Ain't Studying War No More...

That is really not true...I am studying war. As a matter of fact, I have been looking recently as some of the statements made by church denominations that are affiliated with the National Association of Evangelicals. The statements are rather surprising.

One of the largest evangelical churches in the United States contains this phrase in the by-laws, "As a movement we affirm our loyalty to the government of the United States in war and peace".

Another smaller denomination (to which I belonged for a short period of time) puts it this way in their Articles, "We recognize the sovereign authority of government and the duty of all Christians to reverence the power, to obey the law, and to participate righteously in the administration of lawful order in the nation under whose protection they reside..."

Do we really think clearly about what we believe about war in the evangelical church? Can we really use phrases like, "sovereign authority of government" and still make the Christian claim that "Jesus is Lord". I think we need a re-think....

Entering the World of Blogging

It is a scary thing. When I jump into the world of blogging - you know that times are changing. I just couldn't resist the temptation.

I have a couple of fears about this. The first fear comes completely from my ego. I fear that no one will read and respond to my precious little insights. I assume that this is one of the main reasons that people write on the web; they want to be heard. So down deep inside this blogging exercise must be fulfilling some strange and hidden need that I have to be listened to - but what if no one responds or even cares about the things that I care about?

The second fear is that I will quickly be branded a heretic. Some of my crazy ideas might get me in trouble. For that reason I want to say from the outset that some of the theological ideas that I talk about and write about will be simply my groping with theological ideas. I believe that Christian theology and the church suffer when we don't use our imaginations. Lack of imagination is why the church (universal) is in some of the trouble that it is in - we simply don't know how to do ministry and how to talk about things differently than we have always done it. So many of my posts will be tentative flights of theologizing that is humbly trying to discover new pathways in how to be authentically Christian in a fragmented world.

With those fears noted - let the journey begin. I better not make any promises of frequency of posts or depth of posts. At this point, I simply don't know what to make of all of this. But, I am now ready to enter this strange blogging world. Jesus, help us all....