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Some of our regular Old Truth readers, have been sending me emails this week such as this one from Joan: "Hello, I've noticed that no new subjects have been posted in a few days. I hope you are doing ok health-wise and otherwise. I have you in my prayers." Thank you Joan and everyone else who has expressed concern. Rest assured, it is in my plans to be back shortly (a week from today as a matter of fact) on June 10th. Here's a short post to let you know what's behind my absence this week. ...
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Perhaps some will say that "the gospel is a person (Jesus), not a doctrine." This is a false dichotomy. The living word and written word are not enemies, but friends. As much as I agree with presenting the person of Christ, not just flinging concepts at people, Christ must be defined. A content-less Christ will not save anyone. Just as we saw the word of God is used by people in various ways, similarly Christ is redefined to fit people's preconceptions. Biblical illiteracy abounds and the possibility of misleading people about Jesus is real. This means that the writ... [read more]
add to discussionhttp://chapmanchannel.typepad.com/inmemoryofmaria/ I'm not the world's biggest CCM fan by any stretch but who couldn't empathize with the tragedy that Steven Curtis Chapman's family is going through after having their 5 year old adopted daughter run over by an SUV driven by one of the family teenagers last week. Family friend Steve Camp attended the funeral and talks more here about what happened. It's a tragedy that the family and the teenager will never entirely get over in this life. I'm afraid that this is just one more reminder for wrong-headed pastors and all of us who ar... [read more]
add to discussion"Only ye shall not go very far away." Exodus 8:28 - This is a crafty word from the lip of the arch-tyrant Pharaoh. If the poor bondaged Israelites must needs go out of Egypt, then he bargains with them that it shall not be very far away; not too far for them to escape the terror of his arms, and the observation of his spies. After the same fashion, the world loves not the non-conformity of nonconformity, or the dissidence of dissent, it would have us be more charitable and not carry matters with too severe a hand. ...
add to discussionWhat is preaching? Logic on fire! Eloquent reason! Are these contradictions? Of course they are not. Reason concerning this Truth ought to be mightily eloquent, as you see it in the case of the Apostle Paul and others. It is theology on fire. And a theology which does not take fire, I maintain, is a defective theology; or at least the man's understanding of it is defective. Preaching is theology coming through a man who is on fire. A true understanding and experience of the Truth must lead to this. I say again that a man who can speak about these things dispassionately has no rig... [read more]
add to discussionIt's a topic that we've talked about before, relating to churches that change over to the trendy, pragmatic, give the audience what they want, style that dominates today's church scene. When a pastor makes the decision to do this switch, one of the first complaints they begin to hear from their flock is "I'm not getting fed here". When this complaint is made, the usual tactic is to turn it around and make it YOUR fault; you are not reading your bible enough, not getting involved in small groups enough, etc. Rarely do these types of pastors consider that there mig... [read more]
add to discussionhttp://theologica.blogspot.com/2008/01/mclarens-ahistoricism.html McLaren is particularly misleading when he's suggesting, as he does quite emphatically at times, that somehow the church went off the rails early on, and that only now are (some) Christians beginning to understand what Jesus was really saying. While McLaren occasionally adds nuances and qualifiers, this ahistorical account runs through [his Everything Must Change] book. In this respect, his message is oddly reminiscent of the ahistorical narrative of church history that dominated the evangelical/fundamentalist churc... [read more]
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