Sweet Tea & Theology

Uncovering The Shack

My fellow church member bro. Wayne whose review of The Shack I recently posted informed me of another review of The Shack.  Michael Youssef, pastor of Church of the Apostles, one of our neighboring churches, has reviewed The Shack in a recent sermon.

Dr. Youseff’s review, Uncovering The Shack, can be downloaded directly on mp3 here.  There is also an iTunes feed if you’re interested.  He actually stopped in the middle of a sermon series to review this book because he thought it was that important.

Roman Catholic Baptist?

Peter Smith of the courier-journal out of Louisville gives us an interesting story morning Married, ex-Baptist minister to become Catholic priest.  Sad, but interesting story about former baptist pastor David Harris converting to Catholicism.  So why the question “Roman Catholic Baptist?”  Smith’s story begins.

David Harris never considered his conversion to Catholicism six years ago to be a rejection of the Baptist faith that nourished him from childhood in Eastern Kentucky.

Sin Sells But Who’s Buying?

Sin sells, but who’s buying?  If we were to answer this question based on the recent success of Katy Perry today vs. Katy Perry Hudson several years ago, I’d say that many are buying.  Just consider the two Christianity Today articles from back in 2001 and today in 2008.  It seems as though Hudson, though appealing in her music, came and went.  While Perry spent some time at no. 1.

Who cares, though, right?  I do for one.  And, well, her parents apparently do according to the recent Christianity Today article linked above.  Quoting the artist’s mother.

Faith and Reason

Without faith reasoning becomes impossible.  So do I believe this on the basis of reason or faith?  Well, it all depends on how you want to state it.  I believe it on the basis of faith, but faith which saves reasoning and, therefore, it’s the most reasonable thing to do.  So that’s my reason for having faith.  Is my intellect my ultimate authority then?  No, faith and the word of the Lord is.  And my reason for holding to that is, reason itself is destroyed if you don’t.

Do you have faith or do you have reason, Dr. Bahnsen, for being a Christian?  I say, well, it’s a matter of faith.  It’s a faith without which reasoning would be impossible.  Now since reasoning would be impossible without this faith, then ultimately the best reason according to reason is to have faith.  And those who do not have this faith destroy reason.  But that doesn’t mean that I am following Christianity because it satisfies my reasoning as the ultimate authority.

The Shack Review

A friend from church wrote a brief review of The Shack that touches on some key points as to why we should be cautious about this book.  Or maybe even disregard it all together.  He gave me permission to share this review.

SHACK ATTACK - OR A CALL TO DISCERNMENT?

“Discernment is not simply a matter of telling the difference between what is right and wrong; rather it is the difference between right and almost right.” -Charles Spurgeon

Sermoneutics

I would like to introduce you to my first official sniglet, sermoneutics.

sermoneutics (ˈsər-məˈnü-tik) - n. The art of interpreting Scripture in a sermon by giving its meaning as an abstract, peripheral idea that is not the main point of the text.

My motivation for the above word is Dr. John Walton’s post Hermeneutics and Children’s Curriculum. He lays out “five basic fallacies that appear repeatedly.”

1. Promotion of the trivial
2. Illegitimate extrapolation
3. Reading between the lines
4. Missing important nuance
5. Focus on people rather than God

A Wedding Anniversay - Mine

Today is my third wedding anniversary. I just want to say that I have a wonderful wife! As I told my wife, I would never have dreamed of having her as my wife. That is because my dreams have never been to beautiful and wonderful! Praise the Lord!

I will share one more thing with everyone. One of the things we treated ourselves to this year were some cookiez just like we had at our wedding reception. You probably think I spelled cookiez wrong, huh? Well, I didn’t because I’m talking about:

Amy Looz Handpainted Shortbread Cookiez

My Testimony Podcast

I started playing around with podcasting and figured that recording my testimony was a good place to start.  I don’t know what, if anything, I will do in the future with audio.

Anyways, if anyone wants to hear my brief testimony you can listen or download it below.

 

 My Christian Testimony: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (67)

Mark