should i stay or should i go?
if the church i am a part of is not reflecting Jesus to a considerable extent (who He was, what He taught, how He lived) then surely at some point i have to question whether it is church at all...
brainless christianity
one of my weekly thort for the week reader friends wrote me an email containing this line: 'It doesn’t matter how much doctrine I know, if I don’t reflect the God I serve in my daily life, it’s pointless.' which in essence is a paraphrase of James 2 - faith without works is dead - and James 1.22 don't just read it, do it. and it was part of an email from a guy who [...]
coffees with john of ellis
so as part of a pretty incredible weekend up in the kwazulu of natal i managed to get some coffee time with john ellis (formerly of tree63 and 'john ellis has hung up his cross and become a giant piece of plasticine' fame) to hear his version of where he is at and whether he still loves Jesus (he does, whoops i hope that wasn't one of the 'between you and me' moments we shared, [...]
words of response to anne rice
so i write a weekly email called thort for the week aimed at challenging people to live out what they say they believe and for this week i really felt like John Eliastam's comments on the Anne Rice note i wrote on Facebook really express well what a lot of Christ followers (and others) could well do with reading: In fact for this week’s thort let me use my former boss John Eliastam’s response to [...]
getting back in the fire
used this analogy at youth group i spoke at on Friday - amazing bunch of young people in the lesser known place of Factreton - and then completely convicted during worship singing time in church yesterday morning about how not there i am - making amends this week... log in the middle of a fire - burns solidly, adds to warmth and function of fire log on edge of fire - still burning but maybe [...]
reasons to hate Christianity – part III
let’s face it – Christians are not among the most loved and respected people when it comes to those outside of the church and i have often wondered why this is and so i started thinking about some of the core basics of this religion and suddenly it makes a lot of sense. when you look at what Christians intrinsically fundamentally believe (i’m not talking how some of them act or those who claim to [...]
one year marryversary
so yes it's lateish thurs nite or feels that way cos i am weirdly quite tired and tbV is upstairs working hard cos she has to get thesis changes to her people before she goes away... which is tomorrow - my lovely wife has a whole weekend of secret plans (at least til sun when we mite be back for the grand prix or at the very least enGAGE church service and world cup final [...]
1221 – if good be a verb
do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good i really struggle to ‘get’ how people have such issues with Jesus-following when the basics of what it is all about is gems like that – love God, love people, look after orphans and widows, forgive those who wrong you, look after the land you’ve been given, share this love message... i do sadly understand how people can have issues with christians and a [...]
time for the spark to catch
at our enGAGE gathering last nite, MJ reminded us of this vineyard song where the chorus goes something like: Bring me back to the place where i love the cross Bring me back to the place where i’m on my knees Bring me back to an undivided heart Oh Jesus, bring me back to You it's a fantastic reminder of a phenomenally good place to return to regularly
not the God you don't believe in
so the other nite we were hanging with some mates from church at our place and the giant of the group (aptly named klein (small) frans) came up with this saying “the God i believe in is not the God you don’t believe in” which i think is brilliant and which i blog posted and made my status line on facebook and twitter (some might say ‘overkill’ – i might say ‘collective ramifications’ but just [...]