Category Archives: Topics

March 22, 2014

Ben Witherington Reviews Son of God

By Clarke Morledge

My all-time favorite “Jesus” movie is undoubtedly Franco Zeffirelli’s 1977 Jesus of Nazareth. A close runner-up would be the Campus Crusade for Christ 1979 movie, the “JESUS” film, which is probably the most widely viewed film in all of human history, translated into literally hundreds of languages. Not too shabby.

In recent years, there has been Mel Gibson’s 2004 The Passion of the Christ. Now, this year there is Mark Burnett’s and Roma Downey’s Son of God, adapted from 2013’s miniseries, The Bible.

Jesus movies are never without criticism. Zeffirelli’s ancient Palestine Jesus had baby blue-eyes and a British accent, not something necessarily in the Gospel narratives. Zeffirelli was upset with Gibson’s portrayal of the Jews as being the primary party responsible for the death of Jesus. The JESUS film, perhaps the most “literal” of them all, was based on the Gospel of Luke, but the story did not always flow well together at times. I have a few friends that refuse to go to see Jesus films because in their view these films violate the Second Commandment by portraying an image of God that could easily be mistaken for the real Biblical Jesus.

But I like the Jesus film genre mainly for one reason… it is a great opportunity to talk with friends and neighbors who have seen the film about the Jesus of the Bible. If God can use these films to encourage people to dig into the Scriptures themselves, then despite their faults, I think they are worth it. So, if you are thinking of going to see Son of God, consider taking a friend or neighbor, and then go grab some coffee or ice cream afterwards and ask them what they thought about the movie. But do not just stop at that: then ask them if the movie lines up with what is found in the Bible. You never know how God might use that conversation.

Ben Witherington is one of evangelicalism’s finest New Testament scholars, and he his written a very helpful review of the new Son of God movie from the viewpoint of someone with exceptional expertise in New Testament scholarship. Witherington teaches at Asbury Seminary, a Wesleyan school in Kentucky. If you are unfamiliar with Witherington, you might want to glance at his approach to studying the Bible: “A text without a context is just a pretext for whatever you want it to mean.”

Words of wisdom indeed.

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March 20, 2014

The Pulpit and the Pew Mini Series

By John Paine

Here’s an outstanding plumb line for any pastoral search committee, from Pastor Walter Bright.

walter bright's avatarWalter Bright

Allow me to introduce a six part mini series entitled, “The Pulpit and the Pew: 6 Cultures bringing the American Church to its knees.”

Here is an outline of the 6 parts. I am going to devote three parts to the pulpit and three parts to the pew. Here is and idea:

The Pulpit:
1. The Culture of Swagger without Substance
2. The Culture of Pastoral Notoriety
3. The Culture of pastoral Isolation

The Pew:
1. The Culture of Hooking up
2. The Culture of Shacking up
3. The Culture of Cozying up

Part 1: The Culture of Swagger without Substance

Today, all around America, there is a lot of swag going on in pulpits of every denomination and every church. We even have what some call – “hipsters and celebrity pastors.”  There is a culture of swagger in the pulpit but there is not enough substance to back it…

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March 15, 2014

Storm of Doubt

By Clarke Morledge

For many living in our secular culture, there is widespread doubt about the Bible. There is a perception that we as Christians must somehow defend the Bible against all critics.

Wow. I get tired just thinking about it.

The problem is that the Bible is a big book and so many people simply feel overwhelmed by the task, including myself, and I spent several years in seminary!

So while such efforts at “defending the Bible” are well-intentioned, and they still serve an important purpose, they can distract the Christian from the main task in evangelism. In 1 Corinthians 15, Paul summarizes the Gospel to his readers: Jesus Christ, and him crucified, and then risen from the dead. Remarkably, the evidence for the Risen Jesus is so strong without a belief in “biblical inerrancy”, that I am willing to concede for the sake of the argument just about any criticism of the Bible so long as I can get someone to take seriously the claim of the Risen Jesus. If someone can in view of the evidence grasp in faith the reality of the Risen Jesus, then I firmly believe that any other problems we have with the Bible will in time be resolved.

The following posting on our church’s Lenten series gets to the heart of the matter…

lathamta's avatarLessons in Lent

Rembrandt (1606-1699). The Storm on the Sea in Galilee.               Rembrandt (1606-1699).             The Storm on the Sea in Galilee.

Jesus “replied, ‘You of little faith, why are you so afraid?’ Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm.” (Matthew 8:26)

Have you ever struggled with doubt? I know I have, and I still do.

In Matthew 8:23-34, we read about Jesus sleeping on a boat while he was with his disciples. A storm picks up and the disciples wake him, pleading with him to do something. Jesus speaks and the wind and waves grow silent. The people are stunned.

I would be, too.

The problem is that I live in the 21st century. We have Science, Doppler radar, the Weather Channel, and Google now. By nature, I am
skeptical:

Surely, there must be a natural explanation for…

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March 7, 2014

The Road to Spiritual Abuse

By Clarke Morledge
Another packed out arena for Bill Gothards's "Seminar in Basic Youth Conflicts". Where are all of these people today?

Another packed out arena for Bill Gothards’s “Seminar in Basic Youth Conflicts”. Where are all of these people today?

It looks like the Bill Gothard train has finally run off of the rails. The Bill Gothard story is an important one to tell, as it has important challenges for those of us in the Body of Christ respecting how evangelicals handle the notion of authority in a Biblical way.

I first heard of Bill Gothard way back in the late 1970s. I was a young believer in the Lord in high school, and some friends of mine had just recently attended something called the “Seminar in Basic Youth Conflicts”. Several thousand people had packed the Hampton Coliseum for about a week of Gothard’s teaching about Christian discipleship and family. Most of it was really, really good stuff. Gothard emphasized the principles of getting out and staying out of debt, emphasizing moral purity, confronting spiritual rebellion, and grounding oneself in the study of God’s Word.

Gothard would give the seminar participants a large, loaded red manual filled with practical teachings. For people looking for some solid, spiritual guidance in an age where permissiveness and ungodliness pervades society, Gothard’s positive teachings have served many, many people for the advancement of the Kingdom of God. Gothard eventually became a popular advocate for Christian home schooling, which I think is a really a wonderful thing to do, assuming it makes the most sense for the child and the parents.

However, all was not quite what it seemed from the outside within Bill Gothard’s world.
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March 6, 2014

Ash Wednesday and Lent

By Clarke Morledge

As John mentioned yesterday, he and I have been invited to blog our way through the season of Lent, with a group of fellow believers in our local community of faith. I thought it might be nice to first reflect on where “Lent” came from. We hope you enjoy these posts….

lathamta's avatarLessons in Lent

Gregory the Great (540-604) dictating the Gregorian chant Gregory the Great (540-604)        dictating the Gregorian chant

The period of Lent, derived from a 14 century English word for “springtime”, has a long history within Christianity.  In the first few centuries of the Christian movement, believers would spend several days in fasting and preparation for the celebration of the Resurrection at Easter. The Lenten period was eventually extended to forty days, but it got its biggest boost from the sixth century bishop of Rome, Gregory the Great (540-604).  Gregory moved the beginning of Lent to what many Christians now call “Ash Wednesday”, establishing “Lent” as an important period in the yearly calendar of the Western Christian church.

The Chapel is a diverse community of faith, and so the idea of “Lent” for some may sound a little weird, or simply “a bit too Catholic”. So perhaps it might be some consolation to you to know…

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