Every Christian teacher believes his interpretation of the scriptures to be an accurate and biblical interpretation.

Yet every Christian teacher is criticized - their interpretation is wrong (to some degree).

So tell me, who’s right?

Edit: Read this. Thanks, Tiff!

Popularity: 9% [?]

You said:

hanging out with atheists when you are a christian

I say:

I do it. People told me I was confused and out of my mind when I first started FriendlyChristian.com, though. 

Oh well

Popularity: 8% [?]

I try to live a very simple Christian life: love God and love each other.

Yesterday I spent some time reading blogs authored by Christians whose sole purpose in writing is to tear down “Pastor so-and-so,” “denomination X,” and/or “church X.” The arguments were similar at each site:

• Their music is too [loud, modern, repetitive, instrumental, lively, etc].
• Their growth isn’t biblical.
• They focus too much on numbers.
• The pastor didn’t graduate from seminary.
• They spend their money wrong.
• They don’t respect God.
• They are a mockery of the faith.
• They put too much emphasis on X and not enough on Y.

I wonder if these people know that they’re modern day Pharisees.

I don’t want to love these jerks. I want to backhand them and tell them to get a life. I can be honest with ya, right?

Popularity: 11% [?]

“Woah, I have no idea where that came from!”

“That was SO not me. I don’t talk like that.”

“You’ll have to forgive me. I don’t know what just came over me.”

Ever say any of those? I have.

In Matt 12:34 Jesus says that the words that come out of our mouths come from our heart. 

As Christians, we wear an invisible filter. All of our spoken words typically pass through this filter before they turn into an audible sound. If something registers as un-Christian, we discard that thought and replace it with something more fitting of the role. Sometimes, though, this filter is accidentally bypassed:

• You hit your thumb with a hammer: “&#*$#!!!”
• You “accidentally” retaliate out of frustration: “Yeah, well that person is a #$&#* anyhow.”
• A person cuts you off on the freeway: “Nice move, &#$#.”
• You “accidentally” reprimand your child: “You’ll never amount to anything!”
• You “accidentally” judge a person in church: “I saw her smoking a cigarette yesterday.”

Jesus wouldn’t say that we slipped up - He’d say that we temporarily/accidentally bypassed our filters and spoke directly from the heart. Interesting, isn’t it?

I wonder how holy we’d look if we put our filters aside for a day or two. Maybe, just maybe, we’re not polished, manicured, and righteous after all…
 

Popularity: 8% [?]

Last week I wrote about false assumptions and how Christians suffered in the past because of them just as atheists suffer today.  Atheism doesn’t have a philosophy or principles to counter these false assumptions any more than it has a philosophy or principles to deserve them.  Secular humanism does put forward a set of positive traits and promotes a world view.  These are:

1. Need to test beliefs
2. Reason, evidence, scientific method
3. Fulfillment, growth, creativity
4. Search for truth
5. This life
6. Ethics
7. Building a better world

The first one I wish to discuss is the need to test beliefs.

Need to test beliefs – A conviction that dogmas, ideologies and traditions, whether religious, political or social, must be weighed and tested by each individual and not simply accepted on faith. Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 19% [?]

My brother drank a beer with his pastor yesterday. Freakin’ awesome.

I wonder if they had chicken wings too…

Edit: I was wrong. My brother did not drink WITH my pastor, but rather at his BBQ. Pastor does not drink. For the record though, under the right circumstances, I see no problems with a pastor having a drink with his church members. Jesus did it.  

Popularity: 12% [?]

I like this search so much that I thought I’d skip the normal Your Searches blog and instead put it into a decent post.

You said:

how to pick up a christian chick

I say:

I struggled with this for years and years. I tried it all: church, friends of friends, work, parties, clubs, the beach, even online dating.

Here’s was my problem: I was praying for God to send me a girl who was passionate about him…a girl who loved him more than she would ever love me…a Proverbs 31 girl, as they say. All in the mean time I was livin’ it up - parties, girls, booze, you name it!

One day I took a step back and thought about it: how am I gonna ask God for a neatly wrapped package when I’m an absolute mess? If “my girl” is praying for a responsible, passionate man who fears and loves the Lord, has a job, pays his bills, and is ready to lead a family, how pissed would she be if God gave her me - a hack!? I know I’d be mad if I was honestly pursuing God and he gave me some busted chick who was no more than a lip service [fake] Christian. My situation neither added up nor made sense.

It wasn’t until I REALLY put my focus on God that Tiff (my hot Christian chick) came my way. Guys, you know if you’re REALLY focusing on God. I lied to myself for many years. Don’t be like me.

Popularity: 15% [?]

The corporate headquarters for McDonald’s is hearing from store managers in California that [Christian] customers are upset over the company’s pro-homosexual advocacy and they aren’t going to take it any longer.

So, what is a Christian to do? You guessed it, picket and boycott, baby! Why?

