A Churchless Faith

Maybe you haven't met many Christians.

2012-05-28T02:03:39.897+08:00

Maybe you haven't met many Christians.

you are invited to follow my blog

2012-05-23T00:26:51.383+08:00

you are invited to follow my blog

Hi Robert, Thanks for the comment. I Belong, Beha...

2012-05-15T13:48:07.206+08:00

Hi Robert,

Thanks for the comment. I Belong, Behave, Believe is certainly a big improvement on the old Believe, Behave, then you can belong paradigm. My concern was really around how people's beliefs change or are challenged and how that then affected how they felt they belonged.

Hey Luke, I think your right and it's probabl...

2012-05-15T13:38:43.983+08:00

Hey Luke,

I think your right and it's probably wrong for me imply that I never declare myself a Xn. I do, it's just I usually do after someone has got to know me enough not to align me with the 13 points I listed. However it struck me, talking to two non Christian friends about Xy, how they would talk about Xy in the negative ways I have listed and then turn to me and say "present company excluded" like I was this one strange exception to the rule.

Hey Chris, Thanks for your thoughts. I'm inter...

2012-05-08T14:00:25.871+08:00

Hey Chris,
Thanks for your thoughts. I'm interested to know whether you think the synonymity (is that the right word) between Xy and these 13 things is likely to change if Christians who DONT hold to these views are ashamed to say they are Christians? Surely the synonymity will continue if the 'Christians' who hold to these views continue to not be ashamed, and those who reject them are unwilling to proudly say they are followers and worshipers of Jesus.

Over 25 years of ministry in 3 different settings ...

2012-05-05T04:34:54.072+08:00

Over 25 years of ministry in 3 different settings I've found Belong, Behave, Believe to be the most effective way to introduce people to Jesus, so that they answer the question of belief on their timeline, not mine or the institutions.

Think of how it worked with the disciples.
1. Come Follow Me – Choose to Belong
2. Do these things – feed the hungry, care for the sick, welcome the outcast, etc.
3. Then Jesus after all of this has taken place asks, “Who do you say I am.”

Even the Great Commission, it was given to those who worshiped and those who doubt, go and do these things. And the promise is given to all "I'll be with you until the end of the age."

If you read this post and thought it was alright. ...

2012-05-02T08:43:49.103+08:00

If you read this post and thought it was alright. Here is a much better and funnier post http://www.thegodarticle.com/7/post/2011/10/clobbering-biblical-gay-bashing.html

Anyone who doubts the ubiquity of the Conventional...

2012-04-27T05:18:02.022+08:00

Anyone who doubts the ubiquity of the Conventional View -- at least in American politics -- needs to read a newspaper. I can imagine no justification for a failure to recognize this.

However, sometimes people need reminders. Therefore, I suggest that a person google the following:
Pat Robertson. Fred Phelps. Jerry Falwell. Dominionism. Christian Reconstructionism. Theonomy.

Hello Anonymous, Thanks for the kind heartfelt c...

2012-04-16T21:16:52.835+08:00

Hello Anonymous,

Thanks for the kind heartfelt comment. I should say I am not suffering as much as it may have come across. A little existential angst yes but suffering no.

Hi Chris. It's my first time reading your blog...

2012-04-16T04:43:56.303+08:00

Hi Chris. It's my first time reading your blog and this is the first post I've read. I am compelled to respond, first in reaching out a caring hand to a person who is clearly suffering. Then to add a few words that may be of some consolation.

My own sense of Christ's utterance of the words "why have you foresaken me?" is that these words are a revelation of His bearing perfectly this aspect of the human condition, namely forelornness (sp.?), and bringing this with all other human maladies we suffer to the cross to be crucified in His Person, to be put to death, to be destroyed in dying with Him. By assuming these afflictions, by taking them upon Himself and into His human flesh, He sanctifies these very sufferings by His divinity, thus forever changing the "nature" of our sufferings, turning them into something that can sanctify us in bearing these afflictions in like manner to Him... that is, with patience and total trust in the love of the Father. (I am speaking of Christian mysticism a little bit here.)

Knowing that the utterance of His being foresaken is the last word before His dying in Mark, you are surely also aware that in Luke the last word before Christ's dying is, "Father, into your hands I commend my spirit." And in John, "It is finished." Meaning, all that the Old Testament had predicted about the life and death of the Messiah had been fulfilled.

I say this, only to remind you that He does not leave off on the note of doubt, but that doubt is transcended by trust in the Father. He gets beyond that moment, there on the cross. Even as He is still suffering, He trusts. This is the example He is teaching us, among others, but the one primarily relevant in this discussion.

I have hope for you that your wish, your prayer, will be answered... that you will not always be agnostic and surely not if you follow Christ beyond that moment and as His disciple take up the practice of trust... I am saying trust and not faith, because faith itself is a gift of grace... we cannot have it without the grace being bestowed upon us to do so, but we can determine to trust of our own capacities. We can will to trust and practice trust. So, my advice, and I know you didn't ask for it, but my advice would be to crack open the Scriptures and start studying in the context of trust. Where and when is trust exemplified and taught? In the case of Christ, I'd begin with Mary and Joseph. Total trust in the Father...

