Here's an interesting conversation starter from Josh Claybourn, who lifted the meme from Anne Jackson: "What is something you feel you can't say in church, or around other Christians?"
For me, it depends on what church I'm in.
At a Southern Baptist church
(1) You realize that the Baptist Faith and Message doesn't say anything against Pentecostal-style stuff.
(2) I'm not all that sure about young-earth creation; I'm sure about Who did the creating, but not about how and how long.
(2a) I'm not all that hot on the Creation Museum as a pilgrimage site or going to see Expelled as a must-do movie
(3) If you don't have a really evangelistic sermon, don't go overboard doing a salvation altar call.
(4) Lifeway's praise music selection stinks
(5) Just because it's playing on K-LOVE doesn't mean it works as a worship song.
(6) Beth Moore's overrated. She's good, but not to the point that every other study is one of hers.
(7) If we spent as much helping the poor as we did on Lifeway Sunday School materials, we'd be moving in the right direction
(8) The Holy Spirit is more than a bit player in the Trinity
At a charismatic church
(1) Tongues is overrated.
(1A) I don't think a lot of "Prayer languages" are languages. It doesn't make praying in the Spirit invalid, but it might not be a language.
(2) In-service prophecies, especially if they merely reiterate Biblical truths, are overrated.
(3) I've been fighting off depression for years, and prayer hasn't help as much as advertised
(4) Todd Bentley is a loose cannon, and most of the people on TBN aren't much better.
(5) The people who go to conference to conference looking for the next batch of manifestations need to get a life
(6) God isn't an ATM machine and the folks on TBN don't have the PIN number
(7) Not everything you think is a vision is from God; sometimes, it's last night's burrito.
(8) The spiritual quality control in Pentecostal circles is sorely lacking.
(9) New doesn't equal good
At any evangelical church
(1) Telling people how I actually feel. When I get "Howya doing?" I have to remember that most people really don't want to know.
(2) Telling the teens or young adults that their beer or rock T-shirts don't quite cut it as a good witness
(3) The "holy hardware" T-shirts aren't much better; they're merely a Christian nod to pop culture
(4) God isn't a card-carrying Republican.
(5) Life will go on even if a judge or state legislature does something morally dense.
How's that for starters?
For me, it depends on what church I'm in.
At a Southern Baptist church
(1) You realize that the Baptist Faith and Message doesn't say anything against Pentecostal-style stuff.
(2) I'm not all that sure about young-earth creation; I'm sure about Who did the creating, but not about how and how long.
(2a) I'm not all that hot on the Creation Museum as a pilgrimage site or going to see Expelled as a must-do movie
(3) If you don't have a really evangelistic sermon, don't go overboard doing a salvation altar call.
(4) Lifeway's praise music selection stinks
(5) Just because it's playing on K-LOVE doesn't mean it works as a worship song.
(6) Beth Moore's overrated. She's good, but not to the point that every other study is one of hers.
(7) If we spent as much helping the poor as we did on Lifeway Sunday School materials, we'd be moving in the right direction
(8) The Holy Spirit is more than a bit player in the Trinity
At a charismatic church
(1) Tongues is overrated.
(1A) I don't think a lot of "Prayer languages" are languages. It doesn't make praying in the Spirit invalid, but it might not be a language.
(2) In-service prophecies, especially if they merely reiterate Biblical truths, are overrated.
(3) I've been fighting off depression for years, and prayer hasn't help as much as advertised
(4) Todd Bentley is a loose cannon, and most of the people on TBN aren't much better.
(5) The people who go to conference to conference looking for the next batch of manifestations need to get a life
(6) God isn't an ATM machine and the folks on TBN don't have the PIN number
(7) Not everything you think is a vision is from God; sometimes, it's last night's burrito.
(8) The spiritual quality control in Pentecostal circles is sorely lacking.
(9) New doesn't equal good
At any evangelical church
(1) Telling people how I actually feel. When I get "Howya doing?" I have to remember that most people really don't want to know.
(2) Telling the teens or young adults that their beer or rock T-shirts don't quite cut it as a good witness
(3) The "holy hardware" T-shirts aren't much better; they're merely a Christian nod to pop culture
(4) God isn't a card-carrying Republican.
(5) Life will go on even if a judge or state legislature does something morally dense.
How's that for starters?
I agree with you on the young-earth and Creation Museum thing. My own statement would be, "Gay marriage is going to happen. And when it does, I really doubt America will be 'destroyed,' like, three years later."
Posted by: Matt Brown | May 23, 2008 at 03:36 PM