Dear Sir: What a total disappointment. I do like your wisdom and passion. However, you have become too smart. May God have mercy on you regarding your responsibility to adhere to the inerrancy of scripture The discussion on inerrancy at the BHT and here at IM always fills my mailbox with mail that I can’t [...]
Those Know-Nothing Evangelicals
31 Jan by
Over the past five years I have written a number of things that build a basic “iMonk” critique of evangelicalism. If you missed the basic class, there’s no reason you should be left out. Therefore, I present….reruns of some of my better work. Let’s find out why high profile American Evangelicals have decided to go [...]
Outing Joel Osteen: A Challenge to the Evangelical Blogosphere
29 Jan by
Before you read this post, I want to ask you to read two interviews with Joel Osteen and the first part of his book. The first is at Beliefnet.com. The second is at FaithfulReader.com. Here is the book excerpt at Amazon. Here is a long excerpt from the first chapter of Your Best Life Now [...]
Contemporary Worship and “The Walnut Street Epiphany”
30 Aug by
“Yesterday, in Louisville, at the corner of 4th and Walnut, I was suddenly overwhelmed with the realization that I loved all these people, that they were mine and I theirs, that we could not be alien to one another even though we were total strangers. It was like waking from a dream of separateness, of [...]
A Contrarian Manifesto for the Church Growth Debate
23 Aug by
I have been in a lot of debates about the current worship and church revolution known as the seeker-sensitive, Purpose-Driven church. I’ve stated my case, taken on the other side, and come back to argue the same issues again and again. Today, I felt as exhausted with this discussion as a person could feel. So [...]
Is Reich Right?
10 Jul by
In the interesting and significant file is the rhetoric of Robert Reich on the “Coming War Between Conservative Christians and Freedom Loving Liberals.” NRO summarizes the Reich article in The American Prospect: The great conflict of the 21st century will not be between the West and terrorism. Terrorism is a tactic, not a belief. The [...]
Wizards or Idiots? It’s your choice
3 Jun by
Every time Baptist Press lights one up on the subject of Harry Potter, I want to hit the pause button and ask a few questions. Assume that a child has no one to help him/her understand what they are reading. Should we be more afraid of him/her reading Harry Potter or the Bible?
The Pope Needs a Business Meeting
30 Apr by
Someone sent me this Rick Warren quote, and it’s buggin’ me. When I write about Rick Warren, I’m usually not taking issue with the content of the guy’s books or the value of his accomplishments. I’m a voice in the wilderness ranting about cookie-cutter-consumeristic idolatry in evangelicalism, so I’ve had my fun with Mr. Warren’s [...]
Who’s On Our Team?: An Exercise in Identifying Stereotypes
I am getting beaten up pretty badly in the blogosphere right now, so let’s try to think about the subject of conformity. I would like to invite you to explore with me the following thesis: Christians in America are increasingly falling into the stereotypical categories being created by the engines of the culture war, making [...]