Gospel.com Blog

If Christianity, Islam, and many other religions call for their followers to help the poor or do good works within society, does it make sense for Christians to team up with followers of other religions to perform those good works? Is it possible (or a good idea) to jointly pursue such common purposes even if you have very different theological goals? How does your church approach this issue in your community?

Share your thoughts!

Have you ever seen an abandoned church building?

At WebUrbanist, there’s a fascinating series of photos of abandoned church buildings, in varying states of decay and ranging from the strangely beautiful to the downright depressing. Here’s a sample:

I recently took a road trip through the American midwest and saw several abandoned-looking churches (although none as photogenic as these). I don’t believe that church buildings, simple or ornate, have any special quality of “holiness,” and so seeing these images isn’t a spiritual shock.

But they do raise questions, some of them a bit sad: what happened to the people who once worshipped here? Are they happily worshiping at another church today? What caused them to leave the church—was it theological disagreement, a slow decline in membership, collapse of the local economy? What was it like to worship in these churches for the last time?

Jeff Berryman has some poignant thoughts on these images:

Two hundred years from now, or four hundred—and I know it’s not the same for a thousand reasons—but imagine someone wandering through the ruins of the place where you worship, if you do.  What, they will wonder, went on here?  What happened?  How and why did such beauty get lost?

And of course, people are churches, many abandoned and worn down, the images of these abandoned rooms images of many spirits and souls.

What about you? Do you pass churches like these in your own town? How do these images make you feel?

Every October 31st, Halloween rolls around with all of its perceived positives and negatives. For some, whether or not to participate isn’t even a point of discussion. For others, it’s a question they wrestle with every year.

James Watkins paraphrases Paul from 1 Corinthians 8:4-13 in his thoughts on the holiday:

Don’t worry about the ancient association of these holidays with paganism since we know there are no gods of sun and death, and that the dead don’t roam the earth. You’re not appeasing Samhain when you go “trick-or-treating” or sacrificing to the gods by carving a jack-o-lantern. But if your family or friends have reservations about these things, don’t encourage them to do something they feel is “sinful.”

Read the rest of James Watkins’ answer at Should Christians celebrate Halloween?.

What about you? Do you participate in Halloween festivities?

What do you think?

Capital punishment is considered only in the most extreme of cases, and even then, it’s rarely used. Despite its infrequent use, is the death penalty something Christians should support?

Share your thoughts!

We all have problems, and we want solutions. That’s why it’s so tempting to treat the Bible like a big book of answers. We just want to find the right verses and passages, because if we can find them then we’d never screw up and get embarrassingly drunk again, or we could win that argument about women in the church, or we could finally have a clear conscience about whether to get the couch or donate the money to charity.

In the Dark Side of Bible Reading Jeremy Berg writes of his concern for this approach. He’s worried that the self-absorption we bring to the study of Bible could be harmful.

Here’s an excerpt:

I am concerned about those who approach the text with their own issues and preoccupations already in mind and ask the Word to magically speak to those issues. I am irritated with an attitude (usually well-meaning and unintentional, by the way) that sounds like: “That’s a nice story Jesus, but can you please address my problem with __________?”…And a thousand other variations.

The hidden dark side of this posture toward God’s Word is that it reveals a deep-seated self-absorption that keeps us at the center of our universe and insists that God and His Word orbit our needs and serve our interests.

He goes on to offer what he calls a “different posture toward God’s Word”:

1. First, let’s humbly approach God’s Word as we would approach God himself. Let’s reverently bow in awe and listen intently to what he is actually saying to us.

2. Instead of “applying the Bible to our lives” (which again assumes we are the fixed center point and the Word is just a holy ointment to be applied to our souls) let’s instead try to “apply ourselves to the Bible.” Put narratively, let’s not let give God a convenient place within our own story; but rather find ourselves swept up in God’s much larger Story!

3. Instead of bringing all of our concerns to the text and forcing it to speak to them, let’s instead let God’s concerns invite us out of our (relatively) petty preoccupations and into the realm of heavenly realities. “Set your mind on things above, not on earthly things” (Col 3:2)…

4. Finally, personal application must come only AFTER one has given God’s Word a fair hearing. Let God lead the conversation where He so desires. When we’re done letting God’s Word speak then we can ask the Spirit to give us a personal assignment in response to God’s challenge.

Read the entire Dark Side of Bible Reading post.

What do you think? Do you agree with Mr. Berg’s posture toward the Bible?

The idea behind the age of accountability is that before a certain age a child is not responsible for their actions. If they die before reaching the age of accountability, they are saved. After that, they are responsible for their own salvation.

What do you think. Is there such a thing as the age of accountability?

Share your thoughts!

There’s a lot of nuances to baptism (sprinkling v. immersion, adult v. child, etc.), but I’d like to focus on the core question of whether or not it’s essential for salvation.

What do you think? Is Baptism necessary for salvation?

What do you think?

Pastor Eugene Cho of Quest Church out in Seattle has a heart for the impoverished. He cares about them so much that’s he’s giving away his entire 2009 salary.

It’s all part of the kick-off for the site One Day’s Wages, which is devoted to connecting donors with organizations who are actively involved in combating global poverty and injustice. The site frames giving in terms of what you earn in a day, which is about .4% of your salary for the year.

By now, you’ve all heard the statistic that billions of people are living off of less than 2 dollars a day, which—to be honest—is staggering in itself, but really hit home for me after I used ODW’s calculator to determine how much I made in a day. It’s sobering to think that in one week I’ll make more than many people do in an entire year. I absolutely can afford to give up one day’s wages, no matter how tight my budget might feel to me.

You can hear more about One Day’s Wages from Eugene in this introductory video:

The Movement of One Day’s Wages from One Day's Wages on Vimeo.

Meditation is defined by m-w.com as the act of engaging “in mental exercise for the purpose of reaching a heightened level of spiritual awareness.” Let’s assume that we’re talking about meditating on a particular passage or phrase in the Bible, or on an aspect of God.

So, what do you think, should Christians meditate?

Share your answer!

Obviously, addictive gambling is a major problem—and one not to be taken lightly—but what about the person who buys a lottery ticket now and then? Are they sinning?

Can Christians gamble in good conscience?

What do you think?