The Keener Way

  I know, its been yet another long gap since I've posted. The thing is, I write stuff as inspiration hits me. Sometimes i get lots of ideas, sometimes they trickle slowly. This time around, I've had an idea for a while, but its been simmering on a backburner until I got the angle I needed this morning.  It started when I received a text with a quote by C.S. Lewis from his essay collection, "God in the Dock", which goes, "Christianity, if false, is of no importance, and if true, of infinite importance. The only thing it cannot be is moderately important." This weighed heavily on my mind, as I often feel like I treat Christianity as only moderately important. Indeed, sometimes it feels like the modern church at large is doing this with great unity. As I mulled over this for some weeks, my church started a sermon series in the book of 1 Peter. What particularly stood out was Chapter 1, verses 13-16. "Therefore prepare your minds for action. Be sober-min...

    “What is sin? It is the glory of God not honored . The holiness of God not reverenced . The greatness of God not admired . The power of God not praised . The truth of God not sought . The wisdom of God not esteemed . The beauty of God not treasured . The goodness of God not savored . The faithfulness of God not trusted . The commandments of God not obeyed . The justice of God not respected . The wrath of God not feared . The grace of God not cherished . The presence of God not prized . The person of God not loved . That is sin.” ~John Piper  We live in a broken world. Perhaps more broken than ever, perhaps less broken than ever. There is only one entity who has been alive for the Earth's entire history, and that is our Creator. So only he can judge our current level of broken. But through all of time, man has called things sin which the Lord never forbid, and man has called good things that the Lord explicitly denounced. So I thought I'd do a little script...

  Note: This may not be content for the *cough* too youthful. And some search engines may even hide this content for the keywords repetitively used. But these topics are way too taboo in the modern church. I debated creating substitute words for the article, but the Bible doesn't, so why should I? "You have heard that it was said, ‘Do not commit adultery.’ But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman to lust after her has already committed adultery with her in his heart." ~Matthew 5:27-28 BSB Now, I will say from the start, grace covers a multitude of sins. Else-wise we are ALL condemned. But also, we live in a world where sex and sexual sins have just about become the world's biggest and most devout religion. And the second biggest religion is the other side of the coin, those who go to drastic legalistic measures to try and stay pure. Thus I believe these are important topics to get right, because Yeshua calls his followers to a higher standard than the righteo...

     In a debate group that I am part of, the topic recently surfaced, if we are once saved, are we always saved. This immediately became a hot topic, with many members weighing in.      At first, while I had my leanings, I was undecided which side of the debate I adhered to. After all, why does it matter ultimately? We do well to live as though we could lose our salvation, according to Philippians 2:12, which says, "Therefore, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not only in my presence, but now even more in my absence, continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling. "      But for the sake of argument, I spent the next several days pouring over scripture, trying to find any and all patterns of rejection and redemption. Do we have examples of known saved people rejecting and thus losing their salvation?      The reality is, we don't. We simply do not know the state of a man's heart. Only God knows. So if ...

  Here we are, yet again, with a second volume of evaluating the theological content of Christmas Carols. I know, its risky ground. Many people would join Tevye the Dairyman in crying "Tradition! Tradition!" even though hymnwriters of long ago were no more freed of theological error than song writers of the modern era. Yet others would hold some degree of prejudice toward the older carols and relish in the new and modern, which creates a completely new set of questions regarding theological content, as society tries to drift away from scripture into prosperity gospels, word of faith gospels, and other non-scriptural gospels. But it is important to note that, as Paul said in his letters, we're not here to bring legalism into the church by dictating what is right or wrong concerning holy days. Some people set apart a certain day as holy to the Lord, others regard all days alike, and each should be convinced in his own mind. And the same goes for carols as it does for the ho...

  It would seem that December is upon us. And thus Christmas season. Accompanied by all the things typically associated with Christmas. Lights, candles, trees, mistletoe, wreaths, trees, present shopping, Christmas carols, hot cocoa, fruitcake, figgy pudding, eggnog, hot cider, trees, Santa, candy canes, nativity scenes... Did I mention trees? Christmas is one of the most commercialized times of the year. Its also one of the few times some people ever grace a church pew. To which point it is in our interest to be the most theologically solid we possibly can be during this time.  A lot of the popular Christmas traditions are drawn from pagan celebrations that date to the B.C., including Germanic celebrations of Yule, and the Roman celebrations of Saturn. These traditions were copied over to the Christian holiday by the Catholic church and some by the Lutheran church, in order to make it more appealing to the pagans.  I could say a lot of things about Christmas. I could say...