May 17, 2012 | God | nate
Jesus often astounded religious experts with answers that they did not expect.
One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”
“The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”
** This is a guest post by my brother, Chris Carden
At last in the 21st century we have finally erected a new colossus. The colossus is the ideal or quintessential human persuasion articulated and evaluated by the highly educated political, social, and philosophical theorists of our time. Unfortunately the colossus of our century is not a massive warrior, sculpted of rock, who stands guard at the entrance to our cities and universities ready to repel any attack against our preciously held convictions.
March 4, 2012 | God | nate
I don’t want to brush over the topic of Demas because I think analyzing his story and comparing it to our own can reveal important truths about what it truly means to be saved.
We have the luxury of looking back at Demas at a time when it is comfortable and “easy” to be a Christian and say “he just didn’t have enough faith.” I wonder how we would have done in his shoes? Somebody once said “we are all inclined to judge ourselves by our ideals, others, by their acts.”
Some of you might have seen this letter before at artofmanliness.com but for those who haven’t, here is one of the greatest letters ever penned.
The following letter was written a week before the battle of Bull Run by an officer in the Union army, Sullivan Ballou. At the start of the Civil War, Ballou, gave up his career as a practicing lawyer, said goodbye to his wife and children, and enlisted in the Union army. He believed so strongly in the cause for which he fought that he sacrificed all that he held dear. It is hard to imagine a greater sacrifice.
January 20, 2012 | God | nate
**Continuing the series on salvation, I would like to share a passage from the book Called
by Kary Oberbrunner, which in my opinion is one of the best books I’ve found on describing what it truly means to be a Christian and how to find our role in the larger story.
In my experience, the extent of discipleship I’ve been presented with goes something like this:
- Accept Jesus and ask him into your heart.
- Don’t do bad things now.
- Withdraw from culture.
- Hang out with Christians.
- Go to church.
- Read your Bible and pray.
January 4, 2012 | God | nate
Chris raised an interesting topic in his last post on the story of Demas, a man who served with and eventually deserted the apostle Paul at a time when the early church was rapidly expanding and God’s power was frequently made apparent through the miracles done in His name. Chris’s conclusion was that Demas was probably never truly saved. He might have been attracted by the power of Christ that he saw working in Paul or the joy he felt in partaking in something that was much greater than himself but he never truly allowed Christ to be ruler of his life. The fact that someone could have served with Paul as a missionary and never have been saved is troubling because it would put into question the salvation of a lot of us who live in the US. Some might think it a blessing but I think we in the western world are plagued by an easy Christianity. For this reason, I want to spend some time on the topic of salvation, on what it takes to be saved, if we can lose our salvation, and finally if we can be assured of it.
December 5, 2011 | God | nate
** This is a guest post by my brother, Chris Carden, who is currently deployed to Afghanistan
Have you ever heard of Demas? Did you know he is mentioned in 3 books of the Bible? He was right there with Paul in Rome at the very beginning when Christianity began to take hold at the far reaches of the empire. I am sure that he saw God perform amazing miracles through the faith of those early believers, and I am certain that he was able to daily sit at Paul’s feet and hear the most God inspired teaching since Jesus’ death. Paul refers to him in Philemon 1:23-24 “Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, sends you his greetings. 24 So do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, and Luke, my co-workers.” From this we can infer several things.
Large food companies will be the first ones to preach personal responsibility, mostly because it directs the blame elsewhere. It’s easy to agree with them too. I mean McDonalds cannot force us to eat their hamburgers. They can however make their food so cheap, convenient and tasty that it becomes irresistible to a lot of people. Fast food is often the first thing people think of when they get hungry not only because of the factors mentioned above but also because they have been primed to think of certain foods by large corporations in a pavlovian sort of way.
