Oct 19
2018
Theological Vision Part 2
Today we will look further into theological vision and the role that it plays in how we do ministry at the River Center.
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Doubting your Doubts
I would like to express opinion on the topic of skepticism. It seems that our society is steeped in the idea that you are a wise person if and only if you doubt everything that you hear or read. Not only should you be skeptical, but you should be sarcastic toward the other person’s opinion as well. Our media is ripe with some very wealthy people who have done nothing but scoff at anyone and anything that they find on their radar.
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Truth Claims
Our society holds as one of its core beliefs that there is no such thing as objective truth. Many people also hold tightly to the idea that there isn’t any grand overarching purpose and meaning of life. They believe, rather that life is merely a long string of vignettes that you perceive and align to your own individual perspective in order to create meaning. So, the idea that something is true for you, but not for me, is woven into the fabric of secular culture.
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How Relevant is the Gospel?
My hope and prayer for all people is that we are awake to the Gospel of the good news about Jesus. Yes, we are secure in our salvation by faith in Christ alone. The question is not about whether or not we are saved, but the question to be answered is… Are we awake or lethargic or sleeping about the gospel?
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Water
In the movie titled The Water Boy, Adam Sandler is often quoted as saying “now that is some high quality H20.” Today I would like for us to consider H20. Let’s look this in the context of the field of Astronomy and see our consuming desire to try to find water on other planets.
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Challenging the Status Quo
Recently I have been reading the book, The Gospel in a Pluralist Society By Lesslie Newbigin. The book is the second installment in a two-book series; the first book is titled Foolishness to the Greeks. The works were written in the late 1980’s I am amazed at how poignant his work is today. For today’s post, I would like to lay out some of the groundwork displayed in these two volumes. I would say that if you like to read, both of these books are highly recommended.
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Can Faith and Reason Live Together?
One of the important questions for people to ask is about faith and reason. Are they opposites? Does a person need to sacrifice one in order to believe the other? Is it possible to be a thinker and a Bible-believing Christian at the same time? There are some people who do not think this is possible.
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Could the Universe Create Itself?
What about Creation by chance? Today I would like to look at some of the history behind the naturalist viewpoint that the Universe and everything in it is the product of chance.
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What about the New Age Movement?
Many are familiar with the New Age movement. The hallmark of their thinking is to search out the god that is within you. It’s there, you just have to find it. Explore the power that is at your disposal, tap into your own god consciousness.
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Made in the Image of God
The debate goes like this. Is man made in the image of God? Or is God a manmade image after his likeness, made in order to console himself? The Christian will hold the first opinion, the Atheist will conform to the latter. There is a very distinct difference of perspective based on worldview.
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What if the New Testament was Taken Away from Us?
Recently I watched a very interesting video featuring Dr. James Tour and J. Warner Wallace. These two men are among my favorite Christian Apologists. The topic of focus is based on the idea that there is so much historical evidence for Christianity integrated in differing societies through out the world, that even if we did not have access to the New Testament, we would still have enough evidence to make the case for the truth of Christianity.
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Why God Won’t Go Away
Much of the information found in todays post is from the same title in a book authored by Alister McGrath. Kudos to him for such an excellent work.
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Flat Earth
You have probably heard the story about how the church thought that the earth was flat during the middle ages. This usually comes in the form of a scathing attack to attempt to show how antiquated and out of date the myth of religion is.
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Do You Want to Love God More?
So, this sounds like a rhetorical question, right? Who doesn’t want to love God more? Today I would like to look at this subject more deeply. I think some of the ideas about this may surprise you.
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What is Theology?
A good question this is. Often you can get very different answers to the question depending on who you talk to. More importantly, there are multiple layers of depth of understanding, some simple, others quite complex.
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The Tip of the Spear
Last week we talked about the difference between natural theology and revelation theology, and how they can work together to form a more complete Christian world-view. Today I would like to look further into how natural theology can play an integral part of being salt and light to the world around us.
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Natural and Revelation Theology
I have been looking at these two dynamics, and how they connect with each other. I hold a viewpoint that these are not in conflict with one another, rather they can integrate seamlessly together in a beautiful harmony.
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Here Comes the Sun
“Here comes the Sun, here comes the sun, and I say ... it’s all right.” These words, made popular by the Beatles form the basis for this instillation of the Strong and Courageous Christianity blog today. We are talking about the Sun. This magnificent star is situated just perfectly right and is the size and intensity to fuel all life. Without it… well, you know.
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Micro RNA
We have discussed at length, how complex DNA and RNA are. They are information systems that provide the blueprints or instruction manuals for how proteins are formed and transported to their proper location in the cell. Today I would like for us to look at how the right blueprint is used to make the proper protein.
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The Reliability of the Book of Acts
I am so encouraged to discover with you the reliability of the information found in the book of Acts. You see, Acts is a historical book recounting the events that took place in the early formation of the Church.
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Jesus Foretells Destruction of the Temple
Today I would like to look into some of the significance of Jesus’ prophesy of the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem.
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Thankful
As we are entering into the holiday season, I would like to write to you today about the subject of being thankful.
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Sugar
The subject is sugar… more specifically the D- glucose sugar that is present in DNA and RNA. This is a bit technical, but the numbers are so unlikely to have happened by chance that it is amazing.
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Archeology
The focus on this blog has been primarily based in the idea that God created the cosmos. The evidence of this should send the atheistic natural man’s mind spinning. Today I would like to look at another discipline that further validates the truth of the Bible. The subject is archeology. While this is not my personal strong suite, non the less, there are growing examples of discoveries that are proving the validity of the scriptures.
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What about the Weatherman?
Continuing the theme from last week’s entry, I would like to look further into the question is atheism dead? Eric Metaxas, in his new book describes how science is doing more to bring vast amounts of evidence to validate a universe designer. Over time, the information keeps mounting up higher and higher that a naturalistic perspective of random chance being responsible for origins can’t possibly be true.
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Is Atheism Dead?
For today’s post. I would like to direct you to a video on youtube by Eric Metaxas titled Is Atheism dead? This video truly encapsulates my heart and vision for what this blog has been all about over the last 3 years.
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Meaning?
Much of this post comes from the book titled Gentle and Lowly: The Heart of Christ for Sinners and Sufferers by Dane Ortland. What is the meaning of everything? What is the telos, the aim, the macro reason and goal for our small, ordinary lives? We are on solid footing, both biblically and historically, if we answer: “To glorify God.”
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E.T.
I watched an interesting show on T.V. recently titled Secrets of the Universe. They were talking about being on a quest to discover extraterrestrial life.
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Time for Renewal
I have been doing some research on times of revival and renewal. Historically, it is interesting to me how God has set certain times in history where the power of the Holy Spirit is on display in a very dynamic way. The methodology has varied from time to time, however, there are some common denominators in many of these movements.
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What is a Quantum Vacuum?
This is not a household word; however, it is good to spend some time thinking about this in light of creation of the universe.
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Emulating Daniel
Recently, I have been reading a book written by Frank Damazio titled The Vanguard Leader. He develops how our culture has taken on many similarities to the Babylonian culture at the time the book of Daniel was written in the Old Testament.
Keep ReadingOct 18
2018
All In
Let’s get caught up in what God is doing with His church.
Oct 12
2018
Theological Vision
I currently am re-reading a book titled Center Church by Dr. Tim Keller. It is a deep and fascinating adventure into how the DNA of the gospel is to be expressed into the local church.
Oct 5
2018
The Gospel Changes Everything
The good news of the redemption and grace given to us By God by the sacrifice of Jesus on our behalf changes everything about who we are and how we think.