Power in Weakness

The next four chapters of 1 Corinthians contain some of the most controversial passages in the Bible - no joke.  I could spend a lot of time and cyberspace on this blog trying to give my opinions and interpretations of the sections concerning women in ministry and the spiritual gifts.  In fact, I would rather enjoy that.  I think it certainly matters what we believe about these issues.  However, I also think that there is a definite reason that one of the Bible's most eloquent and beautiful passages on love is found sandwiched between these infamous chapters of long-standing debate.  Love, the Scriptures are telling us, is the key.  What would we believe about women in ministry if love guided our theology?  A love for Jesus and His Truth, first and foremost, but also a love and honor for women themselves and the unique and powerful gifts they carry?  I wonder if we would so easily relegate them to the background of church government with our pat answers and quick judgments...

Break's over and we're heading back into our study of 1 Corinthians.  Where did we leave off?  Oh, yes - the gifts of both marriage and singleness, and the current tendency of the western church to unduly exalt one over the other.  Chapter 8 transitions into another issue that has been raised by the Corinthians via letter, and Paul begins to address it.  Here's the general idea. In that time period in Corinth, there were pagan temples on practically every corner.  These temples housed idolatrous feasts that were filled with unholy activities.  However, they also served as meeting places for different clubs and private dinners (like a convention center in our day).  The Christians there were confused as to what was "allowed" in relation to these temples.  Obviously it wouldn't please God to participate in the debauchery and idol worship of a pagan feast.  But what if they were invited to a dinner party in one of those temples?  Or what if some of the leftov

This may be the most theologically imprecise blog I've written in awhile (or ever), so for the Bible prudes out there, please forgive me ahead of time.  I want to take a break from the Corinthians notes to share my quiet time from this morning with you.  Most days I will just jump into the Word, praying as I go, looking for new insights, waiting for God's presence, and listening to His voice.  But today I felt a fresh determination to hear from God, not just gain a new Scriptural insight, so I spent some time waiting on Him before I even jumped into the text.  The result was unexpected.  My time with God was...pretty dang fun.  Now, God and I do have a special connection through laughter.  Those of you who know my testimony from the past few years know how true, how embarrassingly and incredibly true that is.  He likes to make me laugh.  Sometimes it seems He'd rather do that than share some mind-blowing piece of wisdom with me.  This continually surprises me about His

Since I'm writing this blog primarily for Foundations students at Event Force, I want to start off by sharing a scribbled note from my own personal study Bible from when I was a student at the school myself years ago.  It's next to 1 Corinthians 7:22 - "For he who is called in the Lord while a slave is the Lord's freedman."  I wrote the following next to that verse: "Remember when you do event force - you are the Lord's freedman!"  It's been awhile since I have actually worked an Event Force, but apparently the last time I did, it was pretty easy for me to liken myself to the "slaves" of Paul's day.  So, Event Force slaves, take heart - in your hearts you are still free!  They may give you long hours on your feet, and you may question your salvation as you find yourself annoyed with everyone around you, but just remember that you are free.  ...At least that's what I told myself. On my last blog, we left off at the end of chapt

Consider the book of 1 Corinthians in the New Testament. It's an ancient letter from the Apostle Paul to the church of Corinth, with astounding relevance to the modern day, charismatic American church .  (A preacher once called it 1st Californians, which I thought was clever.)  The Corinthian Church was steeped in a humanistic, sex-saturated, anything-goes, knowledge-worshiping Greek culture, as are we.  Of all the ancient cultures, in fact, our western world is more akin to that of the ancient Greeks than any other.  They loved the spiritual gifts, and so do we.  They were full of themselves, secretly harboring the notion that they were "leading the charge" in the Christian world, much like we believe today in the States.  They were completely divided, whole groups of believers divided from others because of pet doctrines and obsessions with preacher personalities and movement distinctives... Need I even draw the comparison here? The point is, the church and cultur

Growing up, my family had this funny tradition of chronicling each one of our aspirations of what we wanted to be when we "grew up."  I guess it was mostly spearheaded by my Mom.  In turn, my older brother, younger brother, and I would tell my Mom our desired future occupation and she would faithfully record it in the books.  For years, Robin, my older brother, wanted to be a "marine biologist."  After all, he liked sea creatures, and there was a rumor going around that marine biologists got paid bank.  (He was pragmatic like that.)  We weren't quite sure if my little brother, Justin, actually believed he would be a ninja when he grew up, but that is what he consistently told us when it came time to take account. I, on the other hand, knew what I wanted to be: a banker.  Why, you may ask?  Because I loved money.  Counting money, to be specific.  Nothing brought me more joy than to meticulously organize my paper bills and coins in stacks and piles, count them