Peace be with you, Chris. Blessings and peace...

Chris, unfortunately the word "Alpha" in...

2012-04-06T00:05:54.850+08:00

Chris, unfortunately the word "Alpha" in the Bible does not refer to the starting point of a Christian, but is one of the names for God. He is the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. And How our Alpha God started in the Bible is with the creation story in which it states: "In the beginning God ...". And that my friend Nicky Gumble and the Alpha course critically leave out in their bad teaching.

Chris, unfortunately the word "Alpha" in...

2012-04-06T00:04:49.386+08:00

Wow. Not quite sure what to say, but what a post. ...

2012-03-20T19:04:56.548+08:00

Wow. Not quite sure what to say, but what a post. It deserves a better response than I can give you.

Thanks for your honesty (once again, it's incredibly refreshing, and almost brutal!)

My hope and prayer are that this honesty in your search, and your focus on Jesus, will be rewarded in ways you cannot imagine just now.

Nice post. I wanted him back as PM.

2012-03-18T15:13:41.940+08:00

Nice post. I wanted him back as PM.

I was searching Synchronicity because I have repea...

2012-03-15T03:40:50.276+08:00

I was searching Synchronicity because I have repeatedly had Romans 1:18 brought to my attention in the past 48 hours:
18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, 19 because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. 20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, 21 because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Professing to be wise, they became fools, 23 and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man—and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things.

I had discussed various covenants/dispensations with a friend and now this comes up that ties this all together:

Jer 31:33 But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

A new covenant for having the knowledge of the Lord God within us.

Rather than hang onto something because someone I ...

2012-03-07T04:30:20.108+08:00

Rather than hang onto something because someone I know might need it someday, I find it helpful to think that someone looking through an opshop might need it right now.

I can't remember the exact quote or who said it, but I have heard a quote along the lines of "if I have more than I need, I have things belonging to someone else". Really wish I could remember the exact quote! That sentiment helps me let go of a lot of material goods.

Thanks Carolyn :)

2012-02-26T20:12:20.600+08:00

Thanks Carolyn :)

And if Jesus was still walking the earth today, I&...

2012-02-26T20:05:46.537+08:00

And if Jesus was still walking the earth today, I'm sure he'd sign up to be the first bass player! Great idea, I'll join you on your first gig, cant wait to see it happen.

Thanks Chris for sharing about your family's c...

2012-02-07T09:46:05.867+08:00

Thanks Chris for sharing about your family's challenge to rest. I agree it is not an easy thing to do, but so valuable!

With me and Matt studying its so tempting to just 'spend a bit of time on that assignment' on the weekend rather than down time with the kids. I know my kids also really need that down time where they aren't on someone elses schedule, and can just use their God-given imaginations!

Enjoy your rest time!!

Vicki xx

Will check it out.

2012-01-31T08:03:48.195+08:00

Will check it out.

Perhaps look at Rene Girard's 'I see Sata...

2012-01-29T09:28:20.321+08:00

Perhaps look at Rene Girard's
'I see Satan Fall Like Lightning' ...?

Cheers

Great Blog by the way. :)

2012-01-28T07:53:06.539+08:00

Great Blog by the way. :)

Hello T, Thanks for your comment. My second confe...

2012-01-28T07:40:04.320+08:00

Hello T,

Thanks for your comment. My second confession is that idea for the post came from Peter Rollins who is worth looking up.

Praying for you as you and I make our beliefs into a material reality.

just like politicians, going around and raising su...

2012-01-27T22:38:55.458+08:00

just like politicians, going around and raising support and making promises they never intend to keep. imagine people who claim to be godly worming their way into your home. if you allow your house to be broken into the fault is yours. the bible speaks in 2 Timothy 3 about this exact thing and if you fall for it you will join the fool in his folly. 1 But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. 2 People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, 4 treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— 5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people. 6 They are the kind who worm their way into homes and gain control over gullible women, who are loaded down with sins and are swayed by all kinds of evil desires, 7 always learning but never able to come to a knowledge of the truth. 8 Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so also these teachers oppose the truth. They are men of depraved minds, who, as far as the faith is concerned, are rejected. 9 But they will not get very far because, as in the case of those men, their folly will be clear to everyone.

Hello again, I found this post very powerful and w...

2012-01-21T09:50:05.976+08:00

Hello again, I found this post very powerful and wise.

I try to only eat fairtrade chocolate, and I don't eat meat at all, but I find it hard to talk to people about the ethical reasons behind those decisions. I also feel the same way about discussing my Christian faith.

I feel weak, that I can value these ideals so deeply in my own life, but not talk to others about them.

Here I guess I have to remember that God does not give us that spirit of fear. I have no reason not to be bolder about these issues.