When I was a kid the holidays seemed to politely wait their turn in line. Thanksgiving would take the baton from Halloween and then pass it along to Christmas. Now the Holidays clamor for attention like a spoiled child at the mall. I have been receiving Christmas catalogs for weeks and the stores are already filled with Christmas displays. By the way, you will note that I am a proud user of the term Christmas for the December 25th event that is known on the federal calendar as Christmas Day. That was a bonus mini-rant. No charge. So as I bought Halloween candy today I thought about what I want for Christmas this year. I started with a list of things I really, really want. Everything at the Bose store A high definition television The latest version of my Trio phone (I don’t have the Windows version for heaven’s sake!) Several pounds of books Dozens of DVD’s Then I listed everything I really, really
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Halloween is one of my least favorite times of the year. Don’t worry. I am not going to launch into a tirade about how Christians need to protest this pagan holiday. I dislike Halloween because it is one of the times each year when I want to take my evangelical name tag off and hide it for a few days. One of the reasons I want to go incognito is the proliferation of Christian Halloween Hell Houses or Judgment Houses. Yes, in another sad attempt to mirror the popular culture we have taken the bad idea of the haunted house and made it into the infinitely worse idea of the Hell House. These actual descriptions are taken from a popular version of this odd approach to evangelism. What is the Hell House concept? It is series of vignettes that show the results of sin in wretched excess. The idea is literally to frighten you so much that you will make a decision to embrace Christianity. I call it
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I may be a “Bad Christian” but I am loyal to my tens of readers. I have been hearing your overwhelming cry for the return of the iPod Devotional series. Okay, it was really just faithful reader Kathy who asked for it’s return with this question. P.S. Will the iPod devotions return anytime soon? Love those!! For new inductees to this site a brief update might be in order. The iPod Devotional Series is a periodic feature that involves, not surprisingly, my trusty iPod and the shuffle feature. I fire up the device, go to the shuffle button, hit play, and I write about whatever song is randomly selected from the 1,000 plus songs I have downloaded (all legally). My taste is quite eclectic so this is a bit risky. But we have already had a devotion based on Toby Keith’s I Love This Bar so how much further south can we go? So Kathy…this one is for you. Today’s song is
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One of my favorite comedians is Steven Wright. He is the thinking man’s stand-up comedian. Here is one of his classics. “I’m addicted to placebos. I’d give them up…but it wouldn’t make any difference.” Think about it. Dictionary.com defines a placebo drug as a substance having no pharmacological effect but given merely to satisfy a patient who supposes it to be a medicine. Some would suggest that all religion is a placebo. Friedrich Nietzsche said that “Faith means not wanting to know what is true.” I realize there are many people of faith who fit into that category. I can speak only for the Christian faith and myself. I have spent many years seeking what is true. I have tried to the best of my ability to be honest. I have read the arguments of thinkers on all sides. I have studied the life of Jesus. I have researched other religious figures. Why would I not want to know what is true? Why should I waste my time, money, and questionable talent on a faith that is false? The men
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I am a book-a-holic. Books are my high and you will regularly see me stumbling out of another book store clutching a bag of fresh verbiage. Recently I came across a volume with an intriguing title. Die Happy – 499 Things Every Guy’s Gotta Do While He Still Can Since I would like to die happy I decided to check it out. Authors Tim and Michael Burke outlined the concept of the book at their website called, oddly enough, Die Happy. (Warning…there is offensive content at this site) It’s pretty simple. You only have so many years, days or minutes left as a non-married, free-to-do-whatever-the-hell-you-want-to-do guy. Yes, someday you will get hitched. You will buy a house. You will spend Saturdays mowing your lawn, coaching pee wee soccer and shopping for little girly clothes at Old Navy. Oh well. It is too late for me to die happy according to the Burkes. They did have some very funny reasons why you
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One year ago today I sent out an email to a few hundred of my closest friends announcing a new blog. The most common response? What’s a blog? In that initial missive I said this… I will be posting often about issues that affect the body of Christ. The topics will range from politics to embarrassing Christians. We will discuss faith in our culture and what it means to be an authentic follower of Christ. It will be honest, edgy, and it should be fun. Now 232 posts later I hope I have hit that target a few times. Often the embarrassing Christian has been me. Regular readers know my oft stated spiritual goal. Making other Christians feel superior since 1969 (my Spiritual birthday). The feedback from readers has been amazing. I have been deeply touched by your love and prayers as Joni and I have shared our journey through her breast cancer battle. And I have been very pleased that, for the most part,
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This past weekend I downed some coffee and perused the Dallas Morning News before heading to Waco for Homecoming football action at Baylor University. A headline in the Metro Section caught my eye. SMU, Baylor bare souls over ‘Playboy’ Dallas school won’t fight photo shoot; Bears clothes-minded The headline writers obviously had some fun with their jobs but the story was serious. Here is an excerpt from the piece written by DMN writer Michael E.Young. Separated by 100 miles of interstate, the Southern Baptists’ Baylor University and the United Methodists’ SMU seem even farther apart when it comes to students posing in states of undress in a men’s magazine. Southern Methodist University’s approach is decidedly hands-off. When Playboy magazine photographers set up temporary shop next week near SMU for a “Girls of Conference USA” pictorial, they’ll do so without university opposition. “SMU is not a participant in or a proponent of this project, which is sponsored by an off-campus publication,”
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