As I am wrestling with engaging the culture, I realized it would be really good to hear how all of you who read this blog engage the culture with the truth of the gospel. What kinds of things do you believe are important to say? How do you start conversations? How much do you actually know about the people you engage regularly?

Thanks in advance. Michael

Chapters 9-12

I was fascinated this week in thinking about one aspect of the book that was early in our section for discussion. Peter is asking Valentine to help him write and change the world. What fascinated me most was that Peter is claiming words have power. I started thinking about this a bit more Read the rest of this entry »

Hello everyone.

We have not focused on movies for a little while here on the blog and I would like to get back to a few of them. One movie that is coming out in a month is Prince Caspian, the second in the Narnia series. I do not know how the movie will be, but it is a great opportunity for us as believers to prepare for the release. In the next month I will be rereading the original book and making comments throughout about what I am enjoying about it. I will also comment on the things we could think more deeply about that is sparked by the book. I have picked up a book that is a literary commentary, for lack of a better term, of the book. It is called Inside Prince Caspian and it is written by Devon Brown. I will probably be bringing out little bits I have read in that book as well.

Have you read the book recently? Are you going to see the movie when it comes out in May?

Here is a good link to a trailer for this film on the web. At this site you can see as much as you want about the film.

Enjoy!

A couple of days ago I explained how I plan to approach this book now. Today I want to talk more about the Amazing Grace that Christians receive in God’s perfect gospel.

The Issue…
Why do I say Mr. Tolle has missed the gospel? Read the rest of this entry »

I am becoming increasingly frustrated with this book and finding it difficult to comment on any one specific thing about the book because there is sooooooo much that is redefined using the author’s definitions rather than biblical or even our own cultural definitions. Rather than picking out specifics each week, I am going to give you a major problem I see with Tolle’s teaching that permeates everything that he says. I will do this from a biblical perspective since I do not believe the culture has an answer to what he is claiming. I mentioned my major struggle in chapter 5, but I hope to expand on it here. Read the rest of this entry »

The god-like teachers are shaping Ender by throwing things at him. Is this right or wrong and why?

Did you think about this question as you were reading? One of the things I like about this book is the interaction between the two men at the beginning of each chapter. Read the rest of this entry »

Well, for those of you who missed it, the remaining “idols” sang Shout to the Lord twice! On Wed. night for Idol Gives Back, they sang it replacing the word Jesus with Shepherd. Then Thursday night they sang it, putting Jesus back into the song.So, what was going on and why did they choose the song in the first place? Great questions. I have no idea, but many blogs are making reference to this. I want to highlight a couple here.First, Josh Harris has written about the show and you can find three different posts. The first and second address it with some humor, but the third actually has more thoughts from inside people in Hollywood and affiliated with Idol. Check them out.

Second, another blog I read is called Worship Matters. On that blog, there is an interesting post on the show and concerning the singing of this song. You can check it out here. Hope you enjoy these posts. Let me know what you think.

Michael

Welcome to the next great book discussion! I hope you like the book, but even if you don’t, there are great things to learn together as we discuss it. As usual, I will begin the discussion, but this really depends on your involvement. I will post my thoughts to get us going and then you can add your two cents. I look forward to the discussion. Let us begin with the first four chapters.

First, a few issues that we can discuss if you want to talk about them… Read the rest of this entry »

I am going to practice what Oprah and Mr. Tolle are talking about by being in the moment right now and not worrying about the fact that I am four weeks behind in responding to this study. I have decided to pick up right here today and cover part of chapter 5 of the book with this post. In the next couple of weeks I will also try to cover the previous sessions. Look for those posts too.

I can relate to the situations that have been discussed in this web event over the last 5 weeks. If I were not a Christian, Read the rest of this entry »