Articles for tag: Opinion

February 7, 2017

Mark A. Taylor

Advertising My Christianity

By Mark A. Taylor What does it mean to advertise a business as owned by a Christian? Evidently quite a lot to the folks running TrustBlueReview.com. With the tag line “Connecting you to trusted businesses for 25 years,” the faith-based business directory offers consumers a way to find Christian-owned enterprises in categories from “Accountants” to “Zip Lines.” TrustBlueReview”s home page claims all its advertisers make a threefold commitment: “Proclaim Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. Demonstrate their faith through active involvement in a local church. Strive to operate their business according to biblical principles.” Is this a good thing?

February 2, 2017

Christian Standard

Divine Encounters, Good Good-byes, Genes Seen

By LeRoy Lawson What”s in a Phrase? Pausing Where Scripture Gives You Pause Marilyn Chandler McEntyre Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2014 A Faithful Farewell: Living Your Last Chapter with Love Marilyn Chandler McEntyre Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2015 A Long Letting Go: Meditations on Losing Someone You Love Marilyn Chandler McEntyre Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2015 The Gene: An Intimate History Siddhartha Mukherjee New York: Scribner, 2016 When I learned of Marilyn McEntyre”s 2014 book What”s in a Phrase? I had to add it to my “must read” list. Earlier I had read her Caring for Words in a Culture of Lies. Her purpose in

December 31, 2016

Christian Standard

These Speakers Are Writers

By LeRoy Lawson Unashamed: Drop the Baggage, Pick Up Your Freedom, Fulfill Your Destiny Christine Caine Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2016 The Scent of Water: Grace for Every Kind of Broken Naomi Zacharias Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2011 Love Does: Discover a Secretly Incredible Life in an Ordinary World Bob Goff Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2012 The Serengeti Rules: The Quest to Discover How Life Works and Why It Matters Sean B. Carroll Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2016 I had the good fortune to attend the 2016 North American Christian Convention in Anaheim, California. I can”t remember an NACC that was more upbeat, more focused

October 25, 2016

Mark A. Taylor

Nice Advice

By Mark A. Taylor “Wow, it seems like Niceville is a place all of us would like to visit these days.” The radio host made a joke about the name of the Florida town where the call-in questioner lived. She was responding to a panel of newspaper reporters who had just commented on the unprecedented bitterness and divisiveness of the current U.S. presidential campaign. “It”s rare today to find an advocate for either candidate who can understand any good reasons to vote for the other,” he said. “Family members aren”t talking to each other,” another said. “People are shutting down

April 5, 2016

Mark A. Taylor

Different but the Same

By Mark A. Taylor “CHRISTIAN STANDARD sure isn”t what it used to be.” The Facebook comment was meant as a critical jab, but it seems more like a compliment to me. With this issue, the magazine is 150 years old, and we”re proud of many ways it is different today than in the past. We have a more attractive format today. In its earliest years, CHRISTIAN STANDARD was a dense, type-heavy newspaper filled with doctrinal essays crafted from long sentences and complex thoughts. Today”s readers, bombarded by media at every turn, need something different””more graphics, more color, shorter articles, and

February 16, 2016

Mark A. Taylor

Creating the Integrity of the Church

By Mark A. Taylor Peggy Noonan wrote in Saturday”s Wall Street Journal about “the general decline of America”s faith in its institutions,” and you can guess the institutions she listed: “the professions, the presidency, the Supreme Court,” and the one she mentioned first, the church. I”m assuming Noonan, a Catholic, thinks first of the church she knows best, and statistics suggest the Catholic Church in America is in trouble. According to the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA), a national nonprofit research center affiliated with Georgetown University, attendance at Mass in the U.S. declined from 55 percent of the

September 7, 2015

Christian Standard

Baker Knew Speaker Choice Was Unconventional

By Darrel Rowland “I did not set out to do radical stuff,” says this year”s NACC president, Mike Baker. But he knew “it was going to be a bit of a risk to our tradition” to schedule a woman to preach at a main session, for one of the very few times in convention history. “There”s two things about me,” Baker said. “I”m an old-school Christian churcher, so I know full well that both my dad and my grandfather, who have passed on, would not approve of me having a woman speaker. But I”m also a word guy, and I”m

July 3, 2015

Christian Standard

Dave’s Gone–Now What?

By Joe Boyd Popular culture shows us who we are. It”s a mirror that reflects what we are becoming. So what do we make of Fallon”s rise in the wake of Letterman”s departure? Regardless of how we feel about it, popular culture is a dynamic force that shapes the lives of most Americans. Music, sports, and entertainment are power players that inform the worldview of millions of people both inside and outside the church. It”s simply the reality of the world we live in. The job of the Christian, in my opinion, is to know the culture while understanding that

June 8, 2015

Christian Standard

How to Cope in the Radical Middle

By Ian DiOrio Gone are the days in our society when Christians could hope to occupy a “moral majority.” But two biblical qualities, modeled by Jesus and taught by the apostles, offer us strategies for relating to those unlike ourselves. “United” has become an ironic descriptor for America, for if the United States is anything during the 21st century, it is divided. Divided over power. Who should have it and how should they wield it? Is the shape of society better molded by the masses, or does history show us it best moves forward if a select few wield tremendous influence? Divided over ethics. Are moral truths merely personal restrictions of human activity, like

February 4, 2015

Christian Standard

For Such a Time

By Jim Tune “I wish I had never seen the Ring! Why did it come to me? Why was I chosen?” laments Frodo, after discovering the power of the mysterious inheritance that has come into his possession. In response, Gandalf offers a sober appraisal: “Such questions cannot be answered. You may be sure that it was not for any merit that others do not possess. But you have been chosen, and you must therefore use such strength and heart and wits as you have.” In challenging Queen Esther to act on behalf of the Jews, Mordecai offers similar counsel. He

December 5, 2014

Mark A. Taylor

The Cross of Christmas

By Diane Stortz Have you ever noticed how the presence of a baby or a young child changes the dynamics of a sad situation? The crotchety great-uncle you haven”t spoken to in years just might turn up at a reunion if the newest member of the family will be there. At a funeral home, between their tears, mourners manage happy smiles at the unself-conscious laughter of a toddler. And if you”re wondering how a war-torn, despairing world can go on, just ask any grandparent what”s new with the grandchildren! Babies and young children bring us together. They give us hope.

