Pros and cons of short term mission trips

The Washington Post had an interesting piece titled Teen missions being retooled.  Here are some snippets. 
WASHINGTON — Not long ago, the families of Fairfax (Va.) Presbyterian Church spent thousands of dollars to fly their teens to Mexico for eight days of doing good. They helped build homes and refurbish churches as part of an army of more [...]

How many translations did your Bible go through?

One. 
Really. Just one time from the original language to the language and version of your Bible.  The original writings were copied many times, but the Bible you hold was only translated once.
Many people – including some Christians – are quick to say that the Bible has been translated and changed so many times over the [...]

Privatize Social Security

Lotteries are illegal unless the government runs them, and so are pyramid schemes like Social security.
For most people, the government extracts over 15% of their pay for FICA.  Technically, half comes from the employee and half from the employer, but of course the employer could give it to the employee since it is already part [...]

Update

I updated the Are you sure you want to bring Jesus into this? post based on an encounter with a philosophy professor who doesn’t handle losing very well (Richard Brown, a PhD candidate in the Cognitive Science and Philosophy program at The Graduate Center, CUNY and an Instructor (tenure-track) at LaGuardia College, CUNY).  I did exactly [...]

Men wrote the Bible, so it must have mistakes?

A common objection to the assertion that God inspired the writings of the Bible is that men wrote it, so it must have mistakes.  Sadly, I have often heard this from committed Christians.
The argument usually goes like this:
Premise 1: Men wrote the Bible.
Premise 2: Men make mistakes.
Conclusion: God didn’t write the Bible.
But note that premise [...]

Really, can you blame him?

Few things are as frustrating as lawn equipment that won’t work.  Kevin found this gem (emphasis added):

A 57-year-old south side man, who might have been struggling with a hangover, is charged today with shooting his lawn mower with a sawed-off shotgun.
“I’ll tell you the truth,” a criminal complaint quotes an apparently inebriated Keith Walendowski. “I got [...]

What if Christianity started this way?

An Alternative Christian History is a provocative way to look at the religion of peace:
Christ receives messages from God and travels to Jerusalem to preach his revelations. He is rejected by the religious establishment and forced to leave the city. He takes up his new residence in Bethlehem and through his preaching succeeds in creating [...]

Al Gore = fraud & hypocrite

Good piece from Mark about how Al Gore is at it again.  Someone please take the microphone away from him!
The people who interview Gore, including those in Congress, are either clueless or gutless.  The conversation should go like this:
Reporter/Congressman: Is it true that you own all those houses and vehicles and use many times more [...]

Weekly roundup

Now here’s a good evangelism idea – give out CD’s with your favorite sermon(s) containing the Gospel.  CDs are cheap – what are they, like 10 cents each these days?  Burn a bunch and put ‘em in your trunk.  Also check out the Pocket Testament League where you can get free Gospel of John tracts to [...]

Dalmatian Theology

They don’t refer to it as such, but many Christians teach a message of Dalmatian Theology, whereby the Bible is only inspired in spots and they are inspired to spot the spots.   (Hat tip to the Baptist pastor who coined this phrase. )
Saying the Bible isn’t fully inspired by God may seem like a humble premise, but [...]

Evangelism experiences 3

As noted in the overview, this is part of a series of evangelism experiences I want to share. Please feel free to add your own.
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This is about “drive-by evangelism” - unavoidably brief but significant encounters where you share what you can.  I don’t recommend this as a normal practice.
I was in the Denver airport with my [...]

Yes, they really argue this way

The following is a comment thread from a post on 1 Corinthians 7 from my Bible Study Blog.  I had noted a comment about marriage being between one man and one woman and God’s plan for human sexuality.  One guy apparently disagreed with me.

Reid, on July 19th, 2008 at 4:13 pm
The fact that you have [...]

(Somewhat) Effective Biblical arguments against capital punishment

As noted in my post on Ineffective Biblical arguments against capital punishment, capital punishment (CP) is a completely Biblical proposition if properly applied.  Most of the arguments against it use very poor Biblical analysis.  Having said that, I do have some concerns about how it is currently administered in the U.S. If I had to argue [...]

Ineffective Biblical arguments against capital punishment

Capital punishment (CP) is a completely Biblical proposition if properly applied and is actually a pro-life position.  Having said that, in my next post I’ll make some arguments from a Christian worldview against capital punishment as currently administered in the U.S.  But first I wanted to address some anti-CP arguments that I would not use.   
(Note that I [...]

Family & friends update

The girls left for their 5 weeks of ballet workshops.  We’ve halfway through our mini-empty nest phase (it has become an annual thing).  Kim just left for her parents for a week so it is just the dogs and me for now.  I plan to get tons of chores, blogging and guitar playing done in addition [...]

Judging is a two-way street

Only God truly knows the condition of someone’s heart.  People get mighty upset if a person’s professed Christianity is questioned.  Some of that is justified, but they miss a larger point: Many people will insist that someone is saved and not realize they are being just as judgmental.
Think about it: Claiming that someone isn’t saved [...]