Friday 24 July 2009
"People who speak in tongues rarely...
... suffer from mental problems" says an old report in the New York Times. Read the whole thing here
Thursday 16 July 2009
Thursday Thoughts
I was out on my Street Pastors duty recently, when I had a conversation about which I'd like to hear your thoughts.
It was one of those five minute chats in which a huge subject came up and there wasn't the time or even an appropriate context for properly discussing the issue.
The issue boiled down to the old question of why God allows suffering. It wasn't framed as a question - more of a commentary on someone's own experience of life.
The conversation I had was with a young guy. He was very complimentary about what we were doing and I sensed was open to God - or at least to the idea of God. His difficulty was that he had experienced quite a lot of pain - he didn't go into detail.
In the few minutes I had with him, I said something like this:
"I don't know what caused your pain or why what happened to you did happen. I do know that Jesus loves you and that if you respond to His love, He is able to turn your pain into something that can be used to help others." (I felt that simply saying "Jesus can heal your pain" seemed almost dismissive of whatever he had experienced).
Someone else came and joined the conversation. He shook my hand and was gone.
Does Jesus turn our pain into something that can be used to help others? What do you think? What would you have said?
It was one of those five minute chats in which a huge subject came up and there wasn't the time or even an appropriate context for properly discussing the issue.
The issue boiled down to the old question of why God allows suffering. It wasn't framed as a question - more of a commentary on someone's own experience of life.
The conversation I had was with a young guy. He was very complimentary about what we were doing and I sensed was open to God - or at least to the idea of God. His difficulty was that he had experienced quite a lot of pain - he didn't go into detail.
In the few minutes I had with him, I said something like this:
"I don't know what caused your pain or why what happened to you did happen. I do know that Jesus loves you and that if you respond to His love, He is able to turn your pain into something that can be used to help others." (I felt that simply saying "Jesus can heal your pain" seemed almost dismissive of whatever he had experienced).
Someone else came and joined the conversation. He shook my hand and was gone.
Does Jesus turn our pain into something that can be used to help others? What do you think? What would you have said?
Wednesday 15 July 2009
Bill Gates didn't say this
The following has been attributed to Bill Gates. Of course, Mr. Gates never said this, but it is funny. Especially no. 7 and 11. Grumpy old men, enjoy.
Rule 1:Life is not fair - get used to it!
Rule 2: The world won't care about your self-esteem. The world will expect you to accomplish something BEFORE you feel good about yourself.
Rule 3: You will NOT make $60,000 a year right out of high school. You won't be a vice-president with a car phone until you earn both.
Rule 4: If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a boss.
Rule 5: Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your Grandparents had a different word for burger flipping: they called it opportunity.
Rule 6: If you mess up, it’s not your parents' fault, so don't whine about your mistakes, learn from them.
Rule 7: Before you were born, your parents weren't as boring as they are now. They got that way from paying your bills, cleaning your clothes and listening to you talk about how cool you thought you were. So before you save the rain forest from the parasites of your parent's generation, try delousing the closet in your own room.
Rule 8: Your school may have done away with winners and losers, but life HAS NOT. In some schools, they have abolished failing grades and they'll give you as MANY TIMES as you want to get the right answer. This doesn't bear the slightest resemblance to ANYTHING in real life.
Rule 9: Life is not divided into semesters. You don't get summers off and very few employers are interested in helping you FIND YOURSELF. Do that on your own time..
Rule 10: Television is NOT real life. In real life people actually have to leave the coffee shop and go to jobs.
Rule 11: Be nice to nerds. Chances are you'll end up working for one.
Rule 1:Life is not fair - get used to it!
Rule 2: The world won't care about your self-esteem. The world will expect you to accomplish something BEFORE you feel good about yourself.
Rule 3: You will NOT make $60,000 a year right out of high school. You won't be a vice-president with a car phone until you earn both.
Rule 4: If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a boss.
Rule 5: Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your Grandparents had a different word for burger flipping: they called it opportunity.
Rule 6: If you mess up, it’s not your parents' fault, so don't whine about your mistakes, learn from them.
Rule 7: Before you were born, your parents weren't as boring as they are now. They got that way from paying your bills, cleaning your clothes and listening to you talk about how cool you thought you were. So before you save the rain forest from the parasites of your parent's generation, try delousing the closet in your own room.
Rule 8: Your school may have done away with winners and losers, but life HAS NOT. In some schools, they have abolished failing grades and they'll give you as MANY TIMES as you want to get the right answer. This doesn't bear the slightest resemblance to ANYTHING in real life.
Rule 9: Life is not divided into semesters. You don't get summers off and very few employers are interested in helping you FIND YOURSELF. Do that on your own time..
Rule 10: Television is NOT real life. In real life people actually have to leave the coffee shop and go to jobs.
Rule 11: Be nice to nerds. Chances are you'll end up working for one.
Monday 13 July 2009
Monday Fun
Classic British comedy. It's tempting to think that the kind of attitudes expressed here are peculiar to the class conscious society of pre-1960's Britain. Unfortunately, condescension and even contempt continue to flourish in all sorts of unexpected places - even at the very margins of contemporary society.
Saturday 11 July 2009
Christianity Lite?
I have a confession to make. I watched Joel Osteen speak at the Hillsong Conference. And...wait for it...I liked much of what he had to say.
One comment stuck out. He told how he is often criticised for preaching Christianity lite. Then he told of someone in his church who said she'd had forty years of Christianity heavy and she'd take Christianity lite any day.
Something there to reflect on I think.
One comment stuck out. He told how he is often criticised for preaching Christianity lite. Then he told of someone in his church who said she'd had forty years of Christianity heavy and she'd take Christianity lite any day.
Something there to reflect on I think.
Thursday 2 July 2009
Thursday Thoughts
A few months ago I was talking to a senior Pentecostal theologian. He commented that most churches, in his opinion, didn't preach or emphasise baptism in the Spirit any longer.
His assessment caused me to think. There certainly isn't the emphasis these days on tarrying to receive the Spirit. And speaking in tongues as initial evidence of the baptism in the Holy Spirit doesn't seem to be the issue that it used to be, perhaps not because we have reached a consensus on it relationship to baptism in the Holy Spirit, but because, if my friend is right, we're not too concerned about baptism in the Holy Spirit.
Is it the case that baptism in the Spirit has become a doctrinal relic of an earlier Pentecostal? Should we set it to one side and talk more in third wave language about a release of the Spirit with any of the fruit or gifts of the Spirit seen as evidence of His work within us? Or is baptism in the Holy Spirit, as Martyn Lloyd-Jones maintained, a major component of revival?
Would love to know your thoughts.
His assessment caused me to think. There certainly isn't the emphasis these days on tarrying to receive the Spirit. And speaking in tongues as initial evidence of the baptism in the Holy Spirit doesn't seem to be the issue that it used to be, perhaps not because we have reached a consensus on it relationship to baptism in the Holy Spirit, but because, if my friend is right, we're not too concerned about baptism in the Holy Spirit.
Is it the case that baptism in the Spirit has become a doctrinal relic of an earlier Pentecostal? Should we set it to one side and talk more in third wave language about a release of the Spirit with any of the fruit or gifts of the Spirit seen as evidence of His work within us? Or is baptism in the Holy Spirit, as Martyn Lloyd-Jones maintained, a major component of revival?
Would love to know your thoughts.
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