Linkathon!

The New Victor says:

We are often told to look into our hearts and to follow our dreams in order to find happiness and peace, meaning and fulfillment. And yet, the truth could not be further from this idea. It is not that Christianity is against happiness but that true happiness and fulfillment are found in denying ourselves and finding it in others: in God and in our neighbors.

The largest mega church in the area promotes the “dream big” motif, that which sets of alarms in the ODMs. The pastor even wrote a book Imagine Living Your Dream.

About a year ago, I was helping the kids’ mom through a difficult time (struggling with her husband over mutual DV and all sorts of nasty stuff, some of which our kids witnessed). She thanked me and said that I was more helpful then her friends. I asked what she meant, pretty much knowing the answer. She said that 4 years ago, her friends encouraged her to leave and find her own happiness. That’s the Eat Pray Love (which should be preceeded by Cheat) advice “follow your bliss!” which hurts others. Period.

JTK says:

The Star Wars link…
Ugh. Pretty superficial. And old.

I’ve called myself a big SW fan.
But the new age crap at the end really left a bad taste in my mouth.

——————-

And all the “evangelical” wrestling:
I just don’t get if we are supposed to be “mainline” like Keller, or invent a new word.

Almost every single evangelical I know/knew, had HUGE qualms with Trump; literally ONE did not, and he likes being strange on every taste-related issue on purpose, it seems.

By the votes, Hillary lost—Trump didn’t win.
I reject blaming evangelicals for this dumpster fire of an election.

An Episcopalian pastor I know lost members after the election: some left because he didn’t denounce Trump, some left because he didn’t support Trump. The same church. So sad for him and the congregants hurt by those parishioners who left for foolish reasons.

bob1 says:

I imagine that in most mainline churches in our country, you’ll find both Trump lovers and Trump haters. You know, the wheat and the tares. 🙂

Jim Vander Spek says:

I do not comment often. However, I thank you for these weekly compilation of links. A lot of work goes into this.

I suggest that a heavily moderated website of useful Christian links along the lines of freerepublic.com or Lucianne.com, where readers submit links and excerpts, would be a successful and helpful project. I would certainly be willing to support it.

Again, thanks for all your work and Merry Christmas to all of you.

Chris Long says:

That article about needing to talk about sex is right on. I think most Christians and pastors and church leaders KNOW it’s needed though, but the problem is they don’t know HOW to really go about it, and there’s so much brokenness among the leaders themselves that they don’t even know really how to address. So it just isn’t. Thankfully there is more openness in the Church as a whole on these things then there used to be, but we’ve still got a long way to go. Several years ago there was a church in my area that did a major series to attempt to get really real and have major conversations. They even encouraged parents to bring their middle/high-school age kids with them for it. I didn’t agree with everything that was said or presented, but it was nice to see a church (and a larger “megachurch” type at that) at least have the conversation. If anyone’s interested, the series was called “Sex, Love, & God” and the links to watch the videos of the services are still available at http://www.laughandlift.com/sexualsinlinks.html

John 20:29 says:

am grateful for the links, which i do read even the ones i don’t comment on… 🙂

re: Chis’ #9 in the late 60s or early 70s – dunno – there was a ground swell of “let’s talk frankly about sex” within Protestant Christianity… IMV they got a little silly and didn’t really know what they were doing… just caught the tail end of an interview with a secular college professor who maintains that all the “frank” education that we’re giving our children doesn’t give them a proper understanding or respect for that aspect of their lives… ya think?

as we disagree over doctrines, we should remember that, even as He rebuked the churches in Revelation, our Lord also commended them where they had strengths – reading New Victor’s comment reminds me that what he describes is very close to what our Lord said to the one church that He had no commendation for

Chris Long says:

Em @ 11: I wasn’t around then so I’ll take your word on it. But I do know that there’s a difference between just talking frankly and talking frankly within the Biblical framework and worldview. The culture already talks frankly to people/kids. Kids have all the frankness they want at their fingertips with the Internet, but it’s all bathed in demonic perspectives (i.e. guys should look at porn etc). What they don’t have much of is people talking about stuff from a healthy and Godly perspective. I was a church kid and went to religious schools and I don’t think I ever heard one iota about sex outside of a simple “save yourself for marriage” catchphrase until I was in my senior year of high school where a theology teacher separated us by boys and girls and actually talked with us in reality about things. God bless them for at least trying at some point but doing that at 18’s a little too late…Most of the boys in my class had already long been addicted to porn by that juncture and/or were sexually active with others. Having good Godly instruction for kids entering puberty isn’t a bad thing. Of course it should be parents’ jobs, but most of them are still dealing with their own issues and never had anything modeled for them either about how to approach these things. That’s why the church talking about these things is a good idea across the board because at least that hits people in real life. If you look at the end of each of the services I posted (accessible via the link I posted), the pastor takes real life live questions from the audience that were submitted by text during the service. It really shows you the kinds of things Christians are wondering about in the sex arena that nobody’s talking about… I do think that it CAN go too far or get out of hand (i.e. I think some frankness can maybe go too far), but I like to see a church at least try to meet people in reality on some very difficult subjects to talk about.

BrianD says:

R.C. Sproul has passed away.

http://thewartburgwatch.com/2017/12/20/r-c-sproul-reformed-theologian-and-founder-of-ligonier-ministries-dies-at-78/

Josh the Baptist says:

I’ve come to realize that Evangelical is two different things. There is a political term and a theological term. Same as Liberal or Conservative can be used to designate theological or political groups, Evangelical also has double meaning.

I don’t particularly care for the word, and rarely identify myself that way, but by description I am theologically evangelical.

Politically I am now where close.

John 20:29 says:

Chris, to close off the discussion, i think your term ‘decency’ is more appropriate to the times in which we now live… with the sensory overload today and exposure to what is crass, at best, ‘modesty’ would almost have to be contrived and artificial

Jeremiah the 8th chapter could be food for thot for the church today IMHO
” Jer 8:11 They have healed the wound of my people lightly,
saying, ‘Peace, peace,’ when there is no peace.
Jer 8:12 Were they ashamed when they committed abomination?
No, they were not at all ashamed; they did not know how to blush.
Therefore they shall fall among the fallen; when I punish them, they shall be overthrown,
says the LORD.”

human nature does seem to have a pattern of behavior that repeats… dunno

Martin Luther's Disciple says:

Theological evangelicals created the Trumps and Moore’s for their own benefit. The theology behind that is to usher in Jesus’ 2nd coming.
Merry Christmas.

bob1 says:

Earlier this week, the NY Times had a great peace about political evangelicals. The headline was “Fox News Evangelicals.”

That works for this bunch.