My Inner Author

Readers of my notes may start to think I have nothing but criticism to share about Christians and churches, and my intent when I started to put this blog series together was to provide a voice of reason and speak of my faith. I wanted the last blog to focus on the real positives in Christian churches and the Christian Faith. My past few blogs have dealt, hopefully in a constructive and light-hearted way (for the most part), with the not-so-positive issues I see the Christian faith facing. I wanted to illustrate to anyone reading them, there are MANY, MANY more sane, levelheaded people with a loving, caring heart and soul who follow the Christian faith. We do not want to see our beliefs and faith hijacked in the mainstream of society by the modern day Pharisees (the Holier Than Thou crowd), the Prosperity snake oil salesmen, or the casual country club Christian crowd. There are millions upon millions of us who simply want to share our faith, make the world a better place, and love our w...

My final category of issues facing the Christian faith in my blog series, is my catch-all, entitled Things That Don't Really Matter. These are topics, which to me in the grand scheme of the Christian faith, make for interesting debates, great discussion topics, and intriguing mysteries, but do not stand in the way of someone’s salvation. But, it is sometimes these topics which lead to a divide in the overall Christian faith, and I think explains the plethora of denominations around today. Indeed as the authors of “I’m Fine With God…It’s Christians I Can’t Stand” state, “the Christian army might be the only one in the world who soldiers shoot at each other on purpose.” It is not my intent or desire to offend those of a particular denomination or belief, but rather to state for myself, as a Christian, the arguing and bickering over these points is driving seekers from our faith and our churches. And that is so terribly wrong. Now, let me preface all of this with the word FAITH. Look ...

For my third topic, I chose to talk about the Cultural Christian problem. This really is one of the lesser problems facing the church today, but still something which deserves some discussion. To me there are 2 facets to this issue, one deals with Christians, the other more with the church itself. Neither of these are long, detailed topics, but just things I would like to see change. Have you heard the joke about Baptists and fishing? It goes like this: Take a Baptist fishing and he'll drink all your beer. Take 2 Baptists fishing and they won't touch your beer. For some, sadly church is all about being seen and giving the perception of being a good Christian. These folks care far more about their appearances than the actual relationship they have with God. This is not really a church problem per se, just the result of our society which lately places a higher value on style over substance. The Billy Crystal character Fernando on Saturday Night Live would thrive in this environme...

This was originally posted 2/23/2008, and updated today. Well, now it is time to tackle the Prosperity Gospel churches, perhaps what I consider to be the single biggest blight on the religious landscape. At times, I lump these groups in with the Scientologist crowd, turning religion into a business/pyramid scheme and nothing more. If you Google the term "Prosperity Gospels" you will find a multitude of links and explanations. However, I find the information currently posted on the Wikipedia website to be particularly good in describing this faction. The Prosperity churches primary theme is God wants Christians to be prosperous and successful, particularly in the financial arena. As "I'm Fine With God..." states, this line of thinking began to form in the 1970s. This new doctrine said God wanted to make you rich and successful, but first, you have to give money to Him (or as it really works, the Prosperity church). It is their foundational cornerstone for their e...

Well, I first wrote these notes in early 2008. Certainly I have continued to ponder some of these questions, and indeed some new topics and thoughts have come to light as well. So, these passages will be a bit updated from their original form. First, let me state I was brought up in the Baptist Church. It is the first place where I felt called to a higher purpose, and it will always be the "church" where I grew up. Now, as I have grown and have visited several other denominations over the years, and I have found things I liked and did not like in nearly every church I have attended. Ideally, I would love to see a church which took the best characteristics of each church and cast aside the worst. So, now when I am asked, I simply call myself a Christian. It is much like being an American. There are so many different ideas of what that means. To some, if you don't believe in capital punishment, or protest US involvement in Iraq, you are un-American. To others, being an Amer...

I know many of my friends use Facebook for catching up with old friends, sharing pictures, and just general light-hearted conversation. It is a great tool for rekindling old friendships, sharing news of you and your family, but I also love taking the social networking aspect of it farther. I write blogs (or Notes in FB lingo) of things I am thinking about, pondering, struggling with, or just want to write down. As anyone who truly knows me will realize, I am not afraid of being open and honest about anything. I welcome open, honest, lively discussions and the mutual exchange of information, knowledge, opinions and ideas. It is how we grow as people. I know sometimes I may say things that ruffle feathers, or worse. It is not my intention to offend anyone. To have an honest discussion though, you have to be authentic and genuine, you can't tip toe around your true beliefs. You can't go to the extreme either of just being provocative. In modern lingo, you have to be "real....