The longer I live this Christian life, the more I appreciate & embrace local church life & less the evangelical industrial culture with its conferences, celebrity heroes & social media influencers. Give me the simple Christian life & encouragement for what is in front of me.
@virgilwalker I love the way the Lord humbles us when we get too full of ourselves. I think back on the ways I was so puffed up In assertions. Thank you for this vulnerable & honest post, brother.
Agreed! As a person who values nuance where it can be be found, there is also a need for clarity about Christian doctrine and practice. Being vague & wishy-washy is not helpful when it comes to the things of the Lord.
Clear and careful nuance is good in theology, but ambiguity is unhelpful. Ambiguity breeds confusion and controversy. It draws attention to itself, and doesn’t help to illuminate divine truth.
@realmattcarr I’m so thankful to have received support & appreciation from male classmates & profs alike, who had no concerns of me trying to usurp any kind of authority. There was just respect for my contributions, not fear or disdain for my presence.
Strip away all of the performance elements & you’re left with a voice kind of crying out, conveying simple thoughts to our Maker, revealing the rawness of our hearts in concert with his people who just simply want to love the Lord & people. No performance needed. /2
I love a good unplugged version of an upbeat song. There’s something about the rawness of just the voice & musical instrument simply conveying the truths of lyrics w/o the encumbrance of musical theatrics. I can’t help but see this as analogous to the Christian life…/1
@drantbradley Yes! My grandparents were very active in Jack and Jill in Chicago and well immersed in black middle class society. This is what I was exposed to growing up & why I hate generalized caricatures of the black community riddled with issues.
A very reasonable take on the SPLC situation from @KaeleyT ..."Over time, the SPLC blurred the line between combating real injustice and opposing conservative Christianity. And the conflation has not been inconsequential." https://t.co/himg4oVOmu
When you consider people from a global perspective, white, black and brown is just not going to cut it. Something to think about even in a US context with its history of immigration.
Honestly, I feel like Christians can be the biggest gossipers on social media. We are so eager to pounce on a story about what so and so did or said masked as caring about the church. But really it’s just ooh look at what so and so did or said.
Resident of VA here. What gets me about the recent redistricting approval is the delusion that it is a protection of democracy. No, rearranging districts for a partisan outcome to thwart another partisan outcome while neglecting actual representation is anything but.
Honestly, I feel a certain kind of way about telling grown folks how to vote. Lay out the facts. Make a case. But for goodness sake, realize that adults should be capable of making up their own mind about a particular candidate or position. Stop telling us how we should vote.
It’s not the overt enemies of God that are the problem because Jesus told us in this world we would have trouble. But it’s the ones who wear a Christian face but give tacit approval to what God hates as expressed in his word, that undermines the Christian witness & influence.