tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-374389422012-02-16T00:35:32.441-06:00Trying to be an Ordinary Radical in a Radically Ordinary world.brodiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04386026120390886534noreply@blogger.comBlogger281100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37438942.post-19882270382220767482011-09-25T14:26:00.000-05:002011-09-25T14:26:32.958-05:00

“In the end we shall have had enough of cynicism and skepticism and humbug and we shall want to live more musically” - Vincent van Gogh Cynicism is a weighty burden to carry around with you all the time.  My cynicism began before I knew anything about God.  Back then, I fancied a very popular brand of cynicism.  It has a number of flavors - the pessimist, the skeptic, the sarcastic.  Though I

brodiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04386026120390886534noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37438942.post-49100292329464682562007-10-03T18:33:00.000-05:002007-10-03T18:34:19.623-05:00

brodiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04386026120390886534noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37438942.post-13198936259766144502007-09-26T20:35:00.001-05:002007-09-26T20:35:46.215-05:00

I've been thinking of how to put grace and sin into a short quipy phrase. Try this on for size and let me know what you think...Simply put, you can sin as much as you want to as a Christian, but if you want to sin you aren't a Christian.

brodiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04386026120390886534noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37438942.post-47933342367443429752007-09-26T20:30:00.000-05:002007-09-26T20:34:22.739-05:00

For quite awhile now, I’ve been really skirting around Paul’s writings, much of which offer as much confusion as clarification for me. That said, I’ve been doing some thinking on Romans 7 & 8 lately and may have started to make some connections in my head with what he’s talking about.Us westerners tend to think more in line with Greek philosophy. But the problem is that the Bible is written

brodiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04386026120390886534noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37438942.post-23690052573695212652007-05-08T23:25:00.000-05:002007-05-12T19:30:50.061-05:00

Marriage in 1st century Palestine was quite different than we tend to view the process today. The traditions and customs they practiced are alien to our senses of marriage, equality, and love. And so when the Bible makes overt comparisons to the church being a bride and Christ being a groom I think we often get a false mental picture. What’s even more interesting though are the more subtle

brodiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04386026120390886534noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37438942.post-53947740868303449882007-05-08T00:05:00.000-05:002007-05-08T00:07:22.370-05:00

There’s this passage I read recently in Matthew that really shocked me. It’s one of those sections that I’ve read plenty of times before but I’d never really thought about the implications of what it was saying…or not saying. Perhaps you’ve run across some of those passages in your own reading and wondered why you’d never caught it before, and why others seem to have skimmed over it as well. I

brodiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04386026120390886534noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37438942.post-18949879527215052522007-04-12T16:54:00.001-05:002007-05-13T00:52:23.068-05:00

I was thinking about Ephesians 5:3 last night. “But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God's holy people.”At least in my religious world, we tend to focus on the first part of the verse, that we shouldn’t have a “hint of sexual immorality.” I suspect the idea is that if we go around willy-nilly,

brodiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04386026120390886534noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37438942.post-90290703025582524722007-04-09T19:21:00.001-05:002007-05-13T00:29:40.831-05:00

OK, so I was just listening to this talk radio show and they were talking about the final season of the Sopranos coming out. Anyway, this one guy had, some time ago, become Mormon and so he’s stopped watching R rated movies (which includes the Sopranos). But what he was saying was really interesting. He was talking about how after not being exposed to the violence and sex and language for

brodiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04386026120390886534noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37438942.post-73999532937245114692007-04-02T16:02:00.001-05:002007-05-13T00:20:08.942-05:00

Awww…I get it! I just had one of those moments – you know the ones where all of the sudden all of the tumblers fall into place, the lock clicks, and the key turns. I’ve been hearing lately that our generation is becoming increasingly fond of liturgy (liturgy is like doing worship by way of ritual, that is to say you have to get up and do something). For awhile now I’ve been really perplexed by

brodiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04386026120390886534noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37438942.post-599929858284444882007-02-27T07:34:00.001-06:002007-05-13T00:06:46.485-05:00

It has been said by some that Christians are the only ones that kill their wounded.Somthing for you to chew on.

brodiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04386026120390886534noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37438942.post-51950435424456918412007-02-15T16:29:00.001-06:002007-05-13T00:04:52.206-05:00

