After reinstalling OS X and two days of problem free operation, iTunes is now crashing again after one bounce of the icon on the dock. Get info works and I’ve done nothing to the computer in the last two days.

So if anyone can give me any advice on fixing it, I’m all ears. (I’ve tried everything suggested in the previous thread.)

If you are a Mac geek and have some time tomorrow after 3 EST, I can get on AIM. Write me.

Every year for the past three years, several of the BHT fellows have blogged during advent at “go to bethlehem and see.” a blog devoted to advent.

That blog is now open, and I invite you to add it to your rss feed. I’ll also encourage contributors to update on Twitter.

We try to keep things “Advent centered” and not Christmas centered. Your comments are welcome.

John H at Confessing Evangelical suggests some devotional resources in the Orthodox tradition.

James White has some video from the John 3:16 Conference. Apparently some in the “crowd” of 600-800 don’t believe Calvinists are Christians. I certainly believe you can be lost in any version of theology or church, and I have no doubt that this brother is sincere, but a constructive conversation about Calvinism can’t proceed on the premise that Calvinists are lost. (And the ridiculous blaming of the SBC’s 6% Calvinists for decreased baptisms is right out front. White is correct that a conference like this mainly communicates that future ministers will be shunned if they have any Calvinism in their doctrine.)

When David Allen asks what unites Southern Baptists, I’d love to hear his answer to what he calls “Baptist distinctives.” Teetotalism? The Hymnal? And the “theological systems” he wants to avoid should include incoherent fundamentalism as well. [Continue reading]

Joseph Bottum: “The End of Advent,” at the First Things blog.

Many years ago, we made a decision to, as much as possible, speak of Advent and not of Christmas, until Christmas. I’ve never been able to hold off the Christmas music, but as much as possible we’ve stayed with that commitment.

It’s also amusing to watch my co-workers get the puzzled look when I start referring to “advent,” something some/most of the have never heard of. They often assume I’m one of the “Christmas is a Babylonian occultic festival” whack jobs, which we usually have somewhere in the gallery.

It’s really very simple: Christmas is the feast of the incarnation and the season following that event. Advent is the recognition that we need a savior and the longing for that savior to come, according to God’s promises. [Continue reading]

With this post I am concluding my response to the series The Unresolved Tensions of Evangelicalism.

This post will look at “Disillusionment With Christian Community” and “Abandoning Christian Commitment Itself.”

The previous “Response” post (with links to the previous four) is here.

Disillusionment With Christian Community

Of the four issues I have examined, the disillusionment with Christian community has prompted the most response from evangelicals themselves. Throughout its history, evangelicalism has addressed this issue through study, discussion, experimentation, success and failure. [Continue reading]

We received some wonderful news today. Our son, Clay, and his longtime friend/recent girlfriend Taylor Claypool, are engaged to be married in December of next year. We love both our kids and they have brought us so much happiness by finding spouses who are Christians and wonderful additions to our extended family. [Continue reading]

None of us know God’s ways and purposes beyond what He has revealed in scripture or in our own experience. But taking those lessons and “sanctified common sense,” we can think in terms of possibilities.

For instance, I have my students answer the question: “What were God’s possible purposes in allowing Saul to be such a failure as king of Israel?” Their answers help them think about what God was doing in the nation and for David.

So here’s an open thread question that I promised on last week’s podcast:

“What Might Be Some of God’s Purposes In Allowing A Major Economic Downturn?”

Talk amongst yourselves.

I’ve long admired pastor, blogger and cartoonist David Hayward, aka The Naked Pastor. (That’s Naked. Not “Nekkid.” He’s not up to anything.) I’ve been excited about this interview and it’s proven to be everything I hoped for.

David has a fascinating journey and a point of view the IM audience will appreciate. I’ve already gotten one email telling me I should have nothing to do with him, so he’s good people.

David pastors a Vineyard in Canada, and he will give you the whole story. And those of you who like a little Vineyard excitement, don’t give up before the last question!

1. Thanks for doing the IM interview David. Tell us about the name “The Naked Pastor.”

Thanks for inviting me to do this interview. My first post on nakedpastor was on February 3, 2006. I wanted to lay my life out there as a pastor. I wanted to bare my soul. Many pastors hide behind a wall of illusion that we co-dependently create with our communities. We try to act as if we have it together and people like to think we have it together just like they want us to think that they have it together. That’s a debilitating lie. I think my blog helps to dispel that. Which is why I think it is offensive to some. Some read my blog and say: here’s a guy who struggles with the same things I do and he’s a pastor of a church! Some see that as dangerous. [Continue reading]

I now come to the last two posts in this series on The Unresolved Tensions of Evangelicalism. All four posts are accessible here.

In these posts I will write a response to each of the four topics of personal disillusionment: The Biblical worldview, Christian experience, Christian community and Christian commitment itself.

In my responses, I hope to say something constructive to those evangelicals who have left or are contemplating leaving evangelicalism, as well to loyal evangelicals within the church.

