by

The Strange Appeal of Religion

11 comments

Categories: changing mindsets, Meanderings (look it up), religion

If you were to know anything about my background, the fact that someone like me is writing a blog called “Losing My Religion” might be enough to convince you that there is a God.

I am the most unlikely candidate for this sort of thing because I have spent most of my life being religious, and liking it.

I like rules; I like to keep rules; I like to help other people keep rules.

I like to know what is expected of me, and I like to meet and exceed those expectations.

This is a preview of The Strange Appeal of Religion. Read the full post (867 words, 2 images, estimated 3:28 mins reading time)

by

Some Thoughts on the Need for Community

6 comments

Categories: church, community, Meanderings (look it up)

A few days ago Erin wrote an honest post called “A Place For Us“, which touched off a firestorm of comments as people shared their ideas, hopes, fears, dreams, and longings to find authentic Christian community with others without the trappings of organized religion. Just reading the comments can be almost overwhelming (but try it anyway). If nothing else, they point to a deep shared need among the growing number of people who are disenfranchised with religious systems.

We might be disillusioned with institutional church. We might be jaded and wounded by the abuses we’ve suffered. We might be nauseated by the idea of regular structured meetings of any kind–under a steeple, in a home, or in a park. We might be so broken that we just don’t trust anybody outside the virtual world of blogging.

This is a preview of Some Thoughts on the Need for Community. Read the full post (1250 words, 2 images, estimated 5:00 mins reading time)

by

The Wild One Is an Award-Winning Photographer

No comments yet

Categories: fun, Things that Are Amazingly Awesome, Wild One

My wife, The Wild One, became a photography student a mere two months ago, in the hope of turning a hobby into a profession.

She took this picture and posted it on Flickr.

Today, just two months after starting her course, she is an award-winning photographer.

Okay, so someone on Flickr gave her an “award” for the photo. It’s kind of like the award I got for being a Subversive Blogger. But…we take what we can get.

Don’t you think it’s an amazingly awesome photograph??

Go to her pages on Flickr and Eyefetch to see more of her photos. Go, do it now.

Bookmark and Share

Permanent link to this post (105 words, 2 images, estimated 25 secs reading time)

by

Making the Unclean Clean, Not the Other Way Around

4 comments

Categories: changing mindsets, food for thought

Ben from live.awake left a comment on my last post that really sparked my thinking. The entire comment is well worth reading, but here’s just a snippet:

“The idea that the culture is the enemy and the Church is a sanctuary in which to hide from it is in total opposition to Jesus’ teaching….we feel this constant need to perform well, look right, act right, and never get close enough to a sinner to get stained by them.”

This stuck with me because it touches on a change that is taking place in my thinking, and in my approach to life and ministry in general.

This is a preview of Making the Unclean Clean, Not the Other Way Around. Read the full post (853 words, 1 image, estimated 3:25 mins reading time)

by

Why Are Christians Mean?

8 comments

Categories: Meanderings (look it up), Rantings

I made a statement in a recent post that some of the nicest people I’ve known have been non-Christians. I followed that by sharing how my early childhood illusions of Christians being always nice and friendly were shattered when I saw increasing numbers of them being grumpy, snappy, and sometimes just plain mean.

I know it isn’t true of all Christians (and I bake myself in this pie, too), but this phenomenon is prevalent in our Western culture. While I no longer expect Christ-followers to be perfect, I do think something must be wrong when there are so many people in this culture who can identify Christians in a crowd by the scowls on their faces.

This is a preview of Why Are Christians Mean?. Read the full post (893 words, 2 images, estimated 3:34 mins reading time)

by

Disscussions of Lakeland Revival in the Blogosphere, and an Update On My Thoughts on the Whole Thing

1 comment

Categories: food for thought, Meanderings (look it up)

So apparently the talk about the Lakeland revival meetings has not quieted down in the blogosphere. It is a hot topic, to be sure. I know a couple of pastors who have already traveled down to see what is happening.

This is a preview of Disscussions of Lakeland Revival in the Blogosphere, and an Update On My Thoughts on the Whole Thing. Read the full post (309 words, 1 image, estimated 1:14 mins reading time)

by

Shiny Happy People

5 comments

Categories: food for thought, Meanderings (look it up), Rantings

Some of the nicest people I’ve known have been non-Christians. Just sayin’.

 

Oh, I’ve known some pretty mean, crappy non-Christians, too–make no mistake. But I’ve also known unbelievers who were genuinely nice, friendly, welcoming people–people who often acted more like Jesus than a lot of Christians I know.

 

This is a preview of Shiny Happy People. Read the full post (759 words, 2 images, estimated 3:02 mins reading time)

by

Re-Learning My Spirituality

5 comments

Categories: changing mindsets, prayer

A few years ago now, there came a crucial point in my walk of faith where my religion failed me.

I’ve blogged about it before, so I’ll try not to repeat myself too much. But I had an extended time of crisis and trial, and all my prayers, praising, declaration and faith formulas apparently did nothing to turn things around. When my strength was exhausted, I gave up–in the sense that I leaned myself completely on the Lord, declaring that we would survive (or not) by His hand alone. And it wasn’t until I let go that things began to turn around; and God gave us rest.

This is a preview of Re-Learning My Spirituality. Read the full post (773 words, 2 images, estimated 3:06 mins reading time)

by

More Thoughts on Mercy

3 comments

Categories: food for thought

I’ve written a couple of posts making reference to the healing revival going on in Lakeland, Florida. You can read them here and here to get some background for this post. But for the time being, I want to focus some attention on a statement I made in the last post I wrote about it:

“An act of mercy does not constitute an act of validation.”

This is a preview of More Thoughts on Mercy. Read the full post (663 words, 1 image, estimated 2:39 mins reading time)
1 2 … 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 … 81 82