Calvin & HobbesCalvin: "Dad, what makes wind?" Dad: "Trees sneezing." Calvin: "Really?" Dad: "No, but the truth is more complicated." Calvin (later, to Hobbes): "The trees are really sneezing today." Should it surprise us that so many teens who have grown up in the church have a tough time seeing God as “real”? I mean, look at how the children’s ministries that they grew up in portray God. I

brodiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04386026120390886534noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37438942.post-73006447808336119532007-02-12T14:48:00.001-06:002007-05-12T23:24:21.209-05:00

To some - crazy, others - geniusTo his adversaries - possessed by demons, to his advocates - a godAn extremist to some, a much needed thorn in the side to othersTo king him or kill him?Dismissed and deifiedGlorified and vilifiedFriend of the sinners and enemy of the saintsRebel or ruler?Idolized and demonizedCondemn him or commend him?Destroyer or creator?It’s curious to me how such a

brodiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04386026120390886534noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37438942.post-73845293396528453112007-01-28T23:20:00.001-06:002007-05-12T22:50:52.923-05:00

So anyway, one time Jesus was talking to his closest 11 friends and was giving them a charge of sorts. He’d been with these guys for like 3 years day in and day out teaching them how to live like he lived and do what he did. That’s what the whole rabbi-disciple relationship was about, becoming like your rabbi. So, he says to them this one time, he says, “Go out and make disciples of every

brodiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04386026120390886534noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37438942.post-41895319492400113312007-01-04T08:13:00.001-06:002007-05-12T19:28:04.326-05:00

We’re supposed to have a “Quiet Time” everyday. A Quiet Time basically breaks down to reading the Bible for 5-30 minutes and then praying for 2-15 minutes. Sometimes we’re given “Accountability Partners” (which go by various names) to help us be consistent with our Quiet Times (or QT’s for short).All this because the most important thing in Evangelical Protestant Christianity is your “Personal

brodiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04386026120390886534noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37438942.post-70890329464327981492006-12-29T08:07:00.000-06:002007-05-12T10:07:18.277-05:00

Have you even heard the term “authority of scripture”? It seems to get thrown around a lot, but what do we mean by it? When you really start to think about it I think some very interesting questions come up. For instance, how can any book be authoritative, much less a book written by Jews and a handful of early Christians who lived some 2000+ years ago…and wrote primarily in narrative (story)

brodiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04386026120390886534noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37438942.post-48946914588882150342006-12-22T13:27:00.001-06:002007-05-12T14:39:17.452-05:00

Seriously, the gospel has been commercialized enough in the past hundred years – must we defend the commercialization of Christmas too? Why do I want Best Buy greeters telling me “Merry Christmas”? Christmas isn’t a Christian holiday anymore. At least not in America today. It’s a completely secular holiday based on capitalism and making sure you buy people gifts of an appropriate price range

brodiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04386026120390886534noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37438942.post-83701635623546233722006-12-18T12:56:00.000-06:002007-05-12T14:38:03.379-05:00

I just ran across this Springsteen song on a webpage by a guy named Doug Pagitt. I can't say I've listened to much Springsteen, but he's a heck of a lyricist.Land of Hope and DreamsBy Bruce Springsteen Grab your ticket and your suitcase Thunder's rolling down the tracks You don't know where you're goin' But you know you won't be back Darlin' if you're weary Lay your head upon my chest We'll take

brodiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04386026120390886534noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37438942.post-1163820246659314892006-11-17T21:23:00.000-06:002007-05-12T14:35:32.571-05:00

One thing I find fascinating about Jesus is that he doesn’t make it very easy to follow him sometimes. I can imagine at times some of his followers were like, “easy yoke my foot!” Like this one time (John 6) where Jesus feeds all these people and then just basically leaves. He crosses the lake and goes some 15 miles away or so. Well, the people back then were poor and there were far fewer

brodiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04386026120390886534noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37438942.post-1163740310818147392006-11-16T23:11:00.000-06:002007-05-11T23:43:14.147-05:00

There’s this really great part in Luke where this guy comes up to Jesus and he’s like, “hey teacher, how do I get eternal life?” That’s a big question, eh? It’s a pretty popular one today and apparently it was pretty popular back then too because actually there are at least two people who asked Jesus that exact same question (Luke 10:25 & 18:18). What I find truly amazing is that Jesus doesn’t

brodiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04386026120390886534noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37438942.post-1163658115106026552006-11-16T00:21:00.000-06:002007-05-11T23:35:55.990-05:00

