Fearless:The Courage to Question

Fearless: The Courage to Question

Fearless: The Courage to Question

Fearless: The Courage to Question

Answering the questions that have been raised during this series

After having touched on all the above issues, this sermon will draw lessons that will help us to better handle the elephants that wander into the church. The ultimate goal will be that our faith promotes love, justice and mercy in the world.

I have a book on my shelf entitled "Jesus: Made in America." It follows how Christians in America have shaped Jesus according to their needs. It is probably not possible to completely get away from this phenomenon since we know Christ through our own experiences. This sermon will ask the question, "Does the Jesus we worship shape who we are or do we build a Jesus to meet our needs or support our prejudices?"

Many times as I travel I see signs outside of churches that say, "Everyone welcome!" Not everyone believes this. The Church has a reputation among those 40 and under of disliking certain groups of people and not being open to everyone. Is this true? How does Christ call us to welcome?

This is the "hot button" issue of the day. Since 9/11 there has been a mistrust of Muslims by many Americans because of how the radical elements of Islam used their faith for their own purposes. this sermon will explore if it is possible to find some sort of middle ground that does not deny the fringe elements in both religions nor hold the rest of Christians and Muslims suspect because they do not agree.

This is one of the most important issues for world peace today. For Christians it starts with how we understand the salvation Jesus brings and what does that say about other religions. this sermon will explore if it is possible to find ways where religion, even though we do not always believe the same things, can respect one another.

Religion and science seem to be built on suspicion and mistrust of the other. Does it have to be this way? Is there a way for science and religion to mutually benefit each other? If there is, what would it do to our understanding of God and our understanding of science?