When Did Christians Get So Mean? Few things embolden us to say unkind things more than a computer keyboard. Many men and women type mean, slanderous emails and comments. They come out so fast their fingers can barely keep up with the toxic words that appear before them on the screen. We’ve all seen these nasty messages. They seem to be everywhere we look online and often show up on our Facebook wall or email inboxes. A couple of weeks ago I spoke to several pastors and asked them, “How many of you have received a nasty email in the last six months?”
Let me be clear; I believe the majority of people are civil and respectful in their online dialogue. Which raises a question: Why do so many Christians persist in being mean? The Cost of Grace The people of God have been instructed for thousands of years to be kind with their words. I don’t suppose I can answer that question for all who post mean-spirited comments. We should begin by recognizing this is nothing new. Expanding Our Worlds Grace is expensive. Not us. It's OK to Call Yourself a Christian. It seems to be a growing trend—people who claim to love Jesus but don’t want to call themselves Christians. The latest to stake a claim for not staking a claim is Marcus Mumford, the front man of the wildly popular Mumford & Sons, whose Christian-themed lyrics have been a source of fascination to believers and nonbelievers alike. In Rolling Stone’s upcoming cover story, Mumford demurred when asked if he considered himself a Christian, as a teaser on the magazine’s website revealed.
"I don't really like that word. It comes with so much baggage,” he said, in terms that many fans will relate to. “So, no, I wouldn't call myself a Christian.” In our “have it your way” spiritual marketplace, religious community that is rigorous, reasonable and real is still the most nutritious item on the menu. Mumford, the son of the U.K. founders of the evangelical Vineyard movement is hardly the first church kid to question or reject the faith tradition he was raised in.
So, let’s recap. Living Publicly | Christian Counseling & Education Foundation. An email, intended for one person, was accidentally sent to another. And it happened to be about that other person. The resulting conversation did not go well. Word gets around. Make an off-hand and critical comment about a co-worker, and that co-worker will hear about it. With electronic memory that seems to have a half-life of centuries, private information doesn’t feel so private.
“Live publicly.” We live in a world where there is no confidentiality because God sees. Where can I go from your Spirit? If there is one ecumenical feature of most theologies it is this: God sees and hears. I was in Brazil. For some reason I wasn’t too impressed by the story. When my work in Brazil was done, I was driven the hour and a half to the Sao Paulo airport by my host, who was also a dear missionary friend. The first one was all books and magazines. “I know no one in Sao Paulo. Then the Spirit brought me back to reality. After a few minutes I began to hear people saying “Eduardo.” Lord, have mercy. Four Temptations Christian Leaders Face. For more than thirty years, I have worked in the publishing field with Christian leaders, authors, and other creatives. During this time, I have witnessed the corrosive effects of fame. Very few have been able to handle the temptations that come with increased influence. Photo courtesy of ©iStockphoto.com/Edwardward I have seen leaders get prideful, greedy, and demanding.
Sadly, it has increasingly become the norm in a world that values charisma above character. If you are just getting started with Evernote, I suggest that you buy Brett Kelly’s remarkably practical e-book, Evernote Essentials, Second Edition. As I have reflected on my own experience with prominent leaders, I see them struggle with four temptations: The temptation of priorities. The bottom line is this: Be careful what you pray for. Question: What temptations do you face as a leader? When It Comes To Salvation, We Must Work! QUESTION: Once we put saving faith in Christ, do we stop working?
The Bible clearly teaches that we are not saved by our works of righteousness. We are saved solely through faith in Jesus Christ. We cannot earn our salvation. We can’t add to it, can’t be any more justified, can’t be any more righteous in God’s sight. Salvation is a wonderfully free gift from God. But, the Bible is also clear that we continue working, even after we are justified. As Paul says, we must “work out our salvation with fear and trembling”. When we place our faith in Christ, we are declared righteous by God. But, both the alcoholic and the pre-school teacher must work to become what God has already declared them to be.
