Response to a Question

An old friend of mine asked this question in response to my last post. It's an important question so I figured I'd let you all in on this one (sorry the response is so long I'm not smart enough to say things in one sentence)...

Christless Youth Ministry

At my church we recently hosted the Youth Specialties (YS) "One Day" conference. Although the conference itself and the speaker had helpful and important things to say (this year's focus was getting students in the Bible which is always a good thing), I found some elements of YS' message somewhat skewed and even dangerous from a Christian perspective. Before I dive into this, I must admit that I already had some misgivings about the product that YS often puts out. This conference just confirmed those misgivings.

Depression & Hope

My friends at http://mockingbirdnyc.blogspot.com/ just posted some excerpts from a wonderful article by Kathryn Greene-McCreight that focused on depression. Being one who suffers from panic disorder and depression I believe it offers a true to life description of what it feels like. It also offers some hope too. If you know someone who suffers from mental illness or you do yourself this will definitely speak to your heart. Here are those excerpts that they picked out of the article. For a full description of the article check out their blog (It's an awesome blog site by the way)...

Ren, Stimpy, & Romans 7

Sorry there hasn't been much bloggery this month. Things have been crazy at work. With this said, here is a little clip that I came across a couple years ago that I think exemplifies the law/temptation/humanity struggle that Paul paints in Romans 7. So read the following quote of Scripture and enjoy the clip!

wow... really good book so far...

I came across this book in "Modern Reformation" mag and decided to order it right away. It's really the book I wish I had the smarts and stones to write. It's "Christless Christianity" by Michael Horton. In it he shows how the gospel message has been watered down, taken captive, and even eliminated by what he calls "Moralistic, Therapeutic Deism."

Another Cool Quote

Sorry it's been awhile. Things are really crazy at work right now. Because of this all I got is a simple quote a came across in Don Everts' work "God in the Flesh." He writes:

Jesus has always been beautiful. He is, after all, the image of the invisible God. God in the flesh. And seeing him clearly, staring at him and all that his life and death reveal, changes us. That's what the church has always been—simple folks who star at Jesus and are changed because of what they've seen. (Italics mine)

Cool Quote

"I am the man who with the utmost daring discovered what had already been discovered before"

-G.K. Chesterton "Orthodoxy" pg 4

As a whole this book failed to keep my attention, but it did have some slam dunk quotes. This was one of my favorites. I think it perfectly describes what this blog is going for. Just rehashing and reflecting on what has already been discovered.

I also think this quote is an apt description of the history of Christian thought. Pretty much every generation of Christianity finds in its own way what has already been discovered before. From Wycliff to Luther to Wesley to Barth and to whatever other big name you want to throw in there. They discovered in a fresh way that which had already been discovered before.

That's all I got for today…