Arminianism's Updated 5 Points!

As most of you know, I am what people would call a Calvinist, so I found this hilarious. You know in a world where people are trying to remove the labels from themselves and come together under a banner of false love, I am growing more and more certain that labels are actually a good thing.

For years the church has argued for and against certain subjects. People who believed one way were labeled one thing, people who opposed were labeled another. I find it fascinating to see how people are willing to drop those labels so quickly now. I'm a younger person, but I cannot understand why division is looked on as a bad thing. Jesus said he came to divide father and son, mother and daughter and so on. If Jesus said he came to do that, why are we surprised that it has happened. Let's put it another way: We all long for unity in the church, but there are certain beliefs that people bring into the church that are not compatible with the Bible. We must be willing to draw a line for truth.



If we do not fight for truth, we are missing the point. Jesus said he was THE TRUTH. That is an exclusive statement. It means that Buddha is not the truth, it means Hindus do not have the truth. It doesn't matter if Buddha said Jesus was a cool guy or not. If he did not repent and put his faith in Christ, his thoughts on Jesus are irrelevant when it comes to real truth. Why are Christians trying to be so politically correct? Do you not realize that truth is not subjective. By Jesus saying that HE is the truth, he is saying that their is an objective truth and it is not based upon what you feel.



So, I'm still trying to find out who I am in regards to labels, but this much is true...I am a Christian. I believe there is only one way to God and that is through Christ Jesus. So all you Calvinists out there, stand up and be proud. All you Armenians out there, wear your label proudly. Don't be ashamed of who you are or what you believe. Don't believe the lie that unity should be done at all costs. True unity comes only in having one mind and being in one accord.



PS. Sorry it has been so long between posts. With summer almost over, I will hopefully have more time to devote to this blog. Thanks!

Christians Persecuted in Michigan...

I have some family from Michigan. This video is very disturbing. It details a group of Christians trying to hand out copies of the Gospel of John to Muslims outside of an apparently Muslim Festival in Dearborn, Michigan. Our freedoms are being taken away in the name of tolerance. I hope you are paying attention.

iPhone Worship

I really like this. I'm still trying to figure out what one of those apps was. I want to get it for myself!

Here we go again!

This is yet another example of what is wrong with Christian television. I don't understand why Christians feel the need to copy all the other junk on TV. Hope we don't see a Christian version of Survivor soon or better yet...Lost. Oh wait. Nevermind.



This was found at Jesus Needs New PR.

An outsiders view of Late Night Christianity...

The following video made me laugh out loud a couple of times...and then I felt sad because it is just another example of how outsiders view Jesus. Notice I said it is an indictment against Jesus, not just the church. We are his representatives and when people who proclaim Christ participate in foolishness, we are not bringing glory to his name. This is from a Australia variety television broadcast.

How to suffer well...

This is a 50 minute video. It is very encouraging watching Matt Chandler walk through this thing and watching him glorify God with his life. Enjoy.

T4G 2010 -- Session 8 -- Matt Chandler from Together for the Gospel (T4G) on Vimeo.

Why are we here?

If you grew up in a traditional church, maybe it was Presbyterian or Lutheran, you probably heard this question phrased a different way: What is the chief end of man? This is a question I have been wrestling with for some time. I was raised in a Baptist church, but have attended several charismatic/non-denominational churches over the past several years and I can honestly say that every church seems to answer this question differently, whether directly or indirectly.

Most churches don't come out and say this is why we are here, but you can tell by what they emphasize. Some churches put a stress of importance on their music. Others on the preaching. Others still on their activities. I think sometimes it is hard to separate traditions in the church with what is actually in the Scripture.

Here's what I mean. I recently read an article by the Internet Monk about the "wretched urgency". You can find it here. He basically says that the urgency to make every single christian into a mini-evangelist is just plain wrong. He argues that the apostles never taught the churches to evangelize by going door-to-door, but to live quiet christian lives and to continue to do their daily chores.

I was brought up to believe that the perfect Christian was the one who prayed every day, had quiet time every morning and who adamantly shared their faith to everyone they met (so their blood wouldn't be on your hands). Now, I do not believe these are bad things, I just don't believe them to be marks of a true Christian. I believe a true Christian is hard to peg down sometimes. It's hard because so much tradition is attached to that word and it is hard to see the truth through all the static.

Here's the skinny: If you pray a whole lot, that doesn't mean you are a good Christian, it only means you pray a whole lot. Buddhists pray a whole lot. If you have quiet time every morning, that doesn't mean you are a good Christian. It only means you get up early and sit quietly.

When asked the question, what is the chief end of man? How do you answer? Is it something like this...We are here to worship God. Or maybe, we are here to convert the heathen. Or do you not really know why you are here? In Charles Spurgeon's catechism (and many others) he says that the chief end of man is the glorify God and enjoy him forever. Do you think you are glorifying God? If so, how do you glorify God?

John Piper says it this way: God is most glorified in us, when we are most satisfied in him. Let me unpack that for a second. God gets glory in us when we find satisfaction in him...not other things. We often find satisfaction in ipads, cars, houses, spouses, money, etc., but not too often do we look to God for satisfaction. Here's the crux: If you lose it all today, will you be satisfied with God tomorrow? That's the hard part.

I know I have a hard time thinking that way. I've lost it all before. I've been down to $12 dollars in my bank account and no clue how to pay my bills or when the next check was coming in. I don't know that I was entirely satisfied with God at that moment. I think I was just more worried than anything else. Times have changed for me and now I seem to have an abundance, but my attitude doesn't always say that I'm satisfied with God. Sometimes I just want more. Sometimes I have to repent. Sometimes I worry about what would happen if God took everything away. Sometimes I know I'd be fine.

I think another key element in this is being satisfied in suffering. That's not something we preach often. We understand being satisfied with your stuff, but your health is a different matter. I think Matt Chandler (pastor of Village Church in Flower Mound, Texas) is a perfect example of this. Despite the fact that he has brain cancer, he is still glorifying God. Matt gives me hope. Not hope that he will be ok, but hope that God has the strength to bring me through whatever lies ahead. Even if I never go threw anything that bad, I can see through Matt that saying and believing are two different things and God gets the most glory not when we say that we glorify him or sing a song about glorifying him, but when we actually glorify him through our actions.

(The image above is a picture of Matt Chandler being prayed for at the 2010 T4G conference. Photo by Daniel Perez Jr. via thegospelcoalition.org)