric guitar sits in the corner—not a traditional church music maker for sure. The space is informal, and the stained glass is usually vacant on the building. The walls are sheet-rocked. The building aesthetics don’t matter much because when it comes down to it, the building, the songs, the preacher and the people don’t matter. Jesus does.
Am I advocating wearing hat and being generally rude in Church? No. these rules are unwritten in some churches because we seek respect and honor for a person—Jesus—and not a place. It is actions which grow from a spontaneous honor for God, because we did not delude the gospel.
Saturday, January 16, 2010
Persuasion By Holy Spirit
This article was published in my church newsletter a couple weeks back. Please feel free to leave any comments about it.
I was at the reception for my violin recital working my way over to the refreshment table to grab a bite of flan when I ran into the pastor of the church where recital was being held. He was standing by himself as I greeted him and then it occurred to me: ‘this is a good time to ask him.’
Several weeks ago the pastor made mention that his church was “a liberal Church.” I wanted to know what he meant by a liberal church, and to understand what he believed and taught.
Throughout the course of the conversation, he told me that he was gay, that he believed the Bible is open to interpretation and that Jesus was only a symbol that the gates of hell are closed forever (similar to the rainbow in Genesis). He explained to me how he believes Christianity may not be the only way to heaven and eternal life “I believe that Christianity is true but I cannot tell another religion that it is wrong.”
This was a belief that needed to be explored. “How do you know that is true?” I asked.
He replied “I have faith and I trust that it is true.”
I mustered all the love and tact I could and asked “But what happens if you are wrong? What if you find out that the way was much narrower than you think it is or it is something totally different such as Buddhism?”
He looked me strait in my eye and said “then I will stand on judgment day and answer for what I have done.”
I realized then how futile my years of study of apologetics turned out to be. They were useless in the course of winning someone to Christ in an argument, because they wouldn’t be attracted to Christianity after some Christian blasted their beliefs out of the water. This pastor, I could tell, was very sensitive and wouldn’t be open to my views. The only way they were going to be persuaded was through the work of the Holy Spirit. As Ravi Zacharias said, “Apologetics is only the spice that flavors the actions and testimony of the Christian.”
The most powerful weapon in the arsenal of Christian apologetics is the Holy Spirit and a Christian with a story to tell.
I was at the reception for my violin recital working my way over to the refreshment table to grab a bite of flan when I ran into the pastor of the church where recital was being held. He was standing by himself as I greeted him and then it occurred to me: ‘this is a good time to ask him.’
Several weeks ago the pastor made mention that his church was “a liberal Church.” I wanted to know what he meant by a liberal church, and to understand what he believed and taught.
Throughout the course of the conversation, he told me that he was gay, that he believed the Bible is open to interpretation and that Jesus was only a symbol that the gates of hell are closed forever (similar to the rainbow in Genesis). He explained to me how he believes Christianity may not be the only way to heaven and eternal life “I believe that Christianity is true but I cannot tell another religion that it is wrong.”
This was a belief that needed to be explored. “How do you know that is true?” I asked.
He replied “I have faith and I trust that it is true.”
I mustered all the love and tact I could and asked “But what happens if you are wrong? What if you find out that the way was much narrower than you think it is or it is something totally different such as Buddhism?”
He looked me strait in my eye and said “then I will stand on judgment day and answer for what I have done.”
I realized then how futile my years of study of apologetics turned out to be. They were useless in the course of winning someone to Christ in an argument, because they wouldn’t be attracted to Christianity after some Christian blasted their beliefs out of the water. This pastor, I could tell, was very sensitive and wouldn’t be open to my views. The only way they were going to be persuaded was through the work of the Holy Spirit. As Ravi Zacharias said, “Apologetics is only the spice that flavors the actions and testimony of the Christian.”
The most powerful weapon in the arsenal of Christian apologetics is the Holy Spirit and a Christian with a story to tell.
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