The Business of Religion Vs. Jesus: A talented young believer posted a video of himself delivering a poem last week about what’s wrong the Church today and the thing has gone crazy-viral. Nearly 15 million views at this point. Quite remarkable.
Are your Kids Likely to Loose Their Faith? There are important, effective, and relatively simple things parents and Christian workers can do to substantially increase the likelihood our young people will retain a thriving faith.
Most Churches Are Welcoming and Affirming: “The proper balance is found in being crazy full of grace and crazy full of truth.”
Is the “I only Need Jesus!’ Declaration Christian? We hear this often in good Christian circles. The credo is adopted by many Christians in an effort to declare and live by a more stripped-down faith. They want their Christianity unleaded, organic, unplugged, non-fat, free-range, locally sourced and sustainable.
Do Faithful Christians Take the Bible Literally?
“So Mr. Stanton, taking a literal view of the Bible as you do, please explain to me . . .”
I usually answer my questioner, to their great surprise: “Well no, I don’t take the Bible literally.” I then pause for effect, both for the sake of the non-faithful as well as for the Christians in the audience.
Should Churches Push Contraception? Young evangelical leaders at the recent Q conference in DC were asked, as part of a panel on reducing abortions, this question: “Do you believe that churches should advocate contraception for their single 20-somethings?”
Misquoting Francis of Assisis: We as evangelicals who claim we are committed to truth are certainly good at spreading falsehood, even if unintentionally. We can do better. One very clever and popular quote we often knock around among ourselves is . . .Preach the Gospel at all times. Use words if necessary.
Do the College Years cause young Adults to lose their Faith: Do the years and experiences of college actually contribute to our young people losing or walking away from their faith? The answer – and the reasons for it – might surprise you.
C.S. Lewis and G.K. Chesterton Quotes: Some quotes are so good, making the rounds so widely, because they are both startling and creatively illustrate a profound point.
What is the “Dark Night of the Soul’? If you’ve been around the church for any amount of time, you’ve probably heard people use this phrase to describe substantive black and difficult periods in their lives.
Does ‘abba’ mean ‘daddy’? When listening to a sermon on the Fatherhood of God, we’ve heard it more times than we can probably count: the illustration that when Jesus refers to his Father as abba…
Buring your Ships for Jesus: It is given to us by pastors, writers, and musicians as an illustration for how sold out for Jesus we should be when we give our lives to him. It’s the story of how we should be like Cortes, the great Spanish explorer who burned his entire fleet upon reaching the destination of his mission.
Apostasy Alarmism: Both the mainstream and Christian press have reported that youth are fleeing Protestant Christian churches, and rapidly, but is it true?
The Cross an Electric Chair: The analogy between the cross and an electric chair is intended to show that, while the cross has become a common and even sentimental symbol of Christianity today, in Christ’s day it was a harsh symbol of execution. Like an electric chair is today.
It is an important truth that Christians of every age remember about the cross. But the electric chair analogy actually dilutes the point.
Where My Boyhood Meets My Present...I saw very different ways of following Jesus. And my buddy is an amazing son to his aging, but still very active parents. That we would be serving and loving Jesus with such zeal when we approach 90! Peter had that kind of zeal, and his bold confession was the rock upon which Christ built His church (Matthew 16:17-18).
God’s Father Heart: “You are my daughter. If you want something special that I can easily do for you, you don’t have to be afraid to ask, even if you think I might find it silly. I love nothing more than giving and sharing special times with you. It’s my pleasure.”