I was reading the new issue of Relevant Magazine yesterday and stumbled upon an article written about “SIN” and why nobody talks about that three letter word anymore.

My interest was sparked when I saw the article because I know I’ve seen it happening slowly, but surely, but I wasn’t sure others have been seeing this shift. To tell you the truth people probably don’t talk about it, in fear of what others think or what others will end up doing once confronted about sin.
I mean that seems to be the usual reason we don’t follow through with what is right.
…right?
fear

My favorite quote from the article was,
” Widespread apathy toward sin reveals itself
in the lack of interest
in holiness. ”

True?
Not true?
What do you think about this quote?

This is a guest post from a friend of mine, John Lane. He writes about contemporary church culture, theology, art, worldview, and politics over on his blog. Go check it out after you read this!

Culture: Its just one of those buzz words. We have good culture, bad culture, culture wars, secular culture, Hollywood culture, emergent culture, conservative culture, main-street culture, mainstream culture, sub culture, pop culture, folk culture, high culture, counter culture, and of course, Christian culture.

But how should Christians approach Culture? Its obvious that today’s culture is not good. It runs contrary to Christ and his word. So what should Christians do about it? For the better part of the last three decades, Christians have approached culture through one of two ways. We either ignore/war against culture, or we emulate it.

Both of these approaches have left Christians alienated and irrelevant. So, the two approaches we Christians have been employing to deal with a culture gone awry aren’t working and we still have a culture that runs contrary to God. So what are we to do?

Perhaps there is another way to deal with culture. Culture is the outpouring of Man’s heart. Consider Andy Crouch definition of culture:

“The beginning of culture and the beginning of humanity are one and the same because culture is what we were made to do.”

This is where we Christians fail. We have stopped creating culture, and if culture is the outpouring of Man’s heart, then the culture that is going to exist is going to be one of self-centeredness, egotistical, and self glorifying. But christians are called to create culture, then we are called to create culture for a different reason. A reason that is not self glorifying, but God glorifying. “The end all and be all of creation is the self-glorification of God.”

If a christian creates culture with this in mind, we will start to see glimpses of God in culture, because God is where the Christian’s heart lies. Christians should cease being determined to either war against or emulate culture, and should merely start creating culture.

I have waited a week or so to write about this whole Harold Camping thing, just in case he was sort of right. Incase God decided to come on May 22nd instead, just to make Camping doubt himself a little. Of course, that didn’t happen.

If you are a Christian, you have thought about the rapture at one point in your life. You might ask for forgiveness constantly from God just to make sure you two are on the same page about your salvation. You sometimes compare yourself to your friends to make sure you’re doing ok in God’s sight. You make sure to check and see if some people who you think are holier than you are still here, just so you know the rapture hasn’t happened yet. Maybe your thought process is more profound and you think about the folding or piling of your clothes.

So, when Harold Camping predicted that the world would end on May 21st and then it didn’t, it still had us all thinking, “So, when is thing really going to happen?” People have been talking about it for years. People have been saying it’s going to be soon and we are all still waiting. I mean Earth is great and all, but I imagine Heaven to be at least 100 times greater.

Anyways, I have a feeling that when anyone predicts a time and day that God will come back, God won’t come back. Maybe Camping was right about the prediction,but he went and made God change His schedule. God’s probably more mad about that than anything. I hate it when something comes up and I have to change my schedule.

The other thing is that I feel sorry for the people that went and gave away all of earthly possessions since they listened to Harold Camping who thought God was coming back on May 21st. Right now they have to be hurt from the people who led them to believe something that wasn’t true.

In the end, the predictions not coming true really just makes “Christians” look stupid. You just can’t predict it. The predictions make people confused and angry when it doesn’t happen. It also wastes a bunch of time. Change the world while we’re still here. Feed the hungry, help the poor, love one another.

God is coming back for us one day. That’s all I know.

This isn’t a brag post, but making a point. Read it ’til the end.

You come across people that you think would be awesome to meet, only to realize that they poop just like you.

Yes, I remember the times that I met Ludacris, Jermaine Dupri, Janet Jackson, 50 Cent, Ciara and Bow Wow. I had it in my mind that it would be a glorious moment, but it was a let down. And yes, most of those people are famous to me because they define hip-hop, but the experience was just “ok”.

Anyways, my favorite “famous” person I’ve ever met has to be Blake Clark, though. He was Farmer Fran in the movie, The Waterboy. He’s done some other roles as well, but that’s the one I remember him the most from. He did that voice for me when we met. Awesomeness.

The words “famous” or “celebrity” are weird because it’s hard to know when that exactly happens.
Some of you would argue that there’s no such thing as a “famous” Christian person, but I’d have to disagree.

The only two people I want to meet now are Billy Graham and Bono. I want to meet Billy Graham and Bono because they’ve done stuff that REALLY matters.

That would do it for me. I have no idea what I’d do…
Probably pee my pants and my mind would most likely go blank.

So, who is that famous person you’ve always wanted to meet and why?

Some remember that exact moment when they accepted Jesus into their life and some just know it happened along the way.

For me, I remember that moment.

I was twelve years old.

I had that altar time with the snot cry.

A lot has happened since I was twelve.

I’ve done some good. I’ve done some bad.

That’s why this relationship of grace through Jesus is awesome.

It’s a daily walk with Him.

How did you come to know Him?

As I’ve been reading others’ blogs, I’ve noticed something lately about “Christian” bloggers, including myself. We rarely use Scripture in our posts. Maybe it’s becoming “uncool”… NO.WAY.

I know my reason. It’s because I know someone is reading my posts and knows a lot more about the Bible than I do. Then when I use that Scripture that I think is perfect, someone who knows Hebrew and Latin and actually wrote part of the Bible, points out that it’s not being used in the right context. Yep. That happens quite a bit.

I do learn something from those folks, though.

I’ve been thinking about all of this lately. This shouldn’t keep me from using Scripture. I should share it every chance I get.

I should actually use a verse in every post even if it doesn’t go, just to mess with all of your minds.

Maybe I’ll start with something easy, but profound. Something like John 3:16.

That verse always goes.

So, what’s your favorite scripture and why?

“saved”

That’s an amazing word. Christians use that word when they try to describe when Jesus came into their life.

Here’s an exact definition:

save 1 (sv)
v. saved, sav·ing, saves
v.tr.
1.
a. To rescue from harm, danger, or loss.
b. To set free from the consequences of sin; redeem.
2. To keep in a safe condition; safeguard.
3. To prevent the waste or loss of; conserve.

So, when we talk about being “saved”, what do you think of the saying…

“Once saved, always saved”?

This post comes from something I heard a few days ago that didn’t really settle well with me. This person said that God gave them a certain disease so they could now minister to those with that same illness. What? God gives diseases to bring folks to Him now? That’s a new one. Let’s discuss this.

What’s a topic/statement you’ve heard someone say lately that you don’t exactly agree with?