“So, you speak in tongues?” What one Comedian doesn’t get about Pentecostalism
by Jacqueline Grey Wednesday, May 16th, 2012
“So, you speak in tongues?” This was the first question John Safran, one of Australia’s leading comedian-provocateurs, asked a young Christian peace-activist and preacher. Why?
The conception of Pentecostalism embedded in the imagination of Australian media is that of a weird, fringe movement within Christianity. Moreover, Pentecostals have long been stigmatized as a “tongues-speaking” group (whatever that means) that occasionally produces spectacularly immoral tele-evangelists.
I’m Done Dating Jesus Online
by Kurt Willems Tuesday, May 15th, 2012
- © 2010 Sammis Reachers , Flickr | creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/
Maybe you’ve seen the commercials for the various online dating sites. The latest claim is that 1 in 5 relationships begin on an online hook-up hub. Those stats seem exaggerated at best, but that doesn’t negate the fact that I can think of at least 2 different friends who are now married because of a dating relationship that began online.
If a relationship begins on the web, for it to authentically lead to a “real” romance, incarnated flames must eventually test disembodied sparks of interest. You can’t get married on the internet.
Over the past few years, I’ve become a social media guy. I’m on Facebook, Twitter, and websites almost every day. At times, I spend hours interacting with others and producing web-content about Jesus. This sort of engagement stimulates my mind and pushes me to explore the intricacies of Christianity within Western culture. The internet is a gift to my faith.
Verse a day makes for a good year
by Kay Campbell Monday, May 14th, 2012
- Source: The Huntsville Times/Kay Campbell
At about 1 p.m. on Sunday, April 20, 2012, sitting alone in the quiet and clean Taco Bell in the shadow of the new Sparkman Drive overpass, I had the immense satisfaction of ticking off the last of 364 boxes on Michael Coley’s terrific “52 Week Bible Reading Plan.”
I’m equal parts embarrassed and proud to announce that after years of Sunday School going, lesson studying, lesson teaching, after eight years of Bible and theology classes in the religious high school and colleges I attended, after numerous failed attempts, I have finally finished the basic word-by-word reading-through of the book I claim to base my faith on.
Drive-Thru Prayers to Drive-In Church: Is Religion Lost?
by Christian Piatt Sunday, May 13th, 2012
Author and theologian Diana Butler Bass shared a video recently about where she saw for the future of the church. She shared an interesting story about a priest who went out onto a busy street corner on Ask Wednesday in full vestments to offer ashes and a quick prayer to passersby.
Several people stopped with surprise, having forgotten that it was Ash Wednesday. They were grateful for the “interrupt” the priest provided by appearing out of his normal context in worship. Had he not done so, they might have gone through the entire day never realizing it was a holy day on the Christian calendar.
I talk to folks a lot about what role the church should have in contemporary life in serving people. There’s the trend of “third space” ministry, getting out of the four walls of the church building and meeting people in different, typically “secular” contexts.
Let Them Eat Cake
by Jimmy Spencer Jr. Saturday, May 12th, 2012
That’s what she said.
It wasn’t out of malice or even hard-heartedness that Marie Antoinette supposedly uttered these now infamous words, but out of a barnacled ignorance that grows and eventually blinds all people who live in positions of advantage for extended periods of time…
Entitlement.
Marie suffered from the same blindness that American Christians suffer so greatly from today:
We actually think we’re the oppressed majority…
We actually think we’re under attack…
We actually think people are waging war on our values…
Beyond the Culture Wars: A Faith of Our Own
by RLC Editor Friday, May 11th, 2012
The first President I remember is Bill Clinton. To be more specific: Bill Clinton’s second term. I’ve heard spectacles of the House Republican takeover in 1994 and stories of the Clinton v. Gingrich era but my first concrete memories of a President exist from 1996-2000.
Driving to the airport a few months back Tony Campolo told me the story of Clinton’s near healthcare triumph. In 1997 & 1998, Clinton and Gingrich met frequently in an effort to reform the healthcare system. The goal was simple: a bi-partisan crafted piece of legislation agreeable by both parties. The legislation was in its final stages of review when a story bigger than bi-partisan healthcare reform broke, the Monica Lewinsky scandal. The two sides never met again.
