Tag: Christian living

Beware of Third Person Perspective

As Christians, especially in this new age of what I can only call the corporate church, it's easy to reduce people to demographics. We talk about people as prospects, as "future growth," as communities, as "the unsaved" or "the lost." And to the ears of those outside the church - to the ears of those we are trying to reach - I wonder if our approach doesn't come across as occasionally dehumanizing, as though the church lives in pursuit of numbers and not souls. [Click title to read more.]

How To Be A Christian Online

As Christians, we tend to talk a lot about the Internet - what should and should not be accessible on it and how we should or should not handle that - but not about who we are on the Internet. In what ways does our faith inform our technology? Or, more to the point: how do we behave like Christians on the internet? [Click title to read more.]

Defining “Neighbor” Beyond Convenience

A lot of us have an idea in mind of who our "neighbors" ought to be. They are kind, benign people who live near us; they are sometimes homeless, but always grateful and quiet; they are people willing to accept our kindness and generally deserving of it. All too often, my neighbors are people it does not inconvenience me to love. [Click title to read more.]

Embracing The Dissonance

The other day I was frustrated over...something.  That I can't remember what it was now speaks to how minor it was, and yet at the time I was irate.  What I remember is that I did what I always do when I can't make sense of something or I need guidance: I picked up my … Continue reading Embracing The Dissonance

The Phrase I Want To Banish: “I Was Saved”

I'm not sure I like how limited the phrase "I was saved" can be, that it refers to salvation in the past tense. When I hear the phrase "I got saved" I always picture Jesus scooping up someone from the "nonbeliever" box and then dropping them in the "believer" box. Poof. There you go. Finis. The transformation is complete! It isn't. But sometimes we act as though it is. [Click title to read more.]