3 Things Christians Can Learn From Other Religions (March Synchroblog)

             One of the reasons that I love to participate in the monthly synchroblogs, is that they force me out of my comfort zone to blog about topics that I would not normally blog about otherwise. This months topic is no exception, in fact, this is one of those topics that good Christian bloggers avoid altogether. I mean, what have you learned from other religions? Really, everyone knows that the correct answer is nothing, because we cannot learn anything from false religions. Of course I do not really believe that, but talking about learning from other religions is risky, people can begin to accuse us of buying into false religions or worse. But if all truth is God's truth, than we have a responsibility to look for all truth as it reveals God. I am sure given time, I could come up with a pretty extensive list of things that other religions can teach us, but I have come up with three that I think are pretty important.

God is There! (January Synchroblog - Charity)

It has always been my custom to dislike new years. The last several years for me have been full of hardship, loss, difficult times and unwanted experiences. The thought of a new year is always scary! What if it is harder than the last one?? What if there is harder stuff, bigger messes? I always tell myself new years are scary because they are unknown, at least the mess of the old year was a familiar one. In case it isn't obvious, my natural bent is toward the negative. I am definately a glass half empty (and probably rotten) kind of person. With all of that in mind, I was surprised to get to the end of 2014 without the usual dread of the new year. I actually came into this year feeling a sense of hope, a sense of God being up to something greater in this new year. What has changed?

2014 - A Year of Changes (January Synchroblog - FedEx)

    

        If there is one thing that I would say has characterized my last year, it has been change. Some of those changes were easy, some of them not so much; some of those changes were clearly for the better, and in some cases, are still looking for the good. I hear people say all the time that they hate change, and I really do appreciate that sentiment, change is difficult, it causes us to leave that which is known and forces us into that which is uncertain. Despite, all this, I don't hate change, I admit I am not always enthusiastic about changes in my life, but I have learned a lot through these changes.

       2014 started out with a major change for my family. In January, we lost our house to foreclosure and were forced to move out of what had been our home for nearly seven years. This was not just one change, it was a whole series of changes, we had been used to owning our house and now we rented from another owner. We had to ask permission to work on our house or to make changes. We moved several miles farther away from our home church into an unfamiliar neighborhood. Our neighbors changed, as did the routes that we had to drive to go about our regular business. Even now a year later, we are still dealing with settling into our new house and there are some items that have not been unpacked and found new homes.

Christian Books Free - Giving away copies of Simple Church.

Do you want a copy of the book Simple Church, but not sure you want to spend money on yet another book about church. OK, Redeeming Press, the publisher, is sponsoring this month's book giveaway at ChristianBooksFree.com . Just follow the link, and log in with your Facebook or e-mail address, and you are entered to win a paper copy(not electronic). And if you don't win you can still purchase your copy on Amazon.com or through redeeming Press' e-store here http://redeemingpress.com/authors/eric-carpenter/.

All Lives Matter - Reflections on a tragedy in Missouri

    

      As a white male, I have been reluctant to weigh in on this whole Ferguson situation. Its not that I don't have an opinion or two, its just that right now, most in my circles are only wanting to hear one side of this issue. It seems that if you are a white male, you just don't understand what is going on in Ferguson, Missouri. In fact, you just can't understand the struggle of other less privileged people at all, so just be quiet. OK, well only if your opinion goes against the oppressed minority, if you want to support the liberal narrative, then by all means, blog and Facebook, and Twitter away.

Simple Church: Unity Within Diversity - COMING SOON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

     What do you get when you ask 24 different authors to contribute to a book about church? Well, a book by 24 authors, that's what. But hopefully this is a little more than just a bunch of different people talking about church. The goal of this book is to provide a diversity of voices, all from various places on their own faith journeys, and meld them into one positive, affirming book about how we do this community called church.
      I have to admit, when I was asked to contribute a chapter to this work, I felt a little overwhelmed. I have known some of the other authors and have read many of their books, articles and blog posts for years. I never considered myself to be on the same level as a writer or spiritual leader. I am however, extraordinarily grateful to have been invited and to have been able to contribute to this work. I cannot say how important this book will become to the transformational (or emergent, or simple) church, but I can say that helping to write it and reading the other contributors has been incredibly uplifting to me. Here is a brief excerpt from the chapter that I contributed:

What do we know about Jesus’ outward appearance and what people saw when they looked at Him?
       We can draw a clue from one of my favorite stories in the Bible, found in John 8. The religious leaders bring a woman to Jesus who was caught in the very act of adultery. They demand that He give the righteous condemnation she deserves. Instead, Jesus says, “Go ahead, you who have never sinned throw stones at her.” This crowd, which was ready to carry out the death sentence on the woman, departs until only Jesus and the woman are left. Then Jesus asks the woman, “Where are those who accuse you and would condemn you?” The woman looks at Jesus and says there is no one.
     The Pharisees expected Jesus to condemn this woman. He would have been completely just to do so; however, when she looks at Jesus, she already knows that there is no one left to condemn her. Jesus confirms this and says that He does not condemn her either, but she already knew it, just from looking at Him. Oh that people could come into our churches, regardless of their lifestyle or sin condition, and we could ask them that same question, “Where are those who would condemn you?” Then we would know that people see in us the same love and acceptance that Jesus displayed.

If you love the Church of Christ, but are not necessarily in love with how we "do Church" in the traditional institutional churches, then you need to read this book. 24 different viewpoints, not on what the church is doing wrong, but on what it can be doing right.

You can pre-order you copy here:
Simple Church: Unity Within Diversity

Shooting Stars: Of Scandal, Abuse, Restoration, and Systematic Failures(November Synchroblog)

 

       Like many in the evangelical, post-evangelical community, i watched the drama of Mars Hill and Mark Driscoll with at least some interest. You see, Mark Driscoll was a bit of an enigma, and his rise to popularity and prestige could not escape the notice of those of us who had spent our lives involves in evangelicalism. The fact that Driscoll could be part of the emerging church movement in one moment and then be part of founding the ultra conservative evangelical Gospel Coalition also spoke to his ability to cater to whatever group he felt would be most beneficial to his aspirations.