tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7424090088815342408.post2715168197819397418..comments2009-07-16T20:16:35.820-05:00Matt @ The Church of No Peoplehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09790786734320659201thechurchofnopeople@gmail.comBlogger15125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7424090088815342408.post-90969666868184494472009-07-16T20:16:35.820-05:002009-07-16T20:16:35.820-05:00Matt - I totally agree with you about people wanting more from God. Things like the DaVinci Code made people crazy to think that there are secrets to be discovered that haven&#39;t been already.<br /><br />Even The Passion of the Christ got to me because I believe that when the Bible states that Jesus suffered and died, that should be enough for us, and we don&#39;t need Mel Gibson to show us how much.<br /><br />Let&#39;s stop treasure hunting and work with what we&#39;ve been given.suehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08469207337699004766noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7424090088815342408.post-89956320937092491552009-07-16T09:43:05.205-05:002009-07-16T09:43:05.205-05:00Who are Jon and Kate?Helenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18070555200892952455noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7424090088815342408.post-6106769451447314532009-07-16T09:32:54.911-05:002009-07-16T09:32:54.911-05:00I&#39;m so tweeting this link...<br /><br />I obsess about the current state of the Church. That would be my own church and the global church. I attend a Baptist church. I work for a Baptist organization, so I can only speak from a Baptist standpoint. And that standpoint it how ineffectively how we &quot;do&quot; church. We erect a brick and morter building, hire a pastor, youth pastor, music minister, children&#39;s pastor and then tell everyone &quot;come on in, the water is fine&quot;. <br /><br />In reading my Bible, I don&#39;t see one instance of Jesus ever putting up a building, hiring a staff and then waiting for people to start showing up (and wearing ties and high heels...not at the same time, that would be weird, but I digress)<br /><br />I think Jesus gave us a model of His Church in the New Testament. And it clearly worked. So why can&#39;t we do what He did? Why can&#39;t we meet in our homes and let the Holy Spirit be the head of our church? Maybe if we did, we&#39;d reach more people for the Kingdom.<br /><br />And there&#39;s my obesession-filled rant...Marnihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13917254303905983572noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7424090088815342408.post-81782687063911283822009-07-16T07:44:56.451-05:002009-07-16T07:44:56.451-05:00Jason, love your comment about having to be productive with every minute. I&#39;m totally that way, but a complete failure at it, so I end up just feeling guilty.<br /><br />Tom, you refer to the &#39;Documentary Hypothesis,&#39; which is certainly a popular theory among non-Christians and very liberal Christian scholars. While I will not on my own be able to convince you that God worked through the minds of men, I can make a response to the &#39;DH&#39; as I&#39;ll refer to it.<br /><br />The DH started with just four supposed author groups that wrote the Torah. You can look these up on Wikipedia if necessary. First, it seems condescending to me for people 4000 years after the fact to assume that they can say this paragraph was written by this guy, and this paragraph by another. But now the DH has grown in detail so much - more author groups, subgroups, and finer division of the text as to become absurdly arrogant and useless. They&#39;re now supposing they can divide a sentence between two different priests and similar such things.<br /><br />Believe me, I believe in the immense amount of science and scholarship the Bible is subjected to. But I do not think the DH meets the threshold of reasonable study.Matt @ The Church of No Peoplehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09790786734320659201noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7424090088815342408.post-88821180144509666502009-07-16T05:28:17.144-05:002009-07-16T05:28:17.144-05:00Matt,<br /><br />I love this: &quot;We&#39;ve got shorter attention spans than rats on speed.&quot;<br /><br />Many times life seems to move so quickly that if I HAVE a minute of downtime, I feel the immediate urge to fill it. (And I feel guilty if I don&#39;t do something &quot;productive&quot;.)I see the same traits developing in my children. <br /><br />To answer your question, at my house, we are trying to cut down on the noise--<br /><br />...Turn off the tv...<br />...Put down the iPhone...<br />...Leave the laptop lid shut...<br /><br />Earlier today I went for a walk with the kids, and my family went bowling... at a real bowling ally (without a Wii controller.) It was still noise I guess, but conversation and laughter was much better than 60 second ads and status updates.Jason @ Transparent Magazinehttp://www.transparentchristianmagazine.