Posts by Pastor Eric (Page 16)

• In the 20th Century the German theologian Rudolf Bultmann famously (or infamously) called for the “demythologizing” of the New Testament. By this he meant we ought to get rid of Scriptural accounts that modern readers found difficult to accept. His argument was that although 1st century readers might accept a worldview that included heaven and hell, a virgin birth,…

• If you are by nature a trusting person, you’ll have to get used to this and guard your heart and mind. The New York Times recently ran an op-ed piece by a rabbi who claims that the ancient God of Israel is “dual-gendered.” The rabbi takes his readers through a tortured derivation of the Tetragrammaton, the four Hebrew consonants that comprise the sacred name of God…

No Men’s Breakfast this Saturday. If you know someone who might be planning on going, but might not read this, please let them know. Thanks. Read below for an announcement regarding the youth group Dinner Theater July 9. I encourage you to come. But first a few comments on Deut. 6:4ff and raising…

• This note is a little different. Let me give you a brief description of the need, then I’ll offer some of the backstory. The need is this: my neighbor, Martin, a Danish man in his early 50s, has been in Copenhagen for several months and will need to find an economical place to stay in the area when he returns. He has fallen into difficult circumstances and needs help.…

• Al Mohler says we’ve lost the culture wars, and yet the Church stands as she always has, strengthened by the stripping away of false visions. If Mohler is right, and personally I think he is, how does that relate to the historic mission of the “Church Militant”? Paul says “the weapons of our…

• Thanks for the many gracious offers in response to my badgering. Ruslan and his family are all set. I’m sure he would appreciate prayer for his message — they’re on a tight and busy schedule while they’re in the states.

• We need someone to host our guest-preacher this Sunday, Ruslan Moroz, visiting from Vladivostok, Russia. Explanation to follow, but first let me try to put such requests in context.

» This came to me second or third-hand, so I may not be getting it quite right. After the sermon Sunday there were questions about my describing Sanctification as “sinning less.” If the concern is that Sanctification is much more than that then, fair enough, “sinning less” doesn’t really cover it. So, herewith something a little more comprehensive.

• Join us for men’s ministry tomorrow morning at 8:00, breakfast then this discussion: has suburbia turned us into the third kind of seed in the parable of the sower, so life is now “the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desire for other things”? If you’re in your 20s and…

• This may sound odd (it isn’t), but human beings like to be god over God. We have a tendency to conceive and define him in ways that fit our expectations and needs, our fears and obsessions. Think Lewis’s infamous woman in the Great Divorce, “my god is a god of love.” Well, madam, he isn’t your god. But the truth is we all do it. Whether through cherished Scripture…