David Wayne (aka Jollyblogger) has a post citing Marriage statistics.  The old saw the last few years is that the divorce rate from evangelicals is roughly equal to (and sometimes worse than) the national average.  This new post states that instead of just counting those that cite a ‘born again’ experience as proof of their evangelical creds, it also counts those that attend church regularly.  When that additional data point is added to the equation, the sturdiness of the evangelical marriage stands up a bit better than the national average.

While I think trying to use statistics to prove a faithful life is somewhat of a folly, the point I’d like to ponder is a long those same lines.  The power of attending church as a factor in persevering in a life in Christ.  My class this last Sunday we talked about Christ as being the light of the world, the light that casts our darkness.  In my Thursday class we talked about science and the shakiness of special and general revelation as we see through the glass darkly.  In all the exposure of regular attendance in church seems to have a mystical effect on those that express a faith in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.  It isn’t something that we can test for, or monitor, it is something we can see if we look close enough.

The darkness will try to hide it in the shadows, but faith in Christ isn’t a faith that occurs in solitude.  It is  faith that grows in community, with a body of other believers.  It is a faith that grows with the study of the Word of God, and that requires the body of Christ to and the Holy Spirit as guides along our course.  The statistic regarding lower divorce rates of evangelical, church attending Christians is lower, because their marriage includes Christ in that union.  The wheels come off when one starts to think that the marriage can be whole apart from Christ.  The relationship is held together by the working of Christ.

I don’t want to discount faithful people that are devoted to Christ yet still see their marriages fall into divorce.  There is healing for people hurt in that tragedy.  I have faith that Christ even works towards the good in that situation as he does with a couple that struggles in a marriage that includes weekly worship in a church.  The magic isn’t in the building, it isn’t in the work, it is in the understanding that where two or more are together, Christ is present.  The faithful obedience of people that fall almost daily, but are willing to walk inside the door and confess those failings, are more able to accept the failings of themselves, and also of their spouse.  The humilty that comes with a life in servanthood to Christ is required in a covenant of holy matrimony, because it can freely accept the fallenness of a partner, because we acknowledge our own fallen state, and the light that brings us out of the darkness.

Marantha.

Have you ever wondered about God’s angels?  Or guardian angels?  Some type of angelic host that protects us from trouble?

There was a friend at our church that had a really bad bicycle accident, fell 15 feet from the top of a jump.  Landed on his face, and was really torn up.  He will be going through several oral surgeries.  But he will be okay, bruised and banged up, but okay.

The cynic might say, ‘Where was God when that happened?’  Or, ‘Why didn’t God do something to prevent that?’  Maybe even, ‘If an angel were physically present that would never have happened, because it never would have been attempted.’

I’m not equating x-cross biking with sin, but using it as an example.   Would things be better if God physically, manifestly intervened to prevent us from sinning?

Short answer, been there done that, didn’t make a difference.  Longer answer and mindless prattle and preaching after the break. Continue reading →

That is the topic we studied in our bible study last night, here is a link:

The Truth Project

Produced by Focus on the Family, it is a fairly good worldview study, looking at the ‘big’ questions.  Last night we watched the third segment, that talks about ‘Anthropology’ and tries to answer the question of ‘who is man?’.  The segment, taught primarily by Dr. Del Tackett was mostly over the question of evil, if it exists, where is comes from, and how the secular world view has some unsatisfying answers to the question of evil.  Pointing out that secular thought (from Rosseau and Maslow) has a basis that man is essentially good (aside: what you say, isn’t that what the Bible says, that we are good?  Um well, yes, in our original state, in the natural state, we are fallen, which is different than good… ).  Tackett does a good job of tying knots in the secular response of the question of evil, because if man is essentially good, and the source of evil, as some philosophers say, is the cultural institutions, where do institutions become evil, if their sum is made up of ‘essentially good’ parts.

Tackett never really answers the where does evil come from, and more points out that the secular response to the question is unsatisfying.  Good, well produced video, that brings up some good worldview discussions in our group.  We’re left realizing that man’s default state (currently, not pre-fall) is a corrupt state, that although we still bear the ‘image of God’, we lack the Spirit of God and lack the control over our ‘inherent’ ‘natural’ instincts and in a way the problem of evil, is the problem of being fallen.  Or as the Calvinists say, Totally Depraved.

I’m looking forward to next week’s session.

And now for something completely different. A couple of weeks ago, I signed up to teach a course for our church during our Wednesday night activities. The course is a video presentation based on John Ortberg’s book The Life You’ve Always Wanted. Let me cut&paste a bit from the preface:

If you have ever been frustrated with the state of your spiritual life. If you’ve ever wondered why spiritual growth goes so slowly. If you’ve ever wondered if real change is possible. If you’ve ever felt confused or stuck in your spiritual life — you’re my kind of person.

…

Throughout the centuries, wise people have devoted themselves to following Jesus in this way. This series is an attempt to make some of that wisdom accessible to people who line in a world of freeways, corporate ladders and Xboxes. When you are through, my hope is that you will accept Christ’s invitation to live life his way because it truly is the live you’ve always wanted.

A facinating topic, to be sure. One that I’ve struggled with for much of my life. Spiritual maturity or growth is a weird thing. If anyone has a litany of things you must do to mature spiritually, run away, seriously. Not because a list of things to do is inherently bad, it just might be misdirected. These past few weeks in my daily reading of blogs, or studying for Sunday School, or just leafing through the book that goes along with the study, I’ve realized I’ve playing a bit on the fringes of my spirituality.

Its gonna get wordy, so if you’re interested click to continue reading.

Continue reading →

Click the image to go to the Online Version of Christianity Today.

hat tip: The Jonathan Edwards Center at Yale University

Any comments? Bueller?