TXAB: The Christ Almighty Blog

Questions? Comments? Email. But remember, my feedback policy means I can post it. Not as part of a regular advice column; that’s not what I do.I don’t know how I turned into the advice guy. It just sorta happened. Years ago I was contributing to a couple different websites, and I had my own personal blog, and out of the blue strangers started asking me religion questions. Guess I sounded knowledgeable to them, so they figured they’d test my knowledge.So what’s the best bible translation? Or what do I know about a particular Christian denomination? Or what have I heard about this or that book?—this or that preacher?—this or that theological idea? Am I Arminian or Calvinist, and why? Pretrib or posttrib, and why?It’s not a new experience for me. I got questions like this from my students in Sunday school classes or Christian school. Or from newbies in my church who found out I knew stuff, and consider me less intimidating than our pastor. (Intimidating for no reason, I should add; he’s …

PROJECTIONprə'dʒɛk.ʃən, proʊ'dʒɛk.ʃənnoun. Unconscious transfer of one’s ideas to another person.[Project prə'dʒɛkt, proʊ'dʒɛktverb.]When we’re talking popular Christian culture’s version of Christianity, i.e. Christianism, we’re not really talking about what Jesus teaches. We’re talking about what we’d like to think Jesus teaches. We’re talking about our own ideas, projected onto Jesus like he’s a screen and we’re a camera obscura. We’re progressive… and how about that, so is Jesus! Or we’re conservative… and how handy is it that Jesus feels precisely the same as we do?Y’know, the evangelists told us when we come to Jesus, our whole life would have to change. But when we’re Christianist, we discover to our great pleasure and relief our lives really didn’t have to change much at all.We had to learn a few new handy Christianese terms:PAGAN WAY OF SAYING ITCHRISTIAN WAY OF SAYING IT“I think…”“I just think God’s telling me…”“I strongly think…”“God’s telling me…”“I feel…”“…

Every Christian is part of God’s nation of priests. Elders especially.Priest /prist/ n. Person able to perform a religion’s rituals, and therefore intercede between God and his followers.[Priestlike /'pris(t).laɪk/ adj., priestly /'pris(t).li/ adj.]Protestants tend to translate presbýteros as “elder,” by which we mean the senior Christians in a church.Catholics, Orthodox, Anglicans, and some Lutherans, translate it “priest.” Properly “priest” would be the Greek word yeréfs—but for the most part, I don’t disagree with this translation. Y’see, the elders of the church are our priests.Technically every Christian is a priest, for it was after all God’s intention to create a kingdom of priests, a holy nation. Ex 19.6, 1Pe 2.9 Jesus made his followers, us Christians, a kingdom of priests to our God and his. Rv 1.6, 5.10 Elders in particular happen to be able and mature enough to perform priestly functions. They can preach, prophesy, lead us in worship, perform baptisms, anoint sick …

He didn’t do away with the Law… much as dispensationalists love to think he did. Matthew 5.17-20 • Luke 16.16-17.Matthew 5.17-20 KWL17“Don’t assume I came to dissolve the Law or the Prophets.I didn’t come to dissolve but complete:18Amen! I promise you, the heavens and earth may pass away,but one yodh, one penstroke of the Law, will never pass away; not till everything’s done.19So whoever relaxes one of these commands—the smallest—and thus teaches people,they’ll be called smallest in the heavenly kingdom.Whoever does and teaches them,they’ll be called great in the heavenly kingdom:20I tell you, unless morality abounds in you, more than in scribes and Pharisees,you may never enter the heavenly kingdom.”This connects to Jesus’s similar teaching in Luke.Luke 16.16-17 KWL16“The Law, and the prophets up to John: From their time on,God’s kingdom is proclaimed as good news, and all struggle to get into it.17It’s easier for heaven and earth to pass awaythan for one penstroke of the Law to fall…

And no, you’re never gonna find it on ChristianBook.com. Years ago, I was complaining about one of Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins’s Left Behind novels. Don‘t remember which one, but I do remember my complaint—for once—wasn’t about the terrible Darbyist theology, but about the poorly-developed characters. Caricatures of characters, really.The fellow I was ranting to was a bit of a Left Behind fan, so he didn’t appreciate my critique… although he admitted the writing “felt rushed.” There, I don’t agree. My beef wasn’t with how fast the Left Behind novels were cranked out. Some authors only need a month, start to finish, to produce a book. But they produce three-dimensional characters, whereas the Left Behind books produced melodramatic heroes and villains.“Well fine,” he said, “what’s your favorite End Times book?”“Easy,” I said, “The Stand.”
Yep, this book.When I realized I meant the Stephen King novel, he was outraged. Which I get. After all, King uses swears in his novels. And some Chri…

