Been thinking about the “born again” moniker…
Posted by admin in spirituality on Jul 11th, 2007 | 2 commentsAnd it’s a good one. I’ve been thinking about it a lot recently due to a study on salvation we’ve been doing in one of our small groups.
More thoughts before the weekend…I’m a bit tired right now.
If you’re ever in Southern California…
Posted by admin in culture, spirituality on Jun 23rd, 2007 | 0 comments
Try out a great sushi bar in Del Mar named Matsu Gawa. Except for my hand cramping because I don’t know how to use chopsticks that well, the food was super fresh and the portions were large.
We took some clients out for dinner at Chart House, just south of Del Mar. The view was amazing (Sorry, no pics.) We made reservations through the Hilton and they made arrangements for the best table in the place and our menus had my bosses’ name at the top…”Jeff and Susan Sanders party”. Pretty cool.
Last night we ended up going to Carlsbad to eat at a Mexican restaurant. We weren’t about to fight the traffic headed to San Diego for the Padres game. Hey, we live in Atlanta and we’re not stupid, OK?
Anyway, it was a great trip that paid off big time for our marketing department. Hope to see most of you at church tomorrow.
Spiritual beings living a human existence
Posted by admin in spirituality on Jun 12th, 2007 | 0 commentsOur pastor, Jeff Benefield, has recently and frequently used the phrase “We are spiritual beings living out a human existence.” Or at least something really close to that. Fact is, it’s a very true statement, especially proven in recent conversations that I’ve been involved with. For instance…
A couple of days ago when working at BestBuy, one of my favorite managers was passing the time with me (we were brutally slow), and was telling me that he had found a great movie about vampires. I asked him why, and he said it was because that the movie a lot of the cast of Aliens in it and that immediately made him a fan. He said it was just cool. So how is that spiritual? People innately gravitate to spiritual things. It’s not the first time someone said they loved a vampire movie. The whole vampire thing is, to be sure, a spiritual topic. Demons, crosses, Holy Water, life after death, etc. It’s fascinating stuff to a lot of people. We are spiritual beings living a human existence, even if the most popular spiritual topic isn’t “Christian.”
Another example can be found in my oldest daughter. She’s enamored with the thought of the spiritual, sometimes with spiritual stuff that isn’t founded in a Biblical worldview. Just last night, I went downstairs to grab a book and found her watching “The Exorcist III.” While she had only watched just a few minutes of it, I was a bit ticked off and made her change the channel. I chose to use the event as a chance to disciple her….We ended up having a great discussion about the reality of demonic activity and the misrepresentation of the majority of Hollywood’s portrayal of spiritual things. My ultimate response was that she couldn’t watch crap like that without knowing exactly what the Bible says about it.
Since Christians are spiritual beings living a human existence, we should take advantage of the insight that Scripture gives us into the spiritual. It’s just plain lazy to let Hollywood or the journalistic establishment drive our worldview of spiritual things. So get on Biblegateway.com and search demons, angels, heaven, hell, and anything else that movies like The Grudge, The Ring, Underworld: Evolution, or Constantine portray as truth. While there may be entertainment value for some in those kind of movies, it’s important to remember the following:
As a spiritual being living out a human existence, you’ve got to know and understand the Truth.
Why is there pain, evil and suffering? (for Sunday, June 10)
Posted by admin in spirituality on Jun 4th, 2007 | 0 commentsAdd to that, 1) Why do bad things happen to good people? 2) is God punishing me for things I’ve done? 3) Why Sanjaya? (just kidding).
Everyone has asked at least one of the above questions to themselves. The human response runs the gamut of, “I don’t know” to “God is punishing me” to “I hate God for letting that happen.” None of the responses is an clear Biblical response. The goal of this Sunday’s discussion is to help you get your head around the basics of the question and build an understanding of evil and suffering that results in a Biblical worldview.
The college courses that touch on evil and suffering (philosophy, humanities, sociology, psychology, ethics, etc.), will rarely be taught from a Biblical worldview. They will, more than likely, be taught from a completely humanistic view of the world. So, your choice is to 1) Go to class relying on an uneducated “pop” Christian understanding of the deeper questions of life, or 2) Have an educated and Biblical worldview and be able to discuss it with more confidence. With that being said, let’s choose the latter.
Here’s some stuff to research: (You can post questions!)
Google the following important dead guys and their basic thoughts on pain and suffering:
- Albert Camus
- Dietrich Bonhoeffer
How do the following nonevangelical faith systems view evil and suffering?
- Hinduism
- Christian Scientists
- Buddhism
- Zoroastrianism
- Manicheism
How did Plato view evil and suffering?
Look up and find what you can on the following Biblical principles (views) of evil and suffering:
- The Punitive principle
- The Disciplinary principle
- The Revelational principle
- The Redemptive principle
- The Eschatological principle
Here are some Biblical passages to meditate on:
- Genesis chapters 1 and 3.
- Romans 5 (verse 15-18 then 1-5)
- Romans 8 (verses)
Later…
Ken
if you would have told me I would be doing these things a year ago…
Posted by admin in spirituality on Apr 24th, 2006 | 2 comments- I would have never thought I would be a partner in my own business. (Oh yeah, that TEC thing didn’t work out. Their loss.)
- (1) That I would be TiVo’ing the Stanley Cup playoffs. (2) That I would actually watch them and enjoy them immensely.
- That I would not be in full time Christian ministry.
- That I would be heavily involved in the student ministry of the church I attend…and totally digging it.
- That I would be garnering a reputation as an encourager….who’da thunk?
- That I would be more patient than ever before. Frankly, just a little patience was a big step for me.
- That I would be this focused and happy after all the stuff that’s happened in the last eight months.
God alone gets the credit for everything. The biblical challenge of “count it all joy” actually seems like it’s possible to attain. At least now more than ever.
Peace.
