THIS is Christianity

check out this video (it will pop up in a new window)

     For many people religion is more of a cultural thing to appreciate and keep around like one does a family heirloom. It looks good on the shelf in the living room, but you don’t really use it all that much in real life.  For others, it’s just …foreign. At least, that’s often the impression given by the comments and reactions to religious expression we see from the talking heads of media and/or Hollywood.

     I’m probably being generous. Hollywood hasn’t understood Christianity or the Bible since the twelve apostles were still available to hire as consultants.

     And some of you… it’s okay to admit it…. won’t even get through the five-minute video above. After all, the Pew Research Center just informed us that Christianity is shrinking in America while the numbers of people with no affiliation with any religion, including atheists, and agnostics are growing. That’s especially true for anyone more youthful than 36 years of age.  So hey, if that’s you, then perhaps you don’t really care that some guy named Mottel Baleston decided to become a Christian after growing up Jewish.

     I understand. And I’m not posting this video to win any of these arguments. I’m posting this because THIS is Christianity.

Intelligent People Saying Christian Things: Ben Carson

“What we need to do is come up with something simple. And when I pick up my Bible, you know what I see? I see the fairest individual in the universe, God, and he’s given us a system. It’s called a tithe.”

-Ben Carson, renown neurosurgeon and the Director of Pediatric Neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins Hospital, speaking at the White House Prayer Breakfast in February 2013.

Sometimes I’m Glad Bad Things Happen to Good People

Can you buy God with money?  One guy tried.  And while we might scold him for it, truth is our modern day church often tries to buy God with good works, church attendance, giving in the offering plate, some sort of “commitment”, etc…  In both the case of the man in Acts 9, and in our more modern version, God really isn’t for sale.  In fact, sometimes instead of getting favors, prosperity, health, and an easy life in return for following God, we might get some “bad” things.  Thank goodness.

Sound crazy? Let me explain…