1517 Blogcast

Are we entitled to a good day and sweet dreams at night? No. The Bible doesn’t promise us we should feel good all the time. Experience also teaches us that a painless life is unattainable. In fact, God promises Eve, “I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children.

“America exists to destroy Baptism.” I’m still captivated by this line from Steven Paulson at the Here We Still Stand Conference a couple years back. The more I think about it, the more convinced I am that he is right. America, as a culture, has always emphasized that we are to pull ourselves up by our bootstraps, get to work, and make this world a better place by our own efforts.

The following is a Question and Answer session with author and pastor Donavon Riley where we talk about his latest book, “Crucifying Religion: How Jesus is the End of Religion”.

She lounges in a beach chair and sips on a Corona as the sun shines from above and the grass brushes her toes from below. It’s a perfect summer day, and she should have little to worry about. She feels lucky to live in a free country, with access to ease and convenience, comfort, and peace. Yet her mind is tormented with the worries of tomorrow.

Today is John Newton’s birthday. This week, I’m sure churches everywhere will sing his, “Amazing Grace,” and possibly hear the tale about the self-proclaimed wretched sinner saved by grace. While this story is most certainly true, it’s not the whole story.

Human rights stand revealed as an idea that polarizes, encouraging uncritical support and also extreme reaction from both secularists and religionists. But the stark reality of man’s inhumanity to man in our time compels us to take the human rights movement with the utmost seriousness.

“Jesus answered...‘And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.’” (John 12:32).

I have heard this verse dozens of times in churches, often in conjunction with a church body announcing plans for their worship ministry and growth. Many church websites include a phrase similar to this: “Everything we do in worship at our church is all about lifting Jesus up” (notice the subtle shift of focus from Christ’s work to ours).

The smell of the lavender hits your nose as you remove the plant from its tiny plastic shell and rough up the compacted roots that have pullulated despite their confinement. Life is like that, making a way, filling in the gaps, taking advantage of limitations and seizing opportunities.

It was on this day, the 17th of July in 180 AD, that 12 African Christians were added to the list of the earliest church Martyrs. These Scillitan Martyrs (named after Scillium, a province in northwest Africa) had rejected the way of Empire, refused to recant their faith, and were summarily executed at the order of Proconsul Vigellius Saturninus.

When pain bears down on us, how hard is it to keep going? We ask ourselves, “What did I do to deserve this torture?” “Why can’t my family and friends appreciate how much I hurt?” The pain and hurt haunt us and punish us for being alive.