It was because of a decision by the restaurant chain known for Happy Meals and its Golden Arches to deliberately advocate for homosexuality. The company has given $20,000 to the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce and placed one of its executives on that group’s board. The NGLCC, among other things, lobbies for same-sex “marriage” provisions.

This next quote is about as silly of a quote as I’ve ever read:

“It’s a shame that McDonald’s would tarnish their family-friendly image,” said AFA Chairman Don Wildmon.

Right, as if the horrendous customer service, terrible food, and dirty facilities didn’t do that already. Come on.

“But the company has ramped up its support of the gay agenda and it leaves us no option but to call for a boycott.”

…….smacks head……..please…..stop…….making….us….look…..so….freakin…..stupid!

Read the full article here

Popularity: 12% [?]

I have two pups: Apple (on the left, chillin’) and Jack (on the right, curious). I love them
They are jealous dogs…waaaaayyy jealous. For example…

• If I’m petting one of them, no matter how sneaky I try to be, the other one always notices and and tries to steal my attention.
• If one licks me, the other licks me. They see who can lick more!
• If one is sitting and behaving, the other tries to sit tighter, obeying my every last command.
• If one wants to cuddle, the other wants to cuddle even closer!

As cute as it sounds, it’s actually kinda aggravating. I don’t want this fake love from them…I want real, authentic, “because I want to” love!

I wonder if God’s jealousy is as simple as this canine concept. He wants real, authentic, “because I want to” love. Hmmm…

Popularity: 13% [?]

In between classes, I sat in my car, door open, and talked on the phone with Tiffany. The important conversation was rudely interrupted by a man riding a old rusty bicycle with a squeaky chain. His once white crew-neck t-shirt was now brown, ripped, and had taken on the form of a V-neck. As he threw down his bike and approached my car, I knew what was about to happen.

My car ran out of gas…it’s up the road…three dollars…my wife…just three dollars for gas…it’s just up the road…I swear to God…

His story had holes in it. If his car really ran out of gas then why the heck was he riding a bicycle (not that I needed any sound reasoning…)? Also, three dollars of gas won’t get you 10 yards these days
While he pleaded his case I thought to myself, “Crap, do I have any cash in my wallet?”

I wasn’t asking this question because I wanted to give him three dollars. Instead I was wondering if I was gonna have to lie to this bum. Remembering that I had a ten dollar bill in my wallet, I knew what was about to come out of my mouth.

Nah, man. I never carry cash on me. Sorry dude…

I lied. I lied while looking him straight in the eyes.

I can justify my lie like it’s nobody’s business. Check this out:

• He was lying to me.
• Why should I give him my hard earned money when he has just as much opportunity as I do?
• Knowing that he’s gonna turn around and buy booze, if I give him the money, aren’t I essentially buying the bullet for his pistol?
• Maybe I’d pump some gas in his car if we were actually at the gas station. Giving him this money blindly is stupid.
• I need this money! I’m a broke college student.

Let’s skip ahead a few hours.

School is over. I’ve spent the past few hours regretting my previous encounter. If only I could do it all over again…

I start my car and groan as I realize that I’m gonna have to stop for gas. 

While waiting in line for the next available pump, another bum approaches my car. This guy is straight up homeless. I can tell that he has absolutely nothing to his name. He puts two fingers to his mouth and silently requests a cigarette. 

“Sorry, bro, I don’t smoke,” I announce. 

He nods, mumbles some gibberish, and walks away.

A pump becomes free. I begin to fill my tank. Immediately I feel guilty. The ten dollar bill is burning in my back pocket.

The mental arguing begins:

“Ok, I’ll tell him that I have ten bucks and that I’m gonna take him to go grab a sandwich. We’ll head up the road, eat, chat for a bit, and then I can get back to my comfy, selfish norm.”

“I could barely understand this guy. What the heck are we gonna talk about?”

“It doesn’t matter. This is your second chance. What are you gonna do, blow it again?”

“This dude might murder me!”

Amidst my rationalizing, I acknowledge what is happening: “The devil is in my head right now and is trying his best to get me to repeat my mistake (for the non-Christian - I’m talking myself out of this). I can’t let him win!”

The bum comes back. This time he’s holding some sort of tool.

“You wanna buy a staple gun?”

Rusted, old, and probably broken, a blind man wouldn’t have bought the tool.

“No…I’m good, thanks.”

That was it. That was all I said. I blew it. Again.

That’s my story. 0-2 in one day. I hope and pray that next time will be different.

Quick rebuttal to a potential argument: Christians, we’re not called to decide how the needy spend the money we give them. We’re called to give. “He’s gonna go buy beer” isn’t an excuse (unless he makes it clear: “I’m gonna go buy beer”). We give. God deals with the rest. I struggle with this like CRAZY.

Sorry, there are no polls available at the moment.

Popularity: 10% [?]