who knew i could bring something like this into existence? apparently, i’ve been wrong: christianity must have begun in [western] germany, with the reformation. or maybe my map is wrong, and the ‘middle-east’ should be considered the ‘middle-west’?
who knew i could bring something like this into existence? apparently, i’ve been wrong: christianity must have begun in [western] germany, with the reformation. or maybe my map is wrong, and the ‘middle-east’ should be considered the ‘middle-west’?
And to think, I’m all out of good casting stones.
It seems we are casting pearls instead ;-)
At least it isn’t patting themselves on the back or are they and casting crowns?
Marko,
Those people make me glad I’m me.
I’m sure it’s only a matter of time before everyone is heretical except the two of them.
~Jason Pauli
Wow …
How come noone quotes my blog out of context? I feel so insignificant … it’s just not fair.
That’s it…I’m getting rid of my Ideas Library!!
Is there anyone that actually reads their site besides the people that you redirect there from here?
OK, now this is just plain odd. Mark, I think we can put you into the Al Gore category now. marko— the man who reinvented Christianity. :)
I agree with LTR that the practices in question aren’t biblical, but this is just another example of them overexaggerating and taking things out of context. Even though we disagree, I’m on your side on this one.
And you thought blogging would be fun….
woo-hoo! roger and i agree! (i’m sure we’d agree on quite a bit, really)
Marko, I don’t mean to sound condescending, but why do you pay attention to these jerks? Aren’t you just giving them more power and influence by doing so?
clint — good question. well, i suppose a couple reasons. the main one is that i believe these people DO influence people (we’ve received plenty of concerned emails from people in response to the agape news piece), and i’d rather bring the stuff out into the light (ooh, is that biblical or eastern?) than ignore it — to a point (at some point, it’s just too time consuming). second, i thought it was kinda funny, and wanted to share it! bottom line, i don’t really pay attention to lighthouse trails — someone forwarded that “press release” to me, or i never would have seen it.
Once again, my conscience will not allow me to remain silent:
The patriarchate of the first Christian community founded by Peter, in Antioch (now, Damascus, Syria), is STILL located on “the street called Straight”. It might do these fellows good to pay a visit to their local Antiochian Orthodox Church– or just to open a history book!!!
Now that I’m seeing with my own eyes the idiocy of some of the critics, no wonder my “emerging” bruthas are so defensive! I don’t blame ya!
I would have to agree that it’s important to confront this stuff head on. Just a couple weeks ago we had a situation in our church because we’ve been using some of the purpose driven stuff from Rick Warren. Anyway, a couple people aren’t fans, so they went and found a bunch of websites like the lighthouse one, printed up all the lies and accusations and then started spreading it around the church. Next thing we know, we have this crowd of people wondering how we could use such evil resources. Turns out, these individuals had yet to read Warren’s books, listen to Warren preach or participate in more than one meeting that mentioned him. However, damage was done. We were able to confront and deal with it and everyone has moved on. But my point is this … there are a lot of innocent believers out there who just assume that if someone has a good looking website or they’re on the radio or they pastor a church somewhere then they must be legimate and solid christians. So when they come across this stuff that looks legit and read it, they get scared of these evil organizations that they’ve never even looked into for themselves. For me, it is so much easier to correct the lies when guys like Marko or Warren do provide rebuttals; I can print it up and pass it on. : )
Way to go! You’re taking a generation of youth workers straight to hell with you. I hope you’re proud of yourself.
Josh-
I’m soooo proud to be going to heck with Marko, the inventor of Eastern Christianity. I’d rather go to heck with him than to heaven with TRL. I’m really thankful for TRL, though, they make me look almost normal with my radical approach to youth ministry – I’m leading a small group loosely based on the ALPHA student book {gasp}. Last week I gave the kids the radical concept that:
A) The wages of sin are death
B) All have fallen short of the glory of God
C) The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ.
If it hadn’t been for ALPHA {double gasp}, I might never have learned such radical concepts!
carl
(So, was Josh being sarcastic or not??? I’m not sure…..)
Oh, and yea, I AM being sarcastic.
I leave my computer for a few hours to get Sunday School supplies and look what I miss!!! I cannot…no…wait…I guess I can believe it…but there are no words!
carl, “-josh” was being sarcastic.
oh, and carl, TRL? the MTV show with Carson Daily? Did you mean LTR (lighthouse trails research)?
People are scared to experience God. They want to believe to know everything about God, because they want to be in control. We truly experience God when we give up being in control and allow him freedom to do whatever he pleases.
Jake, I think the problem is the opposite. We’re not scared enough about experiencing God because we think we know so much about Him. If we did know better, we’d be scared silly. Isaiah thought he was dead when he saw God on the throne. God’s holiness is not something to tread upon lightly; it ought to invoke a righteous fear within us.
Roger, when you say righteous fear, what do you mean by that? Do you have a righteous fear and how does that look in your life?
Frankly, I’m not good at living out “righteous fear.” Paul told Timothy that God didn’t gives us a spirit of fear, yet we are also told that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. This fear we ought to have, as I understand it, is rooted in the proper perception of our place before God. That by our own righteousness we are dead before Him, but in Christ’s righteousness we are pure before Him. Since it is Christ’s righteousness, and not ours, that enables us to positively experience God, we should do so with great humility. I’ve consistently said “we,” since this is something Christ is still working on in my own life
i really appreciate your tone and spirit on that one, roger
Marko,
Update your TIVO, Carson left TRL a couple of YEARS ago. ;)
Sorry, I thought this thread (yeah, you should have your own message board) needed a little humor. Do have any more jumping goat or cow pictures that need captions?
I think you’re right on, Marko. Would you consider yourself “new age?” I fear leaning to far toward universalism or pluralism… what do you think?
i don’t consider myself new age at all! i consider myself a christian, committed to following jesus christ with everything in me.
TRL, LTR, whatever. I was speaking in Yodaese – Trails Research Lighthouse, no?
lol. I’m glad josh was being sarcastic. I was a little worried there.