Posted by John L. Rothra on August 23, 2008 under Devotional/Teaching, Evangelism | 
The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution states that Congress shall not establish a religion nor prohibit the free practice of religion, whatever that religion may be. It also prevents Congress from prohibiting speech (which the courts have expanded to include freedom of expression), meaning you can express your views without fear of being punished or otherwise stopped by the goverment. However, courts have recognized that the freedoms of religion and speech have limits: they cannot subvert the freedoms of another individual. While a person is free to worship a tree stump, one cannot break into another person’s back yard to worship the foliage.
Recent decades have witnessed the rise of postmodernism and, especially, the concepts of tolerance and relativism. Postmodernism, put simply, is the term used to describe the philosophy that there is no such thing as absolute truth that dictates all other truths (called a meta-narrative). Relativism is the concept that everything is ‘relative’: what may be true and good for one person may not be true or good for another. Furthermore, each individual truth is just as valid and acceptable as all others. Put simply, truth is in the eye of the beholder. Tolerance, as expressed by popular culture, finds its foundation in relativism: all beliefs should be respected and accepted as valid beliefs since none are superior. Along with this, tolerance is often described as meaning that no person has the right to try to persuade another to change their beliefs, for such is forcing one’s beliefs on another and is the epitome of intolerance.
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Posted by John L. Rothra on August 9, 2008 under Evangelism, Site Updates |
Two new book reviews have been posted. These examine Roy Fish’s When Heaven Touched Earth and G. A. Pritchard’s Willow Creek Seeker Services. Fish’s work examines the often overlooked awakening of 1858, sometimes called the ‘prayer revival’ due to its spread through prayer. Due to its proximity to the Second Great Awakening, this revival is often forgotten, possibly since it lacked any distinct leadership such as Jonathan Edwards, George Whitefield, or Charles Finney.
Pritchard’s work offers an objective examination and evaluation of one of the most influential models of church services in recent decades: Willow Creek’s “seeker service.” This style of worship service and evangelistic outreach has been the subject of much criticism and praise. Pritchard ignores the rhetoric and offers a balanced look at the service.
Posted by John L. Rothra on August 7, 2008 under Site Updates |
In order to improve the usability of the site, some pages were reorganized, some content moved, and a new drop down navigation menu has been installed. Some of the major changes include:
- New navigation menu with slight color changes when hovering over links
- Bible study resources reorganized as follows:
- “Issue Response Briefs” renamed to “Social Issue Responses”
- Book reviews, research and exegesis, and social issue responses placed on single “Articles” page
- Evangelism Scriptures gains its own page
- “Christian Resource Sites” renamed to “Online Christian Resources” and gets its own page
- “Bible Study Notes” renamed to “Bible Studies” and gets its own page
- The “Good Test” moved to underneath the “How to be Saved” in the navigation menu
- Recommended resources no longer includes “Movies and Music” – this changes far too often to keep up; also their is a wide variety of tastes regarding movie and music genres.
It is my hope that this will make things easier to find, more user friendly, and more accessible.
The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution states that Congress shall not establish a religion nor prohibit the free practice of religion, whatever that religion may be. It also prevents Congress from prohibiting speech (which the courts have expanded to include freedom of expression), meaning you can express your views without fear of being punished or otherwise stopped by the goverment. However, courts have recognized that the freedoms of religion and speech have limits: they cannot subvert the freedoms of another individual. While a person is free to worship a tree stump, one cannot break into another person’s back yard to worship the foliage.