Posts that contain content related to living a Christian life.

Tag Archive for: Christian Living

Thinking Biblically: Entertainment

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As you’ve probably heard or read on this website, we hope to cover how to think biblically about any given topic. I appreciate that phrase, as it’s close to something I’ve said frequently in sermons and other messages: “Keep your brain turned on!” 

But what about entertainment? 

Sometimes the problem with thinking biblically about entertainment is that entertainment is usually designed to help us stop thinking. When I consider some of the entertainment I enjoy, like fantasy football or the Marvel Cinematic Universe, I know that part of the reason I enjoy it is because it’s not mentally taxing—I can transport myself to a happy, fictional place where superheroes defeat villains, or to an alternate reality where I know who will score more touchdowns. 

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Attack of the Unleavened Tacos

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With the Days of Unleavened Bread right around the corner, it seems a good time to bring out this short story. During the Days of Unleavened Bread many years ago when I was pastoring congregations in Missouri, I had a trip out of town for a ministerial visit that saw me leaving rather hastily and not taking anything to eat with me, though the trip would end up keeping me out until far past dinner time. So, that night I eventually visited the drive-thru of a popular fast food joint to grab some cornflour (and unleavened) “hard shell” tacos. (I won’t mention the name of the place, but it rhymed with Spock Hotel…) I used the drive-thru because I didn’t want to lose any time on the road.

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Podcast: Studying History with Your Brain Turned On

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Why are there four gospels? How do you study history? How do you even read history, especially the history of the Bible? What should teens and young adults keep in mind as they study history in school and at a university? And just what is the name of the last king of Judah, anyway? (We know it starts with a “Z”…)

Join us on the podcast as we talk with Area Pastor and admitted history nerd Mark Sandor about keeping your brain turned on when reading or studying history, biblical or otherwise.

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Blubber Rain: Lessons from an Exploding Whale Carcass

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Bone fragments, chunks of rotting whale meat, slabs of stinking blubber, droplets of liquids, and a fine mist of various carcass fluids all rained down from a clear sky. Over the ocean? On a deserted beach? No. On a crowd of 75 fleeing spectators and their cars filling makeshift parking lots outside of Florence, Oregon, in 1970.

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Some TW Goodness: “Should We Kiss Dating Hello?”

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It was published back in the middle of 2020 in Tomorrow’s World magazine, but if you didn’t read it then, here’s your chance!

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Podcast: The Case of the Cud-Chewing Pig

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For this second episode of the podcast, we visit a question submitted at a camp Teen Bible Study many years ago that went unanswered at the time: If scientists are able to “create” a pig that chews the cud, is it clean to eat? It may not seem a question of cosmic importance, but diving into the topic generates a lot more worthwhile principles than you might think!

“They are fighting over the deck chairs on the Titanic…”

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The Church published a fantastic sermon by Mr. Rod McNair that he gave a couple of years ago here in Charlotte titled “What Cause Are You Fighting For?” that is really helpful in helping us find perspective. He emphasized that we live in a world in which people are not only rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic while the ship is going down—they are fighting over who owns the chairs.

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