DISQUS

we did the photo thing this year. first time we've ever done anything...easy...cheap...fun for people to see and i didn't have to write anything!

thank you for these quotes...i love church history and we can learn so much from these saints...
i wonder, what do people make of the "turn your pruning hooks into spears" passage that some say negates the other passage oft quoted here?
and, seeing the great wealth of wisdom expressed in all these quotes, would you say Christians who are pro-military are ignoring church history? if so, whose fault is this?

i heard about this a while back on some conservative talk radio station coming out of Seattle. i think you're right on. it's interesting how so many conservative evangelicals seem to want their cake and eat it too...they want all the wonderful privileges and freedoms of democracy, but only as it applies to their freedom and privilege. then they say, "the country was founded on Christian principles; it's who we are." but they fail to see that in democracy, majority rules. if the majority says they don't want Christian principles, then we don't get them...hope that makes sense!

thank you for these quotes...i love church history and we can learn so much from these saints...
i wonder, what do people make of the "turn your pruning hooks into spears" passage that some say negates the other passage oft quoted here?

and, seeing the great wealth of wisdom expressed in all these quotes, would you say Christians who are pro-military are ignoring church history? if so, whose fault is this?

the larger issue i see is evangelicals understanding of "bodies." how do we treat our bodies? do bodies matter, or is it all about saving 'souls'? this is something we suck at talking about. how many overweight, heat attack waiting to happen, pastors do you know? too many. if our bodies really are temples of the Holy Spirit, that goes beyond sex. if treated our bodies with a greater sense of respect and truly adopted the attitude that our bodies belong to God, maybe the conversation about sex would change as well. maybe!

great post!

the larger issue i see is evangelicals understanding of "bodies." how do we treat our bodies? do bodies matter, or is it all about saving 'souls'? this is something we suck at talking about. how many overweight, heat attack waiting to happen, pastors do you know? too many. if our bodies really are temples of the Holy Spirit, that goes beyond sex. if treated our bodies with a greater sense of respect and truly adopted the attitude that our bodies belong to God, maybe the conversation about sex would change as well. maybe!


great post!

i went to the site and tried to think of something. i got nothin. is the body of Christ supposed to be about "innovation"? is "innovation" the end goal? what about faithfulness? breaking bread, preaching and reading the Word, singing praises, working for the poor, visiting the sick and imprisoned, baptizing, etc. i'm less interested in how churches can be innovative and how they can remain faithful to God's call on our lives to be his ambassadors, his hands and feet, to a hurting world...

i went to the site and tried to think of something. i got nothin. is the body of Christ supposed to be about "innovation"? is "innovation" the end goal? what about faithfulness? breaking bread, preaching and reading the Word, singing praises, working for the poor, visiting the sick and imprisoned, baptizing, etc. i'm less interested in how churches can be innovative and how they can remain faithful to God's call on our lives to be his ambassadors, his hands and feet, to a hurting world...

when reading this text, one needs to ignore the modern verse and chapter demarcations and start at, "submit to one another out of reverene for Christ." mutual submission is Paul's goal. submission that looks like Christ dying on the cross. submission that involves carrying our crosses and the crosses of others. submission that involves humility, sacrifice, and love.

i think the word and concept of "submission" has been grossly misinterpreted in an attempt to keep women in their place and exclude them from leadership. that's an outrage and something we must reject...

when reading this text, one needs to ignore the modern verse and chapter demarcations and start at, "submit to one another out of reverene for Christ." mutual submission is Paul's goal. submission that looks like Christ dying on the cross. submission that involves carrying our crosses and the crosses of others. submission that involves humility, sacrifice, and love.


i think the word and concept of "submission" has been grossly misinterpreted in an attempt to keep women in their place and exclude them from leadership. that's an outrage and something we must reject...

oh man am i glad i checked out the site today! we just had a discussion with our small group about this topic...i claimed Jesus is anti-war and Christians should be non-violent. someone responded: "what about Jesus telling the disciples to buy swords?" not sure where this came from other than his hope that Jesus actually wants us to have swords and weapons to fend off the enemies of Christ...

Yoder asks, "Can a Christian simutaneously wield the sword and turn the other cheek?" i think not! why do Christians want to, desire to, legitimize violence? why? why are we so quick to defend violence and excited to find the one random passage that seems to question all of Jesus' and the other biblical authors non-violence and peaceful commands?

ahhhhhh!

oh man am i glad i checked out the site today! we just had a discussion with our small group about this topic...i claimed Jesus is anti-war and Christians should be non-violent. someone responded: "what about Jesus telling the disciples to buy swords?" not sure where this came from other than his hope that Jesus actually wants us to have swords and weapons to fend off the enemies of Christ...


Yoder asks, "Can a Christian simutaneously wield the sword and turn the other cheek?" i think not! why do Christians want to, desire to, legitimize violence? why? why are we so quick to defend violence and excited to find the one random passage that seems to question all of Jesus' and the other biblical authors non-violence and peaceful commands?



ahhhhhh!

love the satire. love the tone. love the honesty.
i remember thinking this same thought as i sat around with some of my 30 something, white, pastor friends drinking expensive beer talking about how messed up churches are. a friend had an epiphany: "wouldn't the world be better if everyone just thought and acted like us? wouldn't the church be better if it was full of progressive evangelicals who care about social justice?" wait. that would bepretty boring...then we'd have to actually talk about things of substance and focus on what we are ACTUALLY doing...until then, i'm going to continue gathering around expensive beer, and coffee, complaining about church...besides, it's kind of fun...

love the satire. love the tone. love the honesty.
i remember thinking this same thought as i sat around with some of my 30 something, white, pastor friends drinking expensive beer talking about how messed up churches are. a friend had an epiphany: "wouldn't the world be better if everyone just thought and acted like us? wouldn't the church be better if it was full of progressive evangelicals who care about social justice?" wait. that would bepretty boring...then we'd have to actually talk about things of substance and focus on what we are ACTUALLY doing...until then, i'm going to continue gathering around expensive beer, and coffee, complaining about church...besides, it's kind of fun...