TIME TO MOVE THE BLOG

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Bilingual blog has MOVED for good!

Hey faithful readers, please make a note of it. After 4 years, I've switched blogs. The new wordpress one will allow for some much better discussions and options. Sorry for the inconvenience. Please join the RECOVERING PHARISEE at:

Escapism

I've seen a scary trend from Christ followers this last week. "Fear" might be too strong of a word. Perhaps "defeatism." Maybe "escapism." I've received emails about getting ready for the end of the world, about throwing in the towel, about withdrawing from the world in order to wait until Jesus comes back. This type of response would be very foreign to the Hebrew people.

According to Marvin R. Wilson, a leading scholar on Christian-Jewish relations and author of Our Father Abraham, writes "Certainly, the godly of the Old Testament could never have brought themselves to sing such patently foreign and heterodox words as the following which may be heard in certain churches today: 'This world is not my home, I'm just passin' through,' or 'Some glad morning when this life is o'er. I'll fly away,' or 'When all my labors and trials ore o'er, and I am safe on the beautiful shore.'

To any Hebrew of the Bible times this kind of language would be unrealistic and irresponsible, a cop-out -seeking to abandon the present, material world, while focusing on the joys of the 'truly' spiritual world to come."

God never told us we'd get a GET OUT OF EARTH FREE card. He wouldn't want us to. Those who WALK THE FINE LINE are committed to:

• Transform the world, not transcend it


• Shape the world, not escape it

Will you walk THE FINE LINE and stay committed to Christianity and culture?

My Thoughts on Obama

After fielding multiple calls about what our response should be to Obama and after hearing several unloving comments about how Obama is the anti-Christ and how the end of the world is at hand, I've decided to respond. I can only take one more email about how Obama is Hitler.

Have we as believers forgot who is on the throne? Last time I checked, he wasn't sitting in the White House. If we think when a Republican is in office (or a Christian) that we are a Christian nation, then we are deceived. Likewise, if we think when a Democrat (or a non Christian) is in office that we are a non Christian nation, then we are deceived.

If we are followers of Jesus, then our battle is not a governmental one, but rather a spiritual one (Ephesians 6:12). If we get caught up in basing our joy, hope, and livelihood on who's in office, then we are quite unbiblical indeed.

Look, I clearly stated God's heart regarding the political issues on hand. I preached my sermon on Sunday (listen to Hearty Approval). I stated my heart for pro-life issues. But we voted and now until Obama tells me I should go against the Word of God I am obeying the government.

If he or any other government tell me otherwise then I need to take a stand and deal with the consequences, be they physical or financial (Acts 4:14-29). In the meantime, my Biblical responsibility is to pray for Obama and the leaders of our country.

Rather then spreading lies, fears, and/or a diversion of our real goal (to win a lost world to Jesus), I am going to pray for our new President. Will you too?

NIV 1 Timothy 2:1 I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone--
2 for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness.
3 This is good, and pleases God our Savior,
4 who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.
5 For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,
6 who gave himself as a ransom for all men-- the testimony given in its proper time.

Stop the crazy emails that make followers of Jesus look fearful and irrelevant. If anyone should have PEACE and be UNITED as ONE it should be Christ followers. Let's be the Church, especially now.

Watch John Piper for an additional perspective.

Carlos Wittaker Joined the Blog Tour

The RagamuffinSoul readership just signed on to THE FINE LINE blog tour. Thanks Carlos! We're thrilled to have you. 31 days - 31 blogs. Looking forward to seeing you all next Monday November 10 over at Tony Morgan's Blog.

Hearty Approval

In light of the epic circumstances facing our nation, I preached a sermon yesterday on the Biblical Issues related to the election. The title was "Hearty Approval" and the sermon in a sentence was:

My VOTE on Tuesday and my LIFESTYLE on Wednesday reveals what I really approve of.
Listen to it here.

NAU Romans 1:32 and although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them.

Shane Claiborne likes it

Shane Claiborne, author of Irresistable Revolution and Jesus for President, read The Fine Line. Here's what he said:

"The world needs Christians who are both culturally relevant and culturally peculiar. The Fine Line stirs up the critical question of what it means to have a faith that is in touch with the world we live in and yet maintains the distinctiveness of the counter-culture of Christ. We need a Church of culturally relevant radical nonconformists who are part of transforming the patterns of this world to align with the patterns of the upside-down kingdom of God."

Zondervan Blog

Check out the shout out for THE FINE LINE from the Zondervan Blog.

Bob's review of The Fine Line

A Book Review: The Fine Line

I just finished previewing Kary Oberbrunner's new book, The Fine Line. The book focuses in on the age old question on how can Christians be in the world but not of it? He draws his points from real life and at times personal examples that we can all relate to, and asks questions that are "refitted" for the 21st century believer.

What I appreciate about Kary's insights is how he redefines the question of how today's Christians interact with their world. He sites biblical truths that believers are to posses and shows us how we are to live them out in a postmodern world. We all have read some where that the Church needs to be relevant in today's culture but no one really tells you what that means.

This is key to Kary's book. He actually defines what being relevant means (you'll have to read the book to get his definition) without denying who we are as the Church. These are not new thoughts that he is bringing to the Church but an "old Truth" in a voice for a new millennial. I can see someone using this book in a college-age Sunday morning gathering, a high school discipleship group, or a discussion starter for elders.

The book should be hitting the stores about now and I would recommend that you pick up a copy. The chapters read very fast and easy with discussion questions for each chapter. Also, there is an appendix section that gives you a short comparisons between modern and postmodernism. A nice compliment to the questions at the end of the chapters.

by Bob Hetzler, Bob lives in Southern California. He is on CE National’s YouthNet Commission and is the director of Fusion, the young adult division of Momentum youth conference. Bob recently launched a consultant ministry focusing on the Millennial Generation. He's currently assisting churches in beginning college ministries.

Sneak Peak of THE FINE LINE

THE FINE LINE: A brand new paradigm for an age-old problem

How do you live in the world, but not of it? Christians have wondered this ever since Jesus first mentioned it in the prayer to his Father in the Garden of Gethsemane.

Unfortunately, since the birth of the church many followers of Jesus got it all wrong. In 1951 faculty member at Yale Divinity School, Richard Niebuhr changed all that with his seminal work Christ and Culture. His book hijacked the conversation of a Christian’s role culture for nearly six decades.

This December that’s all going to change. Although Zondervan author Kary Oberbrunner voices his indebtedness to scholars like Niebuhr, he believes this generation needs a new paradigm. In 1951:

Homosexuality was considered a mental illness.
The divorce rate was less than ½ of what it is today.
Prayer was still allowed in school.
Abortion was illegal.
There was no internet or cell phones.
Attending movies was considered a sin by many.

The gap between Christ and culture was narrow at best.

Fast-forward life nearly sixty years and you’ve landed on a different planet. Presently the gap between Christ and culture is wide open, ripped right down the middle. Oberbrunner boldly calls people to contextualize the changeless Christ in their ever-changing culture. He invites readers to bridge this increasing gap by walking the fine line between being in the world and being of the world.

Videos, reviews, and free chapter at www.KaryOberbrunner.com/TheFineLine