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Archives For June 2011

Who’s Cursing America?

June 29, 2011 — 57 Comments

Time for Round Two of Patriot Week, as I’ve dubbed it here on the blog.

You remember when the earthquake hit Haiti, Pat Robertson said that the natural disaster was God’s curse on those people.

Now, claiming that God is punishing people is nothing new or original.  Just recently, John MacArthur declared that America is under God’s curse and that, “if God doesn’t destroy America soon, He’s going to have to apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah.”

Yikes.

You probably remember Rev. Jeremiah Wright’s sermon, “God damn America!” that was blasted over every airwave for weeks a few years ago.  And Fred Phelps, of course, says that God pretty much hates everyone before breakfast every day.

Of course, Rev. Wright, Robertson, and Phelps are certifiably kooky.  And after being force fed several of his books in seminary I’m no fan of MacArthur (and his love of anointing himself a “Biblicist”).  But I’m going to brace myself, take the unpopular view and run with it.

What if they’re right?  Maybe America really is under God’s curse…

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In America
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One Nation Under God?

June 27, 2011 — 67 Comments

What’s up, everyone.

We’re just a week away from the Fourth of July.  I don’t know how patriotic you feel, wherever you live.  Even though I kind of hate that song, “Proud to Be An American,” I’ll admit, I enjoy celebrating my country.  I get chills when I hear the national anthem (not being sung by Christina Aguilera.)  I love fireworks and John Philips Sousa, and cakes that are decorated like American flags, as silly as that is.

So all this week, carrying over into next Monday, I’ll be blogging about patriotism as it relates to faith.  Even if you live in Canada or Australia or somewhere else that Americans can’t find on a map, I want you to chime in with your thoughts.

So let’s jump right in.  Last week, NBC censored the “under God” phrase in the Pledge of Allegiance during the US Open golf tournament.  After getting the typical flack from Christians, NBC’s only response was a rather curt, “Sorry if anyone was offended,” on Facebook.

But you know, even though I’d probably disagree with why NBC censored the pledge, I don’t entirely agree that God should be in the pledge at all.

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In America
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Don’t Ask Me About My Church

June 24, 2011 — 39 Comments

I think I’ve got a new conversation stopper…

Whenever I’ve got a new Christian friend, I’ll just ask them to tell me about their church.

I’ve been in a lot of social situations where someone has asked this very simple question, and the result is usually the same.

For some reason, a lot of people seem to break out into a cold sweat when you ask them about their church.  Then they start rambling like Michael Cera.  They can’t find a place to stop!  They nervously rattle off all kinds of facts that polite chit-chat doesn’t call for.  An equivalent social situation would be asking someone, “How are you today,” and they start with, “Fine,” but they can’t stop nervously elaborating on the word “fine” until they’ve told you about their last bowel movement.

I’m the same way.  Someone asks me about my church, and I suppress the urge to fidget while I nervously blurt out twenty random facts when just one would do.

But we usually aren’t really boasting about our churches, are we?  There’s something much deeper going on.

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In church
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Too Much Potential, Not Enough Purpose

June 22, 2011 — 48 Comments

I finally figured out what’s wrong with my generation.

Well, maybe not everything that’s wrong with us.  But a huge chunk of it hit me on the head last weekend while I was reviewing a not-yet-released book.

I finally looked around and saw what so many people, including myself, sense deep in their guts is wrong with the world.  Why are we so bored so much of the time?  Why are we agitated and depressed?  Why are we so often not happy with our lives, our work, ourselves?

Our problem is we think we’ve got too much of one thing, and not enough of another, and they’re both really important.

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In faith, work
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Read This, Not That

June 20, 2011 — 52 Comments

Congratulations to Jon Fulk and Jason Miller, who won free copies of “Revolutionaries!”  For the rest of you, the book is a steal at $2.99 on Kindle.

It’s that time of year.  Time for vacations and road trips, and that means lots of hours in the car that need to be filled.  Kids today don’t really know what it means to entertain themselves on car trips, since most family cars now come equipped with DVD players.  They only have to occupy themselves during the time it takes to walk from one glowing rectangle to another.

In ancient times, before 2005, cars were not equipped with DVD players, so people had to find more primitive forms of entertainment in the car.  Looking at license plates, or talking to family members were common car trip activities.  For me, entertainment meant making sure the dog stayed on my brother’s side of the backseat, and bringing a stack of books along.  Books were a lot like DVD players in that they were rectangles.  Just non-glowing, silent, motionless, paper rectangles.

Today, I’m sharing with you what I’m reading this summer, and asking you a very simple question: what should I bring to read in the car, so my wife doesn’t go nuts with me trying to talk to her incessantly?

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In Miscellaneous
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Author Feature: Matt Brown

June 17, 2011

What’s up, everyone?

I’ve got a special feature for you today.  A while back, a handsome friend gave me two copies of a book I had never heard of,Revolutionaries, by a guy I had never heard of, Matt Brown.  It turns out, the book blew me away.  It’s a collection of stories of the most shock and awe inspiring Christians in history.  And it turns out that Matt lives up to his name by being incredibly awesome.  He’s a big time evangelist traveling across the country, and you’ll want to see what we talked about.

I’m giving away these two copies of the book too…reluctantly.  I wish I got to keep one.

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In guests and interviews
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