In this post, I’ll deal with the first two sources of personal disillusionment.

The Biblical Worldview [Continue reading]

Blame Bill Kinnon. And if talk about sex bothers you, then you probably need another religion. You’re out of luck in this one.

Dear Ed Young,

It was the grin that really got to me.

The arrogant, know-it-all, self-confident, re-inventing the wheel, just got me some grin.

The “I am a young pastor and I know everything in the world” grin.

You were sitting there on CNN, with your wife, talking about having sex 6 out of 7 nights this week.

Your wife said it was great. (That’s a relief. Bummer if she said she would rather not be forced into daily marital relations by pastoral demand.)

And the reporters are interested, because your church isn’t talking about God. It’s talking about sex so it can talk about God. [Continue reading]

I am continuing my series on “The Unresolved Tensions of Evangelicalism.”

Here is part 1 and part 2 and part 3.

4. Disillusionment With Christian Commitment Itself

In these posts, I have explored the various personal reasons evangelicals have for leaving the church. I have discussed the difficulty many have in coming to terms with the “Biblical worldview” as it is increasingly interpreted within conservative evangelical circles. I have examined the abuse of Christian experience and the multiple failures of Christian community that are bringing many evangelicals to leave the institutional church.

As I expected, these posts have received many confirming comments as well as the predictable criticism for allowing these disillusioned voices to be heard. Some are concerned that I am allowing these posts without endorsement or criticism of the point of view. Our fears of the implications of these voices are understandable, but the choice to hear them cannot be ethically avoided.

One last personal experience of disillusionment with evangelicalism needs to be heard before I write a response to all four. This is the disillusionment that leads a Christian to question or abandon Christian commitment itself. [Continue reading]

UPDATE: We have a Lutheran. Rev. William Cwirla, whom many of you know from The God Whisperers, etc. His post has been added to this one.

Welcome to “The Liturgical Gangstas,” a panel discussion among different traditions represented in the Internet Monk audience.

Every episode of the Liturgical Gangstas will feature a question, and each member of the panel will make a response from within their own tradition. Then you and the Gangstas can interact in the comments.

Who are the Gangstas?

Father Ernesto Obregon is an Eastern Orthodox priest.
Rev. Peter Vance Matthews is an Anglican priest and founding pastor of an AMIA congregation.
Dr. Wyman Richardson is a pastor of a First Baptist Church (SBC) and director of Walking Together Ministries, a resource on church discipline.
Alan Creech is a Roman Catholic with background in the Emerging church and spiritual direction.
Rev. Matthew Johnson is a United Methodist pastor.
Rev. William Cwirla is a Lutheran pastor (LCMS) and one of the hosts of The God Whisperers, which is a podcast nearly as good as Internet Monk Radio.

Welcome to the Liturgical Gangstas, and here’s the first question: “A person comes to you and says “I want to grow significantly as a Christian in the next year. Using the resources we all share and the specific resources of your tradition, what kind of guidance would you give this person? Be as specific as possible.” [Continue reading]

I am continuing my look at the sources of disillusionment within evangelicalism. This will be a five part series, with four posts on the sources of personal disillusionment and one on responding to these personal sources.

Here is part 1 and part 2.

3. The Disillusionment of Christian Community

[I want to be very clear that there are a lot of quality experiences of Christian community in evangelicalism, and many good people who practice it. I live in one good example. I know that many, many people have experienced the kindness of God in and through churches that demonstrated the reality of community in the Spirit. But it's from working in churches for almost 20 years and living in a Christian community for 16 that I have developed an appreciation for what so many are going through in their own painful experience of dysfunctioning community. Despite many examples of the body of Christ being beautiful, this subject- disillusionment because of Christian community- is continually relevant.]

Does anyone really need to write this post? [Continue reading]

Purposes of a Financial Downturn. Benedict 16th on Luther. “You make people feel bad.” Are the disillusioned standing at the exits with their coats?

Our sponsor is New Reformation Press. Great t-shirts, books and reformation resources.

Drew Marshall
Confessing Evangelical on B16. And here. Here’s the Vatican article. The actual text is here.
Charlie Hall

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I am continuing my series on the unresolved tensions of evangelicalism, I want to explore disillusionment with Christian experience.

2. The Disillusionment of Christian Experience

Evangelicalism makes confident claims about the religious experience of its true believers. It is not hard to conceive of disillusionment when those claims are judged to be untrue.

It’s a well known saying that a person with an experience has nothing to fear from a person with an argument. This is certainly true in the area of religious experience. Millions of evangelicals have been brought into and kept in evangelicalism by its claims of religious experience. [Continue reading]

The Jesus Blogger segment of last week’s Drew Marshall Show has been posted. You can listen or download Drew, Bill Kinnon, Daryl Dash and myself having too good a time talking the election, The Shack and all sorts of evangelical gossip.

The Jesus Bloggers on the Drew Marshall Show