A lot of people are becoming concerned that many churches are yielding too much to our contemporary culture. Their concern, I think, is that when we combine the church with culture, the gospel becomes watered down or ineffective. I heard an interesting response to this dilemma from a guy named Doug Pagitt the other day.He impishly agreed with the fear. In fact, he imagined a world in which the

brodiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04386026120390886534noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37438942.post-1163121429202363812006-11-09T19:16:00.000-06:002007-05-11T20:55:00.978-05:00

SCENE 1: Woman is running frantically around the house in the early morning. She’s obviously strung out, stressed, and her day has hardly begun. Her hair is a mess, her shirt is untucked, and she’s apparently looking for some article of her work clothing with little success. She’s in a terrible spot. She needs a drastic change, not just today but in her whole life. She’s missing something.What is

brodiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04386026120390886534noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37438942.post-1163121376536889972006-11-09T19:15:00.001-06:002007-05-11T20:33:47.284-05:00

“Heaven is great, but it’s not the end of the world.” – Bishop N.T. WrightWhat if we’re missing the whole point?The argument among Christians today is all about what we need or don’t need to get to heaven. The current Christian argument, as I understand it, goes something like this:There are some who seem to imply that to achieve salvation we must deal with society's systemic evils, things like

brodiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04386026120390886534noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37438942.post-1163121344934997422006-11-09T19:15:00.000-06:002006-11-09T19:15:44.936-06:00

So I’m working through this analogy right now, maybe you can help me out.We each have our views of God – how He acts, what He’s like, what He does, what He isn’t, etc. And there seems to be this part of us that holds all these views together – let’s call that part of us “faith.” Some of these views fit together quite nicely, like the pieces to a 16-piece Sesame Street puzzle. Other views have to

brodiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04386026120390886534noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37438942.post-1163121294669610042006-11-09T19:14:00.000-06:002007-05-12T14:33:13.981-05:00

So I read a couple of physics books yesterday that have begun to open a whole new line of thinking for me on God. That's a weird sentence isn’t it?I’ve been noticing for awhile now how we tend to read the Bible like a textbook or something. Genesis has gotten a lot of attention lately in this regard with the creation thing and floods and all that. There are many people saying we shouldn’t read

brodiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04386026120390886534noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37438942.post-1163121250560135762006-11-09T19:13:00.000-06:002006-11-09T19:14:10.563-06:00

[If you haven't read my note New Creation 1 yet, I'd encourage you to read that one first so this one will make more sense.]So I've been doing some more looking into these connections between John and the Genesis creation account. I'm finding that the further I take the study, the more interesting stuff I'm finding. I'll list all of the major things I've found... 1. John 1:1 vs. Gen 1:1 "In the

brodiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04386026120390886534noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37438942.post-1163121212334757482006-11-09T19:12:00.001-06:002006-11-09T19:13:32.336-06:00

Have you ever felt, when studying and learning the Bible that your head would just explode, and then you'd have to go around for the rest of your life explaining why you've got no head?! That's how I've been feeling the past couple weeks from what I've been learning. It's like things are wizzing around there that want to get out and pretty soon my head will just *pop* So, I haven't got this all

brodiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04386026120390886534noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37438942.post-1163121162806137872006-11-09T19:12:00.000-06:002006-11-09T19:12:42.810-06:00

So I've been chewing on this hell business for awhile now and the more I think about it, the more I don't get it - and I find that exciting. I guess that's postmodernism for ya.I feel like we've been handed down so much garbage along with the notion of hell. Now we have to deconstruct the whole thing, break it all down and put it back together again. And what I'm finding is that as I do that,

brodiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04386026120390886534noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37438942.post-1163120852045762182006-11-09T19:04:00.000-06:002006-11-09T20:03:00.380-06:00

I've been thinking lately...Heaven, at least as it's been brought down to us, is a place up in the sky or somehow in another dimension with clouds and harps and angels. It's a place where we go to live with God after we die. But I wonder if that's actually the Biblical view of heaven.To the Jews it seems like the Temple was like this fusion of heaven and earth. It's like by walking into the

brodiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04386026120390886534noreply@blogger.com0