educating eric

How does "evangelism" square with the passage that tells us to not "cast our pearls before swine"? In a Calvinistic worldview (something held by the following folks referenced below in an unpleasant Facebook outburst I witnessed), it makes total sense to reject the non-Christians around them; after all, Fred Phelps sees himself as a modern-day prophet proclaiming God's condemnation rather than preaching the Good News of hope and salvation. That might be fine... but it's not the Gospel. And I regret that people shout with this attitude while claiming it's one that Jesus shared: > I find it interesting how {non-Christian friend} consistently disagrees with so many of your posts, {Christian friend}. He makes an awful lot of noise about how untrue he now finds Christianity to be. There is something to the statement of "one protesteth too much." Obviously you continually hit a nerve with him (or is it perhaps the Spirit nudging him?) that he fe...

This morning's conversation revolved around the concept of the "Kingdom of God" and whether the common American Evangelical perspective of "personal salvation" is a complete picture of what Jesus proclaimed.  (Hint: I'm not sure it is.)  A couple book references: Scot McKnight and the "King Jesus Gospel" 1: Points of Agreement Scot McKnight and the "King Jesus Gospel" 2: Points of Concern Rounding out McKnight's perspective, we touched on N.T. Wright's book on the topic, though he tends to be a polarizing figure. We had lots of good conversation about the role of the Orthodox church (in all its various flavors) and how Christianity is expressed in human community rather than merely individually, We're looking to explore the work of Rev. Terry Cornett on that perspective of the Kingdom of God.

Geeks in the audience will appreciate the title; non-geeks will realize that there might be a preponderance of geeks in this community.  I've held the "conforming.us" domain for years, as a theoretical partner to my God.conforming.me website.  Realizing that "perfect" is the enemy of "good," I'm going to post a few notes here based on the latest group study I'm in. Other group members who are interesting in "officially posting" (rather than just commenting) are more than welcome to let me know and I'll give you an account... but I don't want to throw an account at you and imply that you're expected to post here. Comments are welcome.  Moderation will probably be turned on to some extent because SPAM is evil (and might be openly mocked here, depending on mood) but legitimate conversation no matter what the perspective is always appreciated. Enjoy!

1 Corinthians 6:11 ESV "And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God." See it at YouVersion.com< http://YouVersion.com >: http://bible.com/59/1co.6.11.esv

...who dashes the heads of his enemy's children against the rocks." ...huh? Explained beautifully (yes, beautifully!) by Greg Boyd: "Woodland Hills Church - (Honest to God)" In order to be in a relationship with another, we have to be honest with the other person. The same is true for our relationship with God. In this sermon, Greg shows how we need to be honest with God in our prayer. http://media.whchurch.org/2013/2013-8-04_Boyd_Honest-To-God-2.mp3