The typical church atmosphere today is such that attendees are conditioned to put money into an offering plate and consider this to be a pretty decent way to spread the Gospel. hether intended or not, this method of helping, if it is the primary focus, keeps the average church-attender from actually meeting and connecting to needy people and it tells him that money is his best gift or good deed.
In the old days, Superman could move planets. As if that weren't enough, he could move multiple planets at once. Heck, he could even do this as a teenager! Somewhere along the line, the writers decided that this just wasn't believable enough, I guess, so they brought his powers down to a more realistic ensemble. You know, flying, heat vision, super-cold breath... the more normal things.
How many fellowships are apathetic and complacent, perched in the middle of hurting communities and not lifting a finger to help, but instead singing songs one day a week about how good it is not to be a part of the riff-raff on the outside? Isn't it time we redeemed ourselves by our actions?
When we're challenged or confronted with an argument about contradiction in Scripture, sometimes we can be taken completely off-guard. One of the worst responses in this kind of situation is simply to say, "I just take the Bible on faith," and dismiss the challenge as being made by an ignorant Christian-hater. The fact is, most of the time it's not the Bible we're taking on faith. Often it's the teaching of someone who pieced together some verses to bolster a themed speech.
I've just finished reading what may be one of the best works of fiction I've ever read. At worst, it's the best in recent memory (unless I count The Screwtape Letters, which my son and I have listened to on the way to school in the mornings). If I said any more about the book, I'm pretty sure that I'd have to dispose of you in some hideous way (and where would I be without you guys to read this stuff?). I'll be posting a review on Monday, April 27. As soon as I get it posted and I'm through making notes on some really profound segments, I'd like to give it away.
I'll give my book to the lurker who responds to this post and presents the most compelling case about why he or she has been a lurker here at the blog. In case you're wondering what that means, a "lurker" is someone who observes without interacting. Here, I'd qualify you as a lurker if you visit the blog moderately regularly but have posted less than three comments, ever. If you're not sure if you've posted more than three but you think it might be in that ballpark, you qualify.
I don't ask this because I want to draw lurkers into commenting, but those who comment everywhere liberally, I'd think, may already be doing some of what the book says. Not that a lurker doesn't have a strong personality offline, but the book is geared toward jumping into the fray (whatever fray may be on-hand).
It's an excellent book and one that goes quickly -- not too short, but not too long. It's a secular book (that is, it's not not a religious or "Jesus" book) and can be applied to just about any situation. It goes somewhere on my must-read list, but not quite as high up there as Francis Chan's Crazy Love (for the Christ-follower) or Dave Smelzer's Not the Religious Type (for the Christ-follower or non-Christ-follower).
So jump out of lurking and join in!
3:55 PM
