What are the most important "issues" for you in the 2008 Presidential Election?
Check out the poll on the right column of this blog and give one or more answers.
Thanks
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Poll Questions on Political Issues
Check out the poll on the right column of this blog and give one or more answers.
Thanks
Is it Biblical to have a Woman VP?
It's an understatement to say that Sarah Palin has excited the conservative evangelical base in America. This same base has a large group within it that hold feminism as a heresy and who believe that the Bible teaches that women are restricted from a certain type of leadership in the home and in the church (I am one of them). Is there a contradiction here? Are we seeing a great hypocritcal and pragmatic response by conservative evangelicals? I don't necessarily think so. I found Kevin Bauder's article, "A Women's Place," very helpful as I think on this subject. Here is the the beginning of the article:The nomination of Sarah Palin as the Republican candidate for the vice presidency has placed some conservatives in a double-bind. On the one hand, they have been disappointed with the less-than-thorough conservatism of John McCain, so the more “Reaganesque” position of Governor Palin comes as a welcome balance. On the other hand, their understanding of the biblical role of women leaves scant opportunity for a female to occupy the second-highest (and, potentially, the highest) office in the land.
Read the entire article here.
Saturday, October 4, 2008
The Power of Words - DG Conference
Last Friday and Saturday I had the privilege of going to the Desiring God Conference in Minneapolis and the theme was -- "The Power of Words." I did not get to hear Dan Taylor on Saturday afternoon or Piper on Sunday morning but the four I heard were great.
This was the order in which they impacted me -- my rankings (top 3).
1. Paul David Tripp - War of Words - Getting to the heart for God's sake
2. Mark Driscoll -- How Sharp the Edge? Christ, Controversy and Cutting Words
3. Bob Kauflin -- Words of Wonder - What Happens when we Sing?
Here is the media links for video and audio of the talks:
The Tongue, the Bridle, and the Blessing: An Exposition of James 3:1-12
Desiring God 2008 National Conference
James 3:1-12
September 26, 2008
Sinclair Ferguson
Panel Discussion - Piper, Driscoll, and Ferguson
Desiring God 2008 National Conference
September 26, 2008
Various
Words of Wonder: What Happens When We Sing?
Desiring God 2008 National Conference
September 27, 2008
Bob Kauflin
How Sharp the Edge? Christ, Controversy, and Cutting Words
Desiring God 2008 National Conference
September 27, 2008
Mark Driscoll
The Life-Shaping Power of Story: God’s and Ours
Desiring God 2008 National Conference
September 27, 2008
Dan Taylor
Panel Discussion - Piper, Tripp, Kauflin, and Taylor
Desiring God 2008 National Conference
September 27, 2008
Various
War of Words: Getting to the Heart for God's Sake
Desiring God 2008 National Conference
September 27, 2008
Paul Tripp
Is There Christian Eloquence? Clear Words and the Wonder of the Cross
Desiring God 2008 National Conference
September 28, 2008
John Piper
Thursday, October 2, 2008
Raise Up Holy Hands - 1
I had a conversation with my brother, Matthew, who is currently in college (NBBC) which has led me to think and hopefully write on the topic of corporate worship and "raising hands." Here is the first installment:I grew up in a devout Christian tradition that did not regularly practice the raising of hands in corporate worship. Other physical forms were expressed in corporate worship such as: bowing the head, closing the eyes (mainly in prayer), saying “Amen” (and other phrases of affirmation), occasionally (but with restraint) clapping hands, standing, sitting and kneeling.
It was not until seminary that I was exposed to a church tradition where people (including the pastor) raised their hand or hands during the songs and prayer of a corporate worship service. At first this was very strange to me and I felt it was excessively “showy” and unnecessarily distracting. Although the change has been slow and progressive I have now come to not only think differently about “hand raising” worshipers, I have become one myself. As a pastor of a church, I regularly worship with hands outstretched based on a strong conviction of its appropriateness and helpfulness as well as a careful acknowledgment (I pray) of the importance of a sincere heart and the dangerous temptation of spiritual showmanship.
How should we think about the physical expression of raising hands in corporate (or private worship)? To answer this question, I would like to first ask three foundational questions that help us answer the question of “hand-raising”.
- What is the essence of worship? Before we can ask if hand-raising is legitimate we need to know what worship really is.
- What physical expressions of worship do we see in the Bible? What examples of worship do we see practiced in the Old and New Testament that should give us an idea of acceptable physical forms of expression in worship?
- What does the Bible command and prohibit in regards to worship? What does the Bible explicitly say about what we must do in worship and what we must not do in worship?
More to come...
Back to Blogging
It has been a long time since I have added to this blog. Life has been very busy (and continues to be) but I am hopefully back to daily blogs.
Lord willing...
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