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7424090088815342408.post-70619708410092327342009-07-16T05:00:23.085-05:002009-07-16T05:00:23.085-05:00God didn&#39;t write the bible, man wrote the bible, it says so itself in the bible, the bible is not the word of god but the word of god as it is interpreted (or in some places its said to be dictated iirc) by several hundred holy men over several centuries from various early christian and Jewish establishments.<br /><br />Or at the very least, the poor translation of an English monk in the middle ages.<br /><br />Eitherway the bible is as much the word of god as a report on healthcare policy in the Times is the word of ObamaTom J Nowellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05953977372126548812noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7424090088815342408.post-29589462049906519552009-07-16T03:37:10.030-05:002009-07-16T03:37:10.030-05:00Two words: Lone Gunmen.Katherine Lainehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04363002243984349914noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7424090088815342408.post-18681884977362285482009-07-16T01:30:46.428-05:002009-07-16T01:30:46.428-05:00But I want to know what colour underwear you wear matt..... <br /><br /><br />Regardless, fantastically written post :)Jeremy Wonghttp://jemiam.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7424090088815342408.post-51290319591323860452009-07-15T16:11:21.863-05:002009-07-15T16:11:21.863-05:00Matt, I think God does a fair bit of eye rolling at me when I try to nail Him down. There&#39;s always something out there that never dawned on me before and I realize I&#39;ve stopped so far short of Who He really is. <br /><br />This is a great post. Amazing how much time we spend soaking up useless and crazy information . . . and then wonder why we don&#39;t understand God better.Lyla Lindquisthttp://adifferentstory.netnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7424090088815342408.post-26060969435447499802009-07-15T13:43:20.973-05:002009-07-15T13:43:20.973-05:00The Bible is an instruction manual, left open so we can use what it teaches us to guide us in our everyday lives. Money, fame, and anything else we value more than God is put there to distract us from knowing our Creatorstampinsilviahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08761292461947706408noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7424090088815342408.post-77143665114378561792009-07-15T10:24:08.698-05:002009-07-15T10:24:08.698-05:00Reading your section about the government, I think you must be one of them. You&#39;re just disseminating their propaganda for them. You didn&#39;t see anything... :)<br /><br />What do I obsess over? Mostly big decisions in my life. I just don&#39;t want to be wrong...jasonShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03420776820764592085noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7424090088815342408.post-24108453581297268822009-07-15T10:04:08.387-05:002009-07-15T10:04:08.387-05:00Tony, I&#39;d like to know what &#39;improper&#39; crediting would be! :) <br /><br />You may use whatever, as long as you are an ally of justice!Matt @ The Church of No Peoplehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09790786734320659201noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7424090088815342408.post-12659125776234881872009-07-15T09:45:05.369-05:002009-07-15T09:45:05.369-05:00Kudos Matt! Now you&#39;re stepping on toes!<br /><br />For us to understand God is as likely as a goldfish is to understand quantum physics. Yet, we feel like we must understand God because WE are at the top of the food chain...and made in His image.<br /><br />Waste of time peeps! He only wants our love and obedience in exchange for eternal life with Him.<br /><br />Great observation and comparison between information and money...can I use that with proper crediting?Tony Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05525644107594362899noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7424090088815342408.post-76166344349613470022009-07-15T08:43:05.667-05:002009-07-15T08:43:05.667-05:00Matt,<br /><br /> I think you are right. We know (and will only know) what God has revealed to us in the Bible.<br /><br /> But that is enough. It is enough to reveal to us that we are sinners in need of a Savior, and enough to show us who that Savior is.Steve Martinhttp://theoldadam.wordpress.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7424090088815342408.post-7322748224757897842009-07-15T08:35:30.113-05:002009-07-15T08:35:30.113-05:00Actually Matt, there was more to the Bible. The Mormons now have it. Just in case you&#39;re curious.<br /><br />And the Government does things we don&#39;t know about? Surely you jest.Annie Khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07774350914255922163noreply@blogger.com