Inappropriate Conversations

146: The Idea Of Christ

A century ago in sermons and speeches that would become My Utmost For His Highest, the current sad state of Christianity was described aptly with the question, "Are you loyal to Jesus or to your notion of him?" by Oswald Chambers. We see the problem when Christians openly dispute the things Jesus said, or when popular versions of Bible stories don't match the "inspired word of God" and those obsessed with Biblical perfection fail to side with the inerrant text. Chambers might say that we are guilty of siding with what we believe without much regard for God's will. If this is true of individuals, it is certainly true of organizations and groups -- no matter how we may defer to their "religious beliefs."

Different Drummer: Oswald & Gertrude Chambers

Walk The Earth 15

Whether maintaining a hierarchy of sins is itself un-Biblical and sinful?

145: Transparency and Secrets

Business author Jason Jennings once raised the question: what's the good business reason for doing this? It's a notion we should apply to other aspects of life. The church should mix this with "what would Jesus do?" slogans and challenge whether congregations have asked about the good Jesus reasons before taking a stand. Likewise, in the area of state secrets, our government leaders need to ask themselves tough questions before classifying documents. Making secrets out of things that either ought to be public or should not be done in the first place is abominable public policy.

Different Drummer: Edward Snowden

Walk The Earth 14

Whether equipping virtually can effectively lead to an actual outreach?

144: The Death of The Author

The birth of a pseudonym tends to be all about necessity, but the death of a pen name is rarely chronicled. I've been speaking, here and there, about The Author since the second Inappropriate Conversations podcast. Here is the rest of that story, in a surrealistic way.

Different Drummer: M. C. Escher

Walk The Earth 13

Whether membership must focus on a single church, as if fidelity is more to a congregation than to Christ?

143: Verticality of Time

Imagine that everything you ever have done and everything you ever will do has either already happened in a single flash of "time" or is happening now. Everything. We are only aware of an echo, a flow from that moment of reality, and it appears to proceed horizontally to us. What if the bigger picture functions vertically, though, and instantaneously? Our perspective on several theological concepts would be very different, and so would our relationships.

Different Drummer: Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.