Art imitates life. That adage has never been more true than in the movies this culture produces. I’m not so much talking about the physical realities of life as I am the way we think and what we believe as a culture. I’m particularly speaking to the way we think about love and what we believe love is. With this culture’s beliefs about love, it’s no wonder so many young people are staying away from or are even deathly afraid of commitment and marriage. I mean think about it:  If love truly was what we believe it to be, I would be scared of it too! It would only bring pain time after time!

My attention was really drawn to this issue by a few of the movies I have seen recently and from hearing what people have to say (in person and on Facebook, etc.) about love. Allow me to summarize some of the ways we think about love as a culture, Christian and non-Christian alike, that I have noticed.

• Love is this overwhelming force that just hits you out of the blue and you are powerless against it. Read more →

This is one of my favorite rants from Matt Chandler. He really hits at the heart of the consumerism that has infiltrated a lot of American Evangelical churches. He points out (using a bit of satire) how we have become self-centric instead of Christ-centric and the ridiculousness that brings with it. The rest of the message, entitled “Members”, is really good because he points out the problems the church faces and then offers solutions and proper biblical views of the church. This is excerpted from “Members” in the “The Church” series from The Village Church.

I have been asked before after one of my messages/classes to define what I mean by the terms “modern evangelicalism” or “American evangelicalism”… Since I tend to use them in a derogatory manner. I have tried to explain it, but never felt like I have done it full justice because it is such a vast and pervasive problem. So, I guess this is my attempt to explain what I mean… While I vent a bit in the process.

One of the problems, if not the biggest problem, is we have “believers” who think Christianity is all about them because we have churches teaching them that garbage and doing everything they can in their services and campuses to reinforce said garbage. Garbage here referring to poor doctrine and awful theology. The fact that we have taken Christ’s institution of the church and turned it into an arms race of sorts (bigger and more is better) that’s concerned more about buildings than people, angers me! And I’m not just looking from the outside in. I have been a part of the numbers game. Read more →