Archives For Church Issues

As part of an on-going debate on the issue of homosexuality a friend of mine posted a fairly good article on facebook about it. After a short while what seemed to be an upset young lady replied with this….

There are some inaccurate points, & this quote is confusing,”have found something better than being gay,”, uhm…it’s not a choice, how people are born, or is he suggesting that people should deny who they really are? Another point I question is his saying that Jesus talks against it,,, uhm, not familiar w/ that, & my church is currently doing a Sun school class on it, & there isn’t any quotes from Jesus we have talked about. Also, we have a man who attends our church, he went to seminary, & then got his PH D in the Old Testament, & teaches the Old Testament at a Jewish Univ, & he has been one of the major researches on the Dead Sea Scrolls that are touring around the US, AND he agrees that the LGBT community should be welcome in church, & if anyone should be against it, I would think he would, since he is has spent so much of his life studying the OT & researching what it all means…. our pastor had a sermon a couple of Sundays ago, & the scripture he talked about was one that referrenced about raping women, & men wanting to rape a man guest of a villager… history around this time says that this practice was a way to humiliate men, just like the US soldiers have done things to Muslims which they know is a humiliation action in their culture, not as a teaching that homosexuality is wrong…. he pointed out that too many take these out of historical context to use for their purposes.I think some parts of the article are weak as well…..but I would like to take a second and respond to your points. I know this is a charged an touchy subject but the majority is Christian scholars are vastly of the opinion that same-sex behavior is not affirmed by the Bible. That means nothing for America, though, since we do not make our laws according to the Bible, but according to the people. But we still have to define within the church what is a sin and what is not.

Since her questions or points seem to parallel some of the common ideas being passed around right now with today’s Christian youth I put together a thorough reply designed to address her points of concern. Below is that response.

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I’m sure you’ve seen it before. Someone complaining and stinking the place up over something that happened at church or at a church function. Here are 5 things that make church people unreasonably upset. Continue Reading…

Things I’ve Learned In Church” Entry #3 | God’s Dress Code

About 8 years ago I visited what appeared be a a Baptist cult church that was out in the country, just south of Elyria Ohio. I was wearing shorts since it was mid-August and scorching hot outside. This turned out to be the wrong day to show up to church in shorts. I knew I might have made a mistake when my friend, who used to go to church there, showed up in business attire. Continue Reading…

I consider myself  to be a bit of a denominational mutt. I grew up in the Catholic school system, converted to charismatic non0denominationalism when I was 16, and worked for a Presbyterian and a Lutheran church in my 20′s. I’ve been to Southern Baptist churches, Brethren, Church of  Christ, Methodist, American Baptist, Pentecostal, AG, and just about all the rest in my early Christian walk. However, I have noticed that in all the denominations, it is mostly just the theology that changes. The people are always the same……always. Continue Reading…

If you are part of a charismatic church or have visited one you might have noticed that some Corinthian behavior is present. Most popular of those is speaking in tongues and other various manifestations. (However, not the sexual behaviors…..the denominational churches have the deviant sexual behavior of the Corinthians church taken care of already).

What you might not know is that the list of spiritual gifts in 1 Corinthians 12:4-11 is not an exhaustive list. Paul obviously was not aware that the 20th and 21st century would bring with them an appendix of gifts in addition to the old ones; IE, wisdom, knowledge, healing, etc…..Here are a few that can be added to the list. Continue Reading…

I have always been fascinated by people different body movements during worship; primarily because I really an not much of a mover. Here are 5 of my favorites. Continue Reading…

If I asked you why some people visit your church and never return you might have some pretty sound reasons why that is. Some of those reasons might even be very deep theologically. You could say, “they just did’t like the style.” Or “they were too Calvinist.” Or even this gem; “they must need a more seeker friendly church.”

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