“Cotton Mather once commented that the faithfulness of the people begat prosperity, but the daughter devoured the mother. In some ways this irony is a perpetual one. When a man comes to Christ, and begins to obey Him, this means working with his hands and living [a] quiet life in all diligence. One of the …
Putting the Fun Into Fundamentalism
“What is the tithe for? As the church receives the gifts from members, the elders should keep in mind the three basic functions of the tithe . . . support ministers of the gospel, the relief of the poor, and celebration before the Lord. We have already seen Paul’s requirement of the first category. Christian …
Creation Law and Redemption Law
“We may divide the law of the Old Testament into two basic categories, those of creation law and redemptive law. Creation law is that which looks the same throughout the history of the world. The definition of marriage and adultery did not change in the transition between the old and new covenants. Theft looked the …
Just Like Alice’s Restaurant
“We build temples to the gods of commerce, and this is why the modern church looks like a shopping mall, sprawling and flat, plenty of parking, Visa and MasterCard accepted. In one city, a church mailed out hundreds of thousands of brochures hawking their wares. Come to our church, they said, and we’ll give you …
Away or To?
“Our ability to drive an hour to get to church has more often than not created distance from our next door neighbors, and it has done this without really creating closeness to those we worship with when we are done with our drive. For various reasons, we do more driving away than driving to” (Mother …
Imagine
“In the ancient world, it took some explaining to show the, in the command to love our neighbor, a despised alien fell under the biblical definition of neighbor. But in the modern world, it takes some explaining to show that our neighbors are our neighbors” (Mother Kirk, p. 224).
The Siren Call of Weirdness
“A cult mentality is ‘obviously’ exhibited by anyone who does not want to live in the prescribed atomistic and detached way — one who does not want to be just another loose ball bearing rattling around in modernity’s machine. The contemporary standards will beckon with a siren call — any kind of weirdness is accepted …
Community is not a Hobby
“Community will never arise from groups with ‘special interests,’ whether those interests include ham radio, square dancing, or the five points of Calvinism” (Mother Kirk, p. 223).
Fun Fun Fun
“A young man, who never really wanted to graduate from high school himself, gets hired as a youth minister. His task is to put together a wild and crazy time down at the church, with perhaps a little inspirational message attached. The driving assumption is that young people today will not tolerate serious instruction and …
#NAME?
“Yes, but the Church at large long ago gave up talking about the Lord Jesus Christ, His efficacious death, His conquering cross, and His glorious triumph over death, grave, and sin, as well as over our miserable and filthy little rag-tag band of self-justifying isms — alcoholism, sexaholism, rageaholism, and can’t-be-nice-to-my-wife-a-holism” (Mother Kirk, p. 219).