It’s not about being emotionally be excited. That’d be a way easier problem to solve, right? Revelation 3.15-16.I give youth pastors a bad rap sometimes. Okay, often. Because I believe a lot of them fundamentally misunderstand their job. As did most of the youth pastors I’ve had to deal with, both decades ago as a teenager, and in the years since as I’ve worked with kids and young adults. Their job is to minister to the young people of the church, and share Jesus with the young people of their communities. You know, like any other pastor. Only with youth.Problem is, many of the YPs I’ve run into, don’t think that way at all. Sometimes because their churches don’t think that way. My church, growing up, thought of the YPs as our babysitters. They were to make sure the church’s members’ kids behaved ourselves, and stayed Christian—at least till college. Once we graduated high school, we weren’t the YP’s responsibility anymore. My YPs made this fact quite clear to me when, shortly after m…

ECUMENICALɛk.jʊ'mɛn.ə.kəladjective. Representing multiple Christian churches or denominations.2. Promoting unity among Christian churches, regardless of affiliation.3. Representing all Christian churches, regardless of affiliation.[Ecumenism ɛ'kjʊ.mɛ.nɪz.əm, ɛk.jə'mɛn.ɪz.əmnoun.]One of Jesus’s commands was that we Christians love one another, Jn 13.34, 15.12, 1Jn 3.23 and one of his prayers was that we be one, like he and his Father are one.John 17.20-23 KWL20“I don’t only ask about these, but about those who believe in me by their word,21so they could be one—like you, Father, in me, and I in you.So they also could be in us. So the world could believe you sent me.22The honor which you gave me, I gave them, so they could be one like we are one.23I in them, you in me, so they can be perfected as one,so the world could know you sent me, and love them like you love me.”Originally we Christians were one group. Or at least every Christian church was affiliated with every other C…

Mark 4.21 • Matthew 5.14-16 • Luke 8.16, 11.33 • John 8.12.In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus tells his students they’re the light of the world. And multiple times in John, Jesus is declared the light of the world. Here, I’ve got one of those passages lined up for you.Matthew 5.14 KWL“You’re the world’s light.A city can’t be hidden when it lies on a hill.”John 8.12 KWLSo Jesus spoke again, saying, “I’m the world’s light.My followers should never walk in the dark, but will have light and life.”So which is it?Both, obviously. It’s not a contradiction. Jesus is the true light who entered the world; Jn 1.9 as long as he’s in the world he enlightens it; Jn 9.5 whoever believes in him needn’t live in the dark; Jn 12.46 he reflects the fact that God is light. 1Jn 1.5 And we’re the light of the world when we follow his example, and reveal to the world God’s kingdom is near, same as Jesus did. Once we were darkness, but now light, Ep 5.8 for since God’s now our Father, we are light’s children, …

My take on an overdone sermon illustration.I grew up Christian, as some of you know. As a result I’ve heard hundreds of sermons.Seriously, hundreds: I grew up Christian, and never took any longer than three-month break from attending a church. (And during that time, I was going to daily chapel, which was mandatory in seminary.) So, since I grew out of the childcare program at the age of five: One every Sunday, and sometimes two. One during many a midweek evening service. One every time I went to chapel, both in school, and when I taught school. Three to ten during conferences. At least one every time I listen to preacher radio, or download a church’s podcast. I listen to my own pastor’s sermons twice: Once on Sunday morning, and once again as I scrub the audio for podcasting. So no, I’m not kidding when I say hundreds. It’s possibly thousands.Since many of these preachers tap the very same sources for sermon illustrations, the result is I’ve heard thousands of clichés. Some of these p…

When Christians assume “God’s will” means good fortune.You mighta noticed my articles on God's will thus far, mainly focus on what God revealed in the scriptures to actually be his will. His commands. His instructions. His wisdom. What he literally wants us to do.Problem is, whenever Christians wanna know about God’s will, that’s not what we mean. Nor what we want.Poll the Christians you know, and our overwhelming attitude about God’s commands is they’re either “too hard” cf. Ac 15.10 or “old covenant.” We don’t care about the commands. Well, unless they make us feel good about ourselves ’cause we’re already obeying them—whether intentionally or accidentally. (And if we’re not obeying them, we offer our excuses.) Or unless they justify our prejudices, ’cause it appears God doesn’t like certain sins any more than we do.But whenever we Christians say, “I just wanna know God’s will for my life,” you gotta understand we don’t mean God’s commands. We don’t wanna be directed to the Serm…