September 2, 2014

Mark A. Taylor

This Week”s Decisions about How I”ll Use the Internet

By Mark A. Taylor Among the many (too many!) Internet posts I”ve skimmed in the last week, a few have led me to some decisions about my own behavior on the worried World Wide Web. The Internet is good for much; I”m not saying we should learn to live without it. But I”m concerned about the way we Christians sometimes decide to use it. What I”ve decided: 1. We can”t relate to each other via the Internet alone. If my opinion about another Christian isn”t based on an out-of-web relationship, then I”ll think twice about discussing him or her on

January 17, 2013

Christian Standard

Afraid of Change

By Mark A. Taylor Most crucial attributes of the Christian life are more easily discussed than demonstrated. All of us want to be forgiven, for example. But when wronged grievously, most of us struggle to forgive. In the same way, we laud grace, chastity, love, and perseverance. But when faced with another”s failure, our own temptation, a difficult coworker, or an overwhelming trial, how often do we react with something less than the ideal we”ve studied and taught? This disconnect between belief and behavior is universal. Realizing that sanctification is a process and not an event, we need not beat

October 9, 2012

Christian Standard

When Faith Is a Struggle: Find This Book and Read It! (Part 3)

By Randy Gariss   Disappointment with God Philip Yancey Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1988 Reaching for the Invisible God Philip Yancey Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2000  A Skeptic”s Guide to Faith (previously titled Rumors of Another World) Philip Yancey Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2009 Struggling with faith? Keep Philip Yancey”s works close. In my opinion, you can never go wrong by recommending a Philip Yancey book. From the mid-1970s, his writings have made a dramatic mark on the Christian landscape with more than 15 million of his books currently in circulation. His writings are varied, but the genius of his work probably has to

April 20, 2012

Christian Standard

Filtering Criticism

By Jim Dalrymple Leaders face criticism with regularity. Most don”t enjoy the sting. Over time, many are crushed under the weight, like a roof weakened by too much snow. But have you noticed how some handle criticism better than others? As a young leader, my ability to filter criticism has been one of the most difficult things I have had to learn. I am a people-pleaser by default, but I realize as a leader that not everyone is pleased by my decisions and actions. One of the slogans I adopted early in ministry was, “My job isn”t to make you

October 20, 2011

Christian Standard

My Opinion about Opinions

By Karen J. Diefendorf I have an opinion about opinions! In the Army we use the Military Decision Making Process (MDMP). One of the steps is to separate facts from assumptions. It isn”t always as easy to differentiate the two as one might imagine. But the reason it is critical to identify assumptions is because of the great risks hidden within them. We put it this way: “The greater the assumption, the greater the risk.” Leaders have to determine how much risk they are willing to assume with any action. It seems to me that opinions in the life of

January 24, 2011

Christian Standard

Why Churches Should Euthanize Small Groups

By Brian Jones A few years ago I brought in a nationally recognized pastor to do some consulting for our church. One of the things I remember most about my time with him was a side conversation we had about small groups. “I haven’t really figured out the small group thing,” I confessed to him. “Well, Brian, that’s because they don’t work. Small groups are things that trick us into believing we’re serious about making disciples. The problem is 90 percent of small groups never produce one single disciple. Ever. They help Christians make shallow friendships, for sure. They’re great

August 8, 2010

Christian Standard

Were You Old Enough to Be Baptized?

By Mark A. Taylor A discussion of baptism in Christian Standard usually stimulates spirited response, and that will probably happen after readers digest this issue, too. As always, we welcome your letters and e-mails, but we hope readers will keep two things in mind as they write us: Remember that a fourth article, Part 2 of Theresa Welch”s “search for a new model,” will appear next week. She offers a balanced, careful approach, one that does not reject current understandings, but only serves to enrich them. You may want to read the next issue before writing us about this one.

April 11, 2010

Christian Standard

Whatever Happened to False Doctrine?

By Jeff Faull OK, I might as well admit it. I”m a peacemaker by nature, an off-the-charts shower of mercy. A lover and not a fighter. I tend to look for commonality over differences””I despise legalism. Unity is not a bad word to me. I”m a Psalm 133/John 17 guy and glad to be one. Quickly skim over the New Testament with that mind-set. It only takes a few minutes. With a cursory glance at Acts 2 and beyond””you can see it. It”s beautiful to trace the harmony that existed when the church began. Christians were doctrinally aligned””all of one mind.

March 3, 2010

Christian Standard

Some Who Read This Are Homosexuals

By Mark A. Taylor Several years ago a friend asked me to read an opinion piece about homosexuality he had written for a Christian audience. Frankly, I don”t recall what he wrote, but I do remember his reaction after one comment I made to him. “We need to keep in mind that some who see this will be homosexuals,” I said. The look on his face told me he”d never thought of that. He”d probably react differently today. So would I, because as one writer this week indicates, homosexual may not even be the best word to use when we

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