Looks like a three-year old iMonk classic is stirring ‘em up out there in the blogosphere, so I think it deserves to see the light of day here in the big show. So here is one of my favorite essays: “Signs: (I’m Weary of Weird Christians.)” Continue Reading “Signs.”
The Preeminent Question
2 Jun by
Update: Those of you who like this post would probably enjoy reading four previous IM essays, all hopefully helpful on this topic. A Conversation In God’s Kitchen: Thoughts About The Bible On Christless Preaching A Simple Statement on the Inspiration of the Bible Magic Books, Grocery Lists and Silent Messiahs While discussing the doctrine of [...]
Christian Humanism: Beginnings
18 Apr by
When it comes to ultimate reality and our humanity, there are really very few options. If there is no God, there is no such thing as the “human” in the classically Judeo-Christian sense. There is an existential human, thrown into existence and forced to determine his own identity by choices that are, ultimately, absurd. There [...]
Contemporary Worship and the Walnut Street Epiphany
13 Apr by
I’ve mentioned Thomas Merton recently. Merton is a continuing influence in my life as I try to live out a kind of “Christian Humanism” (a topic I need to return to more often.) Merton’s idea of the spiritual life underwent a major change one afternoon in Louisville when he realized he was a member of [...]
The River is Deep; The River is Wide: How I Made My Peace With The Roman Catholic Church
5 Apr by
NOTE: This piece is similar to an essay on Catholicism I wrote two years ago, but the differences are significant. Read them both. There has been some evolution in the meantime. My apologies to the Catholic bashers who will get upset at this piece. Maybe you shouldn’t read it. I was born in 1956, so [...]
Looney Tunes: The Whacked Out, Whipped Up, Wholly Scary Theology of the Praise and Worship Movement
14 Mar by
In our journey back through the IM archives, we must deal with the Monk’s contradictory attitude towards contemporary Praise and Worship music. Does he hate it? If so, why does he have a warehouse of the stuff at the house? Why is he listening to it, even as he types? The answer, my faithful readers, [...]
I Just Couldn’t Look Away: The Crazed, Cranky, Captivating Christianity of Dr. Gene Scott
25 Feb by
I doubt that many Internet Monk readers watched or listened to Dr. Gene Scott. His passing this week made me sad, but it also made me reflect on how bland evangelicalism has become, and what a shot of hard whiskey Gene Scott was for the thirty years he broadcast his strange and wonderful program around [...]
Fighting Words: What happens when we abandon the vocabulary of faith.
21 Feb by
I was viewing the web site of a church a friend was visiting, when I saw the current sermon series was entitled “Finding the Sweet Spot in Your Spiritual Life.” Compulsory video clip of the pastor with a golf pro, borrowing the language of golf to try and communicate the message of the Christian life. [...]
Magic Books, Grocery Lists and Silent Messiahs: How rightly approaching the Bible shapes the entire Christian Life.
12 Feb by
A Pentecostal evangelist visited our chapel this week, and as I listened to his uh….sermon, I reviewed in my mind some of the things that I have come to believe about the Bible and how those things now influence my faith. So I don’t know if this will impress you, but I am going to [...]
Read it again…and don’t skip the hard parts
Let’s be honest. A lot of Christians have no idea what to do with the Gospel accounts of Jesus’ ministry. What does it mean? What does it have to do with evangelism, church growth and “having a great life now?”