RootsRain

I’ve never thought of posting a recipe before, but this is one I made up and have made about 10 times trying to perfect it. I’m not sure it’s perfect, but Emily says I nailed it, so… here’s my attempt at being Rachel Ray:

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I’d just like to post something sweet and precious and scrumptious and yummy and fa-la-la-la-la la la la la. Emily took this picture when Benjamin was in a smiley mood. He looks like he’s modeling a clothing line for Russian babies… Russia’s answer to Baby Björn, no doubt… Baby Babushka.

I was asked by a friend to read Loving Homosexuals as Jesus Would and tell him what I thought. I’m very glad he asked me to read it because, on the whole, it’s a fabulous book. The author, Chad Thompson, is an ex-gay who founded InQueery, an organization that tries to get the ex-gay message out to people, especially in public schools. Chad frequently speaks in churches about his journey out of homosexuality and this book is basically his presentation in written form with footnotes. You can watch Chad give a very good presentation at lovinghomosexuals.com (watch the video in the top right). It’s about an hour long but well worth the watch.

Chad’s approach to the homosexual position might anger some Christians. He argues, for instance, that “loving gay people requires us to fight for their right to live outside the closet without consequence, whether or not we agree with homosexuality.” This means allowing them to work, to live life, to receive benefits, all free from suspicion, restriction, and hatred. I’ll admit that when I read things like this I was a bit skeptical—not because I would ever advocate hating homosexuals, but because aren’t Christians supposed to lobby against them?

Chad argues that:

1. People too often confuse homosexuals with homosexual activism. Most homosexuals are not part of a homosexual activism group. If you refer to all homosexuals as evil homosexual agitators, they have the right to refer to all Christians as friends of Fred Phelps.
2. More importantly, we err when we think that a righteous response to homosexuals is simply “throwing the Bible in their face and calling it a day.”

I kept having these misgivings… “aren’t Christians are supposed to trumpet the message that homosexuals can change, that homosexuality is a choice—and a sinful one at that?” Chad had some good thoughts here. He argues that Jude 22 commands different approaches to how we minister to people. On some we have compassion, making a distinction. And on some we snatch as brands from the burning. There seem to be two approaches (at least) to how we present the Gospel. In fact:

Jesus had different messages for different people, and so should we. This is what Jesus meant by “casting your pearls before swine” (Matt. 7:6). He was not saying that we should stop communicating God’s truth to unbelievers altogether; he was only saying that we should take care in discerning what we teach and to whom we teach it (also see Col. 4:5).

But Chad goes even further. He denies a staple belief among Christians: that homosexuality is a choice. But hear him out: Read the rest of this entry »

I did a post in February of 2006 about Dave Ramsey and titled it “The thing that’s changed my life the most this past year…”. I’ve been thinking I ought to continue the tradition (if a one-time occurrence can be called a tradition) because some things aren’t entirely related to a single book or CD or event that I would normally blog about. They sort of grow inside you… they keep coming up in conversation or in things you’re reading or in the ways life comes at you. You suddenly realize that everything you’ve been thinking about for several months are all ingredients in the same wonderful dish.

The dish, in this case, is the reality of heaven. For me, the base of the recipe is an incredibly revealing book called Heaven, by Randy Alcorn. Alcorn argues that most Christians are closet “Neo-Platonists” who believe, when it comes to Heaven, that physical, material stuff (like a table or chair) is worthless at best and that diaphanous, ghostly, spiritual essence (all that floating around on clouds stuff) is good. That’s their mental picture of Heaven, at least. It’s that city floating on a cloud with sun rays coming out of it and departed souls rising through the clouds to forever become mindless vacant spirits who strum harps and praise a God who has no face. It’s no wonder Christians don’t like talking about Heaven. That picture sounds creepy. They reassure us that, of course, God will be there… but that just means He made Heaven a place where we couldn’t be distracted from praising Him because everything around us is too boring and depressing to pay attention to.

Randy Alcorn argues that an intensive study of everything the Bible has to say about Heaven paints an incredibly different picture. Read the rest of this entry »