While I’m on vacation and then on a mission trip to Mexico, I’m treating you to some exceptional guest bloggers and reposting some of my best content from the last year.  I’ll be tweeting and commenting off and on, but will be back full time on the blog July 25th.

“Hey Matt, are you Reformed?”

Pretty often, I get asked about whether I’m a Calvinist, or an Arminian or Reformed or something else.  Or someone will want to talk about Luther or Augustine or some other really really dead guy.

And when asked if I’m a Calvinist or whatever, my answer is usually the same.

“I don’t know.”

To most people, that’s about the worst answer I can give, especially as someone who actually went to seminary.  A lot of people expect me to be thoroughly read up on what a bunch of dead guys thought about theology.  But I find myself balking at these conversations more and more, for a lot of reasons.  Maybe you’re a theology buff, or a total noob, or a contientious objector.  Let’s find out…

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While I’m on vacation and then on a mission trip to Mexico, I’m treating you to some exceptional guest bloggers and reposting some of my best content from the last year.  I’ll be tweeting and commenting off and on, but will be back full time on the blog July 25th.

Update: I’ll be back on Friday with a fresh post before I leave for Mexico.

Have you noticed all the Christians apologizing for the church?

I have.  It’s kind of the thing to do.  We assume everyone out there has been hurt, wronged, isolated, burned or ostracized by the church.  It’s almost the battle cry of my generation.  “We’ve been emotionally wounded by the church!” Ever since Donald Miller made it popular, some Christians just can’t resist telling everyone what jerks we’ve all been.  Don’t get me wrong, there’s some things to apologize for.

But when you stack up all the apologies, it makes you think that maybe the church is just an agent for pure evil. It’s almost like we’re inviting people to say, “Christians suck and I demand an apology!” I’m not here to apologize or take back apologies.  If anyone should be pissed off at the church, it’s me.  I’m here to ask why does it happen?  Why does the relationship people are supposed to have with the church break down?

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While I’m on vacation and then on a mission trip to Mexico, I’m treating you to some exceptional guest bloggers and reposting some of my best content from the last year.  I’ll be tweeting and commenting off and on, but will be back full time on the blog July 25th.

I’m going to make an admission.  At home, I’m sometimes a little bit of a potty mouth.

I remember my first day in public middle school.  My delicate virgin ears were burning by second hour, having heard words I never knew existed.

Now, it just doesn’t bother me like it used to.  I don’t swear loudly in public or in front of elders or children and I don’t care for people who do.  But swearing in movies or with friends just doesn’t get me all hot and bothered like it does some people.

What does God really mean by “filthy language” and taking His name in vain?  Probably a whole lot more than we think.

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Today, I’m wrapping up my countdown of the best posts from my blog.  Today’s post continues to garner the my blog the most Google searches.  Something about the copious use of the word “porn.”  Anyway, it’s one of my favorites, but I’m truly sorry for all the people who have mistakenly come to my blog when they wanted something else.  This post originally appeared September of 2009.

First, if you’re looking for porn, I apologize, because there will be a lot of you who will be disappointed. You can’t use this stuff. It’s too hard, too weird, too unnatural for anyone’s deviant taste. This porn is only for Christians. If you’re not into the freaky religious stuff, you’ll be disappointed and probably grossed out, making it impossible to enjoy any other porn for the rest of the day.

But if you’re a Christian, have I got something for you. Christians don’t like porn, (except for the millions who secretly do like porn.) But I’ve got the best porn for Christians. This thought came to me when a reader was soliciting suggestions for blogging topics. They stipulated “no Joel Osteen and no porn.” And naturally, I put the two in the same box…

Four Reasons the Prosperity Gospel is Christian Porn

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Today, I bring you the counterpart to Monday’s post, in my countdown of the best of my blog while I’m out of town.  This post was originally inspired by reader comments.  It seemed unfair that Jesus could be the role model for perfect men, but the ladies were left out.  Plus, with so many girls claiming Jesus as their “boyfriend,” I wondered if Jesus could be a good girlfriend, if only he were a woman.  This post originally appeared May of 2009.

Jesus was a real man. We established that on Monday.  But of course, it doesn’t matter how “manly” (by our standards) Jesus really was (though he was pretty manly.) What’s important is how we represent him with our lives.

I’m glad to agree that we don’t need a hyper-masculine Jesus, because as it turns out, Jesus would’ve made a pretty fine woman too.

Jesus is a great example for guys to follow as men, as boyfriends and husbands. But where does that leave the ladies? Guess what? It looks like Jesus, if he were a chick, would make a pretty rockin’ girlfriend.  That makes sense, since he, well, created women.  Behold, Jesus’ perfect feminine mystique.

Jesus: The Perfect Woman in 5 Steps

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Today begins week two of counting down my favorite blog posts while I’m out of town.  Today’s and Wednesday’s posts are two of my favorites, and the reactions they got ran the full gamut of “high fives” to “you’re going to hell.”  And even the people who liked the posts all interpreted them in different ways.  So here it is, a little touched up for those of you who may have missed them, and for my long time readers who originally commented on them.  This post originally appeared May of 2009.

Something’s wrong with our Jesus.

For a long time, the number of women and children in church has greatly outnumber the dudes. Why is this? I think it’s partly because guys don’t think they can relate to Jesus. We’ve painted him as this meek, wobbly spined little guy who wasn’t a real man. Thus, church is a place for women and children and weak men, the kind of people Jesus related to.

Wrong.

Jesus was a real man. A man’s man. The kind of guy who, if he weren’t the Son of God, would help you fix your roof, would bring steaks over for a barbecue, and throw down if some drunk guy was asking for it. In fact, Jesus was the father of all ‘real men.’ All real men are just copying Jesus in some way. Jesus had many sides to him, but today, we’re only focusing on the one that gets ignored too often. Behold, the raw power of Jesus’ perfect masculinity.

Jesus: A Real Man in Five Steps

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