Category: Engaging Our Culture

relationships, couple

12 Keys To Tackling Relationship Difficulties – Part 1

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The purpose of this post is to learn how to deal with difficulties in relationships according to scripture, understand the root attitudes needed to tackle difficulties, and allow the difficulties to transform us into the new Christformed person God is making us. Jesus said the greatest commandment is to love God and the second is to love others. This is the foundation and end of spiritual growth, spiritual formation and spiritual theology. So relationships are the most important element of Christianity! This means we should learn to master relationships and how to love people. Thus, relationship difficulties are our biggest testing ground and our biggest growth opportunity. This post looks at keys to dealing with the difficulties we have in relationships. Part 2 of this post is found here. KEY ONE: Know your weaknesses. We all have relationship weaknesses. If we can be honest about them we will be able Continue Reading →

Universalism and Buddhism: What Does Christianity Say?

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  This post will help you talk to any of your reincarnation and/or Buddhist/Zen friends about Christianity. It will help you explain how Christianity goes farther and higher in a friendly way. Universalism is a popular idea today. There are different versions of it but the general idea is that God will save everyone eventually. Of course this is an attractive idea; who doesn’t want everyone to be saved? Even scripture says that God is “not wishing that any should perish” (II Peter 3:9). But scripture also says in many places that God will send some people to punishment after He judges them for their destructive, unloving lives. We won’t look at all the verses on that because the purpose of this post is to look at why God takes that view. One of the best ways to understand Christianity is to compare it to other religions. This will help Continue Reading →

Church Bashing Part 2: Positives in the American Church

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  Last week the topic was church bashing. (Last week’s post.) This week continues the topic with an emphasis on the American church today. Criticizing the American church has become very popular in the last few years. This post looks at some issues surrounding this trend. Following is an example of the criticism of American Christianity from a recent popular blog: “The connection economy is an arena where the church — the body of Christ — should be leading. But it’s not. The world has blown past it. In the connection economy, building connections with like-minded people is valued higher than acquiring “stuff.” For instance, suppose I handed you $2,000 to spend on whatever you wanted. Your mind may default to a new refrigerator. Or that curved HD TV you’ve been eyeing at Best Buy. Or a new set of golf clubs. Or those rare coins for your coin collection. Or you Continue Reading →

The Dangers of Church Bashing – Part 1

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For some reason it has become popular among many Christian writers to make critical statements about the Christian church as a whole, either the present church or the historical church. My question is whether these statements are fair and good. If I took the time I could come up with endless examples of sweeping criticisms. I will give one example from a very well-known spiritual formation author. He wrote “We’ve been at this for two thousand years now…Clearly, the church is not making much headway in eliminating what is wrong in the world and making everything right.” Is this historically fair? The Roman empire was a brutal empire ruled by brutal and often grossly immoral and hedonistic emperors. After Christianity was legally accepted in the 4th century the morality and humanitarianism in the empire greatly improved. Unwanted babies weren’t left to die on hillsides. Bishops like Ambrose had the influence Continue Reading →

How To Love Your “Neighbor” Through Conversations

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Today I am posting a post from Michael Hyatt, former Christian publishing CEO about conversations. This is especially important during this holiday season when we have the opportunity to connect with our friends and family and establish deeper relationships. Hyatt’s post contains excellent advice about conversations, communication and valuing people in a truly Christian way. He doesn’t mention scripture or Jesus but for me it goes to the heart of the second great commandment established by Jesus: love your neighbor as yourself. Learning to love others is the essential sign of a Christian and learning how to communicate love and friendship are essential to loving others. Jesus was a master of loving communication and we can be too. Paul said our speech should be “seasoned”, in other words it should taste good. Whether we are talking with believers or unbelievers we can craft our speech to communicate the fruits of Continue Reading →