Christian America?

Is it? Was it ever? I resonate with this discussion because there is this sense among many of us that this nation is a divinely appointed nation to be a light to the world. I do not doubt that some who came over early on to this land believed this, the "wilderness experiment." What tends to follow from this is a kind of line which reads, "If we are ever going to become the greatest nation, the blessed nation, we must get back to our roots, to our Christian roots." The assumption is dangerous. And, as has been pointed out elsewhere (see Marsden et al, The Search for a Christian America and Greg Boyd's, The Myth of a Christian Nation), our nostalgia of that may be just that. So, check out the 12 minute discussion below!

Later!

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Ortberg Strikes Again

Anyone who knows me, knows that John Ortberg serves as one of the most influential humans in my life. I have enjoyed his preaching for years, his ability to meld both theology and the underlying psychology together in a way that doesn't violate both.

I just read his article, Your Hidden Curriculum. It is precisely what I wish I could say in the way he has written it. This addresses part of the underlying stuff that goes on in ecclesiastical cultures. We must be willing to address these, to examine these. In fact, an unwillingness to examine these probably serves as one of the greatest indicators that fear dominates the culture. I find more and more that ecclesiastical cultures tend to operate more from fear than we are led to admit. Our formal curriculum may declare the opposite. Again, the more we confess how free we are of fear may indicate how much fear does dominate.

So, read the article, look at his questions posed at the end, and give prayerful reflective thought of how your religious organization honestly answers the questions. And know...He is strong!

Until...