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Orthodoxy Drift: How Semantics, Euphemisms, & Coined Phrases Influence the Church–Part III
This week, I'm picking up where we left off in the last post and forging ahead to the word "works" and how the semantics behind this word has caused a wide rift between Catholic and Protestant faith traditions and also seems to be shifting to what it was never meant to define, and, therefore, twisting God's truth. As for myself, the tension between Paul and James had left me feeling very confused at one time, because my whole heart was to please the Lord, but it felt like if I "worked," or served the Lord in any way, I would displease Him, and if I did nothing, that would displease…
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Orthodoxy Drift: How Semantics, Euphemisms, & Coined Phrases Influence the Church–Part II
As promised, I'd like to continue this post I started a few weeks ago and talk about the words "faith" and "believe." There has been quite a bit of discussion already from several well-known Christian teachers who, like me, have a desire to address and correct what is called "easy believism" in the Church today. It carries with it the idea that one needs only to believe in Jesus to be saved without anything ever further required, that intellectual agreement with the truth that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and that He promises eternal life to everyone who believes on Him is all that is necessary for our…
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Worthy Is the Lamb
You know, Jesus said some really tough things to people when He walked the dusty roads of Judea. For example:
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Orthodoxy Drift: How Semantics, Euphemisms, & Coined Phrases Influence the Church–Part I
I am going to attempt in a series of posts, relying fully on the Lord's help, to point out that many words used by the inspired authors of the bible and coined phrases in use now have experienced or are experiencing a semantic shift in today's culture, words like grace, works, freedom, and unconditional love. A semantic shift occurs when a word takes on a different connotation and meaning over time. For example, the term "gay," back in the thirteenth century, meant "lighthearted or joyful, but in the fourteenth century also took on the connotation of "bright and showy." The term "the gay '90s" refers to the 1890s period of…
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Spiritual Amnesia
I've been observing in myself a tendency to forget how the Lord has helped me throughout my Christian walk when life's disappointments, spiritual battles, temptations, or difficulties come. It's like I'm using a macro lens on the current unpleasant or stressful situation and my spiritual sight becomes like the periphery--all out of focus. It is much more healthy to use the "panorama setting" in these times, to remember God's faithfulness and goodness that never wavers.
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Let Love Lead
Many years ago, I heard a sermon given by a wise pastor who said that when you are deciding whether or not to do something, and you feel pushed and anxious about it, that this is not from the Lord. His prompts are more like a draft horse pulling a plow. His powerful love leads us. After all, the Bible says that, "For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God." (Romans 8:14) The Greek word for led used here is agō, which means to lead out or guide.
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Are Christians Supposed to Make the World a Better Place?
I've often heard people, well-meaning believers in our Lord Jesus Christ, say things like: "We need to make a difference in our world, in our country, in our community, and in our homes." Or, "Let's get out there and change the world." Should we? Or do we, ever so subtly, even by something seemingly good, get sidetracked from our vocation as Christians? I often have felt a check in my spirit when I hear things like this. Up until maybe 4 or so years ago, statements like this confused and weighted me down. I would ask the Lord, "What do you want me to do? Should I start a charity…
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Are You in God’s Way?
I have often struggled with the fact that the Church of our unchanging God and Savior, Jesus Christ, has become so worldly in its methods and judgement. For example, we meld worldly ideas into our mainstream churches as easily as a new fad, as if trying them on like the latest fashion trend. Remember platform shoes? If you were "in," you wore these silly creations and were accepted, viewed as conforming to the current standard of beauty. But the eyes of the world are fickle. Beauty fades with the latest "new" thing, not because it is actually new, but because we are tired of the old. We need a change.…
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In Memory of My Sister
I am going to miss Jodi. I got to know her pretty well over the years. She even adopted me as her sister. I am going to miss Jodi. I got to know her pretty well over the years. She even adopted me as her sister. She’d start her text messages with her usual, bubbly, “Heya Sis!” Her last text to me was about how she made split pea soup and wanted Randy and I to have some, and that she’d leave a container of it outside her patio door in Jack’s kitty condo. My only comment to her was, “Just don’t leave it in his litter box,” to which…