God really does care about holiness, and holiness really does involve effort. Some Christians have the idea that once we become Christians, we no longer need to work. So my fellow Christians, when it comes to earning, let’s stop working. The Leader Who Left Me In The Lurch | S E L A H. Written by: Natalie Yeo (Photo by: Marvin Ng) Are you harbouring any unforgiveness and disappointment towards your leaders today? I had been told from a young age that my life was a blank canvas — I had the liberty and expanse to do whatever I wanted within God’s well-intentioned parameters. So armed with a fleet of colour pencils, crayons, and paint brushes, I was determined to leave a noticeable mark: to love people to Jesus. It has been eight years shouldering this goal now, serving as a leader in the youth ministry in my home church. Unfortunately, these years of “faithful serving” seemed to have amounted to a lot less than I had hoped for. You might be thinking right now… “Wah, win liao lor.
However, this dire need for justification also triggered questions about my leadership journey within me; like tireless waves, I constantly wondered whether my leadership (or lack of) had impacted the sheep under my very care. 1. 2. P.S. Sex Is Cheap in Birmingham. My car rolled swiftly down First Avenue North away from downtown Birmingham on a rainy, overcast fall morning.
Off to the right, Sloss Furnaces towered over the "magic city" they helped create by turning minerals from the surrounding mountains into iron for the nation's industrial boom. To the left, low-income housing testified to the aftermath of the furnace shutdown in the early 1970s. Several blocks later I pulled into our church offices at Cornerstone Christian School, nestled behind the ministries that pass for commercial development in the Woodlawn neighborhood of Birmingham. Here, one day earlier, pastor Joel Brooks broke some bad news. We knew Redeemer Community Church meets in a tough neighborhood. Police worked with local media to publish the names and photos of every man and woman caught soliciting prostitutes. So what's the big deal? Not the Way It's Supposed to Be Sexual liberation wasn't supposed to end with $5 hookers. Don't believe me? Infinite Cost. Finding God in Unemployment. When you’re told you’re special and God is going to use you in wild and world-changing ways—as I had been repeatedly told during chapel for four years—you begin to believe it.
And when you’re told you’re special and then you can’t find a remotely normal nine-to-five job, you start to wonder just how special you really are. I graduated in December 2012 with a major in English Literature and a minor in Pre-Med, and I thought that my $100K+ Christian education guaranteed me a decent job—full time, benefits, vacation. They gave me a college diploma with fancy Latin words on it that said, “This kid didn’t sleep much these past couple years”—ample proof I would have a pretty decent job while I waited to find out if I got into medical school.
Or so I thought. But then there was no job. Nothing happened for several weeks, despite my faithful completion of dozens of online applications and a well-groomed LinkedIn profile. Moses graduated with Latin honors, and he ended up watching sheep. The Purpose of Work. "We work to have leisure, on which happiness depends. " So said Aristotle, quoted by Notre Dame philosopher Gary Gutting to explain "What Work Is For" in a recent article for The New York Times. Luther countered this medieval view of work---which is coming back into style in our consumerist culture---with his doctrine of vocation. To be sure, as Gutting says, we celebrate Labor Day by not working. We work so that we can save up money to take a vacation. We spend most our lives in the work force so that we can retire. Or as the British rock group Hard-Fi says, we are "Living for the Weekend. " For Aristotle, contemplation is the activity in which human beings reach their highest fulfillment.
Gutting recognizes that leisure can degenerate into idleness and boredom. Love and Serve According to Luther, the purpose of every vocation is to love and serve one's neighbor. Notice, vocation is not primarily about "serving God" for Luther. "God does not need our good works," Luther taught. Smilingly Leading You to Hell. One of these is unlike the others: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, niceness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. According to Paul’s letter to the church at Galatia, all but one of these is what he refers to as the fruit of the Spirit, which is to say, visible evidence of the presence of the Holy Spirit in the life of a Christian. If you are a Christian, your life will necessarily be marked by this kind of character. But which one is foreign to the list? Niceness. Some of the most evil people are also the nicest people. Humans seem to be naturally drawn to niceness. Brian McLaren may well be the nicest guy around.
And he is far from the only one. Christians are called by God to stand firm on what the Bible says is true, no matter how counter-cultural, and no matter how odious to the spirit of the age. Niceness is not a bad trait.