Tag Archives: veracity

December 17, 2013

Movement: Chuck Smith

By Clarke Morledge
Chuck Smith (1927-2013). A pastor on the move. A passion for the lost, but not without conflict.

Chuck Smith (1927-2013). A pastor on the move. A passion for the marginalized, but not without some conflict along the way.

In the 1960s, most American Christian churches wanted to have nothing to do with hippies. A young Southern California pastor, Chuck Smith, was determined to change all of that.

When an older member of the church posted a sign in the sanctuary with “no bare feet allowed”, Smith ripped it down. Smith believed that the church was called to reach out to the counter-culture community, even if it meant exchanging the standard suit and tie of the evangelical preacher for a more casual dress.

Chuck Smith’s critical moment came unexpectedly when he befriended a long-haired, bearded hippie teenager, Lonnie Frisbee. Frisbee became a pastor himself in Chuck Smith’s Calvary Chapel in Costa Mesa. From there, by the sheer providence of God, the Jesus Movement was born.
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1 Comment   |  tags: , , , | posted in Witnesses

December 14, 2013

Christmas Calculus

By John Paine

Christmas Calculus

 

I am thankful for the mechanism
that lifts anger off the rails of contention
and offers instead a calculus of peace.

Because it occurs to me
that the change in me
with respect to you
was modeled by Jesus Christ.

His equation for anger can be found
in the handbook for our self-obsessing culture—
a testable model for peace.

Because if we genuinely put our anger
next to Jesus Christ
it leads to forgiveness,
and no anger remains.

Absent anger, love can change the intractable,
and save the cost of cleaning up emotional fallout—
leaving energy for peace.

Because there is no peace in anger,
you and I desperately need
a Chi Rho to make it work—
and that’s why Christmas is so necessarily beautiful.
 
 

1 Comment   |  tags: , , , , , | posted in Topics

December 10, 2013

Christmas Wars: Then and Now

By Clarke Morledge
The "War on Christmas"? Are we missing something here? Perhaps a look at church history might help.

The “War on Christmas”? Are we missing something here? Perhaps a look at church history might help.

It is that time of year again, December, when Christians in America face an annual existential crisis: Do you wish people a “Merry Christmas”… or not?

I must confess that I am not crazy about fighting amongst the shopping hordes at the mall, and the year after year pressure of finding the right gift can be really stressful. Sure, shopping online helps a teeny bit, but what I am talking about here is a more fundamental cultural anxiety. Increasingly over the past few years, I have heard Christians grumble throughout the month of December over how “they have taken Christ out of Christmas!” I have read angry letters in the local newspaper complaining how store operators are greeting customers more and more with the shallow and inadequate “Happy Holidays”. Where have the traditional nativity scenes at the community fire station gone? Have a “Joyous Winter Solstice”? What is that all about?

Folks. Let’s face it. We are moving more towards to a post-Christian society with every passing year.

Deal with it.

We could continue to get mired in frustration and disgust, or we can see this as a providential opportunity to reflect on what God is calling us to do as witnesses for the Gospel. What does this look like? Might I suggest some lessons from church history?
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18 Comments   |  tags: , | posted in Topics

December 7, 2013

That All Men May Know His Work

By John Paine

“He seals up the hand of every man; that all men may know His work.”
Job 37:7 (NKJV)

While on a recent international fact-finding mission (OK…actually just a trip to Toronto for a family wedding), Marion and I visited the Royal Ontario Museum. Imagine the Sydney Opera House crash landing on the Smithsonian and you’ve pretty much got the setting. (Canadians do have a sense of humor.)

Royal Ontario Museum Entrance

Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, Ontario (Photo credit: Elli Davis)

We walked up from the subway having no idea what we were going to see. The cashier asked if we wanted tickets to the Mesopotamia exhibit (featuring artifacts on loan from the British Museum), so we were treated to a couple of hours of a really, really good history lesson.

Mesopotamia

Mesopotamia Exhibit

While we were buying our tickets, the cashier at the counter position next to us (his name was Rex) made some impious statement to a visiting couple about how glad he was that his parents hadn’t imposed any religious beliefs on him.  (Rex apparently hasn’t thought much about atheism as a religion.) I mention Rex’s sound bite because it followed me around the museum for quite a while; a sad reminder of how people can bristle right past the evidence.

The Mesopotamia exhibit was spectacular. This is the kind of stuff that was printed in my junior high history text, but went right over my head due to my lack of effort and interest. It turns out I missed a lot. Come to think of it, maybe I shouldn’t be so hard on atheists. Continue reading

6 Comments   |  tags: , , , , , , , | posted in Archaeology

December 3, 2013

Bible Secrets Revealed via the History Channel?

By Clarke Morledge
God took Enoch (Genesis 5:24). From Figures de la Bible, Gerald Hoet and others, 1728.

God took Enoch (Genesis 5:24). From Figures de la Bible, Gerald Hoet and others, 1728.

As I do not have cable TV, I never really get to watch the History Channel. But when some friends suggested that I check out the new History Channel series on the Bible Secrets Revealed, I thought I should investigate a little.

As it turns out, the History Channel does allow you to watch some of the previous episodes online fairly easily, at least for a limited time. I missed the window to see the first episode, “Lost in Translation“. However, I was able to view the next two episodes, “The Promised Land” and “The Forbidden Scriptures“. I will not attempt to give a full review but just offer some brief general observations and pointers to some resources for further study.

I like Bible documentaries because I always learn something from them, such as in this History Channel series, and it encourages me to dig deeper in the data even more for myself, even if I do not agree with everything presented. But what bothers me about some Bible documentaries is in the style of presentation and the overall narrative that the producers of the film are trying to convey. Genuine efforts to present views even handedly get unwittingly sidetracked by unexamined biases held by these documentary makers. Unfortunately, the History Channel’s latest film on this topic is no exception.
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11 Comments   |  tags: , , , | posted in Topics