Searching for Meaning and Purpose...

So after hitting a bit on some of the critiques of the church (hypocritical and anti-gay in case you missed it, look back at Part 1 ), we're back with three more: too political, irrelevant, and judgmental. We'll start with the easy one, "too political." This comes from many who are fighting the "culture war" and who have been part of either the moral majority or any other Christian political cause. As people who believe in Christ, we do, honestly and with some humility stated here, know the best possible way. I mean that (the honestly and with some humility part too!). The way of Christ is the best of all possible ways and is the fulfillment of creation. I mean, every single thing revolves around the person of Christ (like the sun in our solar system), was made in and for the person of Christ, and receives its fulfillment in the person of Christ. Therefore, we receive our fulfillment (as does the fullness of Scripture) only in the person of Christ: r...

So often when the word purity is thrown out in a church setting, it is only referring to one thing: sex. I mean, the 90's were the era of True Love Waits (and many did!) and that had to be what purity was about, right? Unfortunately, many would say yes. Why do I say unfortunately you might ask? Because purity means SO much more than simply "not having sex." Instead, we've developed a church culture where it's generally okay to get under a girls shirt, have oral sex, mutual masturbation or anything else as long as we stop short of "intercourse." In fact, so many students have this perspective, which is leeched from the True Love Waits campaigns of the past/present mixed with an equal amount of current cultural thought. What it amounts to in sum, is a ton of students (and adults!) who say they believe in God, but live as if He didn't exist. Craig Groeschel (pastor of Life Church in Edmond, OK) called the phenomena "Christian Atheism" a...

Resurrection: Rob Bell from The Work of Rob Bell on Vimeo . After watching this video of Rob Bell speaking about the resurrection, I was reading some of the comments, and there were the ones I was expecting: some discussing style (those who liked the effects and those who didn't, those who liked the music and those who didn't, etc.), some thanking him for posting such a great video, and then there were the comments talking about "heresy." Watch the video and let me know where you see heresy pop up. Frankly, it kinda ticks me off that people find the need to nit-pick the most important part of the story. Yes, Jesus suffered. Yes, Jesus died on a cross. But, if that was all there was, there would be no story worth reading! Instead, we get to celebrate that our God isn't dead. He rose again. Jesus is alive! That's incredible and amazing. How can that be heretical? The entirety of Christian faith is built solely on the resurrection, without that we...