I am left with a belief that these numbers on poorly advertised presentations from an (admittedly) obscure compiler suggests that this topic is a BIG concern. Oh sure, it could be that the hits are from fully secularized individuals who, to feel good about their god-free life choices, like to look up pages on people …
Category: Encounters in Mission
Consideration of four (4) encounters in missions. Truth, Allegiance, Love, and Power.
“Prophecy” and a Confession, of Sorts
I was talking to my son about a logical glitch I have in a couple of my blog posts from a few months ago. He suggested that, instead of fixing them, I put a blog post about them. In one post, I was complaining about a self-styled "prophet" from America, who had made a "prophecy" …
Better Bad Choices
I have a couple of acquaintances (truthfully, not close to me). One of them is an Evangelical Christian who is dabbling in a neo-pagan religion. The other, also an Evangelical Christian, is already decided to join a classic doomsday-type authoritarian cult. Christian Missions is, of course, more focused on bringing those outside of the fold …
On the Theme “Walking With” : A Missions Theology. Part 6
Do You See Yonder Wicket-Gate The Pilgrim's Progress Macgregor PubJack 1907 (Photo credit: Wikipedia) This last section looks at Missions from the standpoint of Missions practice. As such, it is not, strictly speaking, drawn from the theme "Walking With." Rather it is dialogue between practice and principle. I believe that the basic principles flow …
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Cleansing the Church’s “Court of the Gentiles”?
I would like to pull together three fairly unrelated things. Layers of Culture, the Layout of the Temple in Jerusalem, and Christian outreach. First. Layers of Culture. Linwood Barney showed layers of culture. Inmost is ideology, cosmology, and worldview. The figure for this is below. These are the least visible cultural characteristics. Out from that …
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Ghosts, Truth Encounter, and Things that go Bump in the Night
Occasionally, I watch these ghost hunter or ghost buster shows on TV. Some (I will call "ghost hunters") claim that they are being objective... but clearly they are hoping to find evidence of the paranormal, thus evidencing the inadequacy of a naturalistic view of the world. The others (I will call "ghost busters") also claim …
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Ambivalent Reflections on Spiritual Warfare
I often find myself on the side of downplaying "spiritual warfare" and "power encounter." I see myself doing this not so much because I see these as purposeless. I have seen missionaries working in particularly difficult places coming down with horrible maladies. I am not sure I can simply chalk that up to stress and …
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Nice article the continues the question of "The Cross and the Sword" in the context of Christendom and Missions History
Insults as a Missiological Strategy??? Part 2
I feel that Part 1 of this post was a bit unclear. I pointed out that, although I strongly disagree with the ethics of the method, insults have been successfully used as a means of reducing other minority (or marginalized) groups. I realize that this sounds really strange, but in fact is quite common. Violence …
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Is Religion Good, Bad, or Both?
It has become popular to attack religion... even by religious people. Many Christians say they are not religious, they simply follow Christ. Some Christians say that Christianity is "Not a Religion, but a Relationship." Christianity is not alone in this. The imam in our neighborhood would say that Islam is an Ideology, not a Religion. …