Miracle mum brings premature baby son back to life with two hours of loving cuddles after doctors pronounce him dead. This story illustrates the love a mother feels for her baby. Makes abortion very hard to understand and makes me very sad for the “mums” who have to live with having made that choice.

I hope it doesn’t come across wrong to put church in quotation marks. I used a lowercase version because I’m talking about “Sunday morning gathering of believers” AKA “church” but not “the Church” as in all believers… anyway, I think that makes sense.

So here’s the deal, because of traveling I’ve attended three very different Christian churches in the past month. What’s really funny is that I say these three are “very different” but they really aren’t. I know there are some major differences in say attending a conservative Plymouth Brethren church versus a TBN-style church like Joel Osteen’s Lakewood church. Now those would be two very different churches, both likely with many well-meaning, God-loving people attending.

The three churches that I attended had pastors/congregations that would actually agree on most things. They just had three way different styles. The biggest thing I came away with from these three different styles is that you need to find a style that works for you. As for me, I like a lot of scripture, a message that is about following more after Jesus than when I came in the door, being pointed to holiness, the Bible and the Cross. Things I want less of: “we at this church” mission statement kind of preaching. I want a message that can apply to a believer in Bend, Oregon or Hawaii or China and can be heard and be relevant in 10 years.

What kind of style do you like?

Christianity Today’s senior managing editor, Mark Galli’s July 15, 2010 article is titled “Divine Drama Queen.”
• You can read the article here.
• You can read a response by The Berean Call’s T.A. McMahon here.

Former megachurch pastor who fell from the pulpit with a homosexual sex and drug scandal is back leading a church of about 200 in Colorado. He had something very interesting to say in The Wall Street Journal.

“Tiger Woods needs to golf. Michael Vick needs to play football. Ted Haggard needs to be leading a church.” This after Ted once said that he would never lead a church again, he later said, “I over-repented.”

A lot of things could be pointed out here… I’m just going with this one:
• Tiger Woods adultery is totally separate from his job as a golfer. He rightfully lost endorsement deals because of it, but he shouldn’t lose his right to be a pro golfer.
• Michael Vick’s dog fighting crimes have been paid for with his time in prison and he was suspended by his employer (the NFL) for a time. It is now all done. His crime was illegal, but it was separate from his job.
• Ted Haggard talks about leading a church as if it is the same thing as Tiger Woods playing golf? Is there a difference between a skill and a calling? Between an occupation and an appointment from God? Between playing sports and leading God’s people?

Am I wrong here?

We have justice written like truth on our hearts. I love the example of the atheist who walks out of a courtroom after the judge has handed down a verdict and says to anyone who will listen, “there is no justice in this world!” He knows that the verdict was not right, he knows that despite the fact it was man’s justice, it didn’t live up to what he knows in his heart would have been “true justice.” The fact that we as a people seek after justice is a proof that we are created by the author of justice.

I teach kids how to play tennis. During the summer I have a wide range of kids I get to interact with, about 100 a day. They range from 5 to 18 year’s old. I have a very interesting kid in my class right now. He is 11 years old and he talks about gaming the entire class. The type of gaming he talks about is the game “Call of Duty II, World at War.” It’s a very graphic war game that is often played online. The part of this kid’s speech that really caught me off guard is not him talking about sniping people and tanks running people over (which is what he is talking about all the time), but it’s the little catch phrase, mean-spirited, uninhibited, lack of social skills way in which he talks that really got my attention. A fellow tennis teacher explained to me that the way he talks is simply a result of the “online gaming community.” You see, when you are anonymously playing a video game online with a mic for all others to hear you talk, you apparently have a tendency to speak in a way that you might expect people to speak when life has no repercussions. Not only is dying no big deal, you can always play another game, but cussing, being over-aggressive and downright mean aren’t a big deal either, as you don’t have to ever see these other people in real life. This sort of fake-life interaction leads to a lack of real-life skills. I feel badly for this young man and I imagine he is not alone.

I know some Christians who are doing some bold, dangerous, revolutionary things… and I’m not proud to admit my first reaction to these moves. “Don’t do it, it’s dangerous.” Yep, when I hear about people (especially those I love) putting themselves in jeopardy, my gut response is, “no.” “I’d rather you didn’t and I don’t think it’s a good idea.” I’ve always been the guy who wants people to have good lives, safe lives, long lives. But wanting that for people doesn’t always match up with what I believe.

I believe that the Christian life is a calling. It is a call to revolution! It’s a call to obedience. And sometimes, it’s a call to danger and sacrifice.

The life of Jesus Christ is more than an example of how to be a Christian. It is the very foundation of the life. Jesus lived a revolutionary, sacrificial life that included the ultimate sacrifice. I am thankful for that life, but I often have a hard time accepting people whom I love truly embracing it to the point of putting their lives in danger.

I’m working on it.

Dave Hunt’s new book Cosmos, Creator and Human Destiny is hot off the presses. I’m looking forward to reading it. I know he has been working on it for many, many years.

I’ve said it before and I’m going to say it again. I may be wrong, but I believe that someday abortion will become illegal. This is why.

• There was a time when women were considered less than men. They were possessions of men. They had no rights.
• There was a time when people with dark skin were considered less than people with white skin. They had no rights.
• Now many consider an unborn baby to be less than human. They have no rights.

The next step in the fair treatment of people will be to recognize that an unborn baby is a human, with God-given and state-protected rights.

This is my hope, my prayer and honestly my belief.

The Berean Call is having its annual Conference July 9-11 in Bend, Oregon.

Speakers:
Dave Hunt
T.A. McMahon
Bll Gallatin
Carl Kerby
Steve Herzig
Jim McCarthy