Simply Gospel

May my steps be worship. May my thoughts be praise.


Links

  • 10 Traits of Inwardly-Focused, Ineffective Churches

    10 Traits of Inwardly-Focused, Ineffective Churches Worship wars. Prolonged minutia meetings. Facility focus. Program driven. Inwardly focused budget. Inordinate demands for pastoral care. Attitudes of entitlement. Greater concern about change than the gospel. Anger and hostility. Evangelistic apathy. Continue reading

  • Beware of Obscurantism

    Beware of Obscurantism In an obscured version of Christianity, it appears as though you have to do particular things that are not actually the gospel in order to follow Christ, because all the Christians you know do them. It could be as simple as a change in dress or hairstyle or musical tastes; or it Continue reading

  • My Problem With the Bible

    My Problem With the Bible Now think about Jesus announcing the arrival of God’s kingdom with the proclamation of his counterintuitive Beatitudes. When Jesus said, “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth,” how was that received? Well, it depends on who is hearing it. The poor Galilean peasant would hear it as Continue reading

  • Andy Stanley: Assume People Are Biblically Illiterate (But Not Dumb)

    Andy Stanley: Assume People Are Biblically Illiterate (But Not Dumb) And when we use phrases like “The Bible says,” we miss teaching opportunities. For instance, Every time I teach from Paul, I say, “Hey, if you’re new to church or Christianity, you will love this guy, because Paul hated Christians. If you hate Christians, Paul’s Continue reading

  • Grace, Theology and Autism

    Grace, Theology and Autism My husband and I saw the signs. We knew what to look for, and we had diagnosed our son ourselves years before we felt the necessity to seek a formal, medical diagnosis. It was as if all these people and situations were highly contagious and I had now become infected. If Continue reading

  • Huckabee and the Heresy of Americanism

    Huckabee and the Heresy of Americanism The problem with this view, though, is that it’s actually a heresy, or at least a seriously false teaching. Leithart again: “Americanism is a heresy; in certain respects it is simply idolatrous. Jesus, not James Madison, brought in the ‘new order of the ages.’” Indeed. To set our ultimate Continue reading

  • The Church and its Response to Domestic and Sexual Violence

    The Church and its Response to Domestic and Sexual Violence Monica Taffinder, a Christian counselor who specializes in trauma recovery, depression, anxiety, and sexual abuse recovery, argues that many pastors tend to be somewhat naïve when it comes to the probability that both victims and perpetrators exist within their church. “I really think people don’t Continue reading

  • The Staying Power of Emotional Abuse

    The Staying Power of Emotional Abuse “At least he didn’t take your virginity,” the leader of my Bible study group murmurs sympathetically, handing me a tissue to wipe away the tears brought on by my choked confession of a previous abusive relationship. I tense, mutter “that’s true,” and escape the conversation feeling just as broken Continue reading

  • American Idols

    American Idols In a recent Facebook discussion, someone asserted that as long as we consider being Christians more important than being Americans, then our nationalism isn’t idolatrous. But it’s not that simple. In the Bible, we find that the Israelites struggled with polytheism throughout the Old Testament. It wasn’t so much an outright rejection of Continue reading

  • Will White Evangelicals Ever Acknowledge Systemic Injustice?

    Will White Evangelicals Ever Acknowledge Systemic Injustice? “I’m sorry for being white!” His comment glowed from the computer screen with such weight that for a moment it was as if it was etched there permanently. What, you may wonder, was the context of this comment? It was written on the Facebook wall of one of Continue reading