January 11, 2021
Jan 17 | Reverse Rewards
The practice of faith is always public and private. If the practice of faith is only public, then it is hypocritical. If the practice of faith is only private, then we miss the community aspect of it.
Articles for tag: Religious Hypocrisy
November 7, 2016
Pursuing Justice in an Unjust World
By Mark W. Hamilton What does a just community look like? Is the American church such a community? Do we live out the call of the prophet Micah to “do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly before God?”* These questions confront anyone who studies the history of American Christianity. From that history we learn that Christians used the Bible to defend slavery and oppose it, to silence women and empower them, to cheer on Bull Connor”s corrupt police in Birmingham, Alabama, and to walk through hostile crowds in Little Rock, Arkansas, and Selma, Alabama, during the civil rights movement. Today,
November 2, 2016
Evangelical Outrage
By Jim Tune There seems to be a lot of anger in our culture. People are seething about something . . . or everything! The economy, politics, the culture war””the list goes on. The “rant” has become a contemporary art form. And the church seems to have followed right along. We”re angry too. We”re mad at liberals, Democrats, Muslims, Hollywood, and homosexuals. New York Times op-ed writer Tim Kreider calls this modern epidemic “outrage porn”: So many letters to the editors and comments on the Internet have this . . . tone of thrilled vindication: these are people who have
March 21, 2015
Jesus Killed a Tree
By Tim Harlow I don”t fancy myself an extreme environmentalist. I”m not a “tree hugger,” but I do respect nature. I have cut down a few trees that were past their prime, and I once accidently killed a small one with a golf cart, but I do love trees. Where I live, the only trees are ones someone planted. So the story of Jesus “zapping” a tree is fascinating to me. Early in the morning, as Jesus was on his way back to the city, he was hungry. Seeing a fig tree by the road, he went up to it
June 10, 2013
Lesson for June 16, 2013: Worship with Meaning (Isaiah 29)
By Sam E. Stone Each week our lesson planners include a devotional reading that is parallel to the message of the printed text. Their choice for today, Luke 8:9-15, comes from Jesus” parable about the sower. It clarifies and confirms the meaning of Isaiah 29. God is concerned about what we really mean when we say we worship. In Luke 8:10, Jesus quotes a similar passage in Isaiah (6:9) that warns those who are “hearing, but never understanding . . . seeing, but never perceiving.” Lewis Foster notes, “These words do not mean that God desires that some will not
June 7, 2011
Getting the Most from Old Testament Prophets (Part 1)
Just as a Rubik”s Cube has six sides, six principles will help you understand these often-overlooked books. (This is another in a series of articles titled “Reading the Bible for All It”s Worth” that Matt Proctor is writing this year.) _____________ By Matt Proctor The 17 Old Testament books we call the Prophets””Isaiah through Malachi””contain some of the most powerful passages in all of Scripture, and yet these books remain some of the least read portions of the Bible. A nationally respected business leader, John Dasburg, saved Northwest Airlines from bankruptcy in the early 1990s when he served as CEO.
