Christian nation?

I’ve encountered a number of blogs this week that have been discussing the idea of the U.S. as a Christian nation (or not.) Usually, the discussion originated because of a New York Times article from earlier this week about the Woodland Hills church in St. Paul, Minnesota and it’s pastor, Greg Boyd.

The article (also found here) discusses a sermon series Boyd preached over 2 years ago called “The Cross and the Sword” (you can find them online here) as well as how the series caused around 1000 of the church’s 5000 members to leave. Here is a quote from the article:

Before the last presidential election, he preached six sermons called “The Cross and the Sword” in which he said the church should steer clear of politics, give up moralizing on sexual issues, stop claiming the United States as a “Christian nation” and stop glorifying American military campaigns.

“When the church wins the culture wars, it inevitably loses,” Mr. Boyd preached. “When it conquers the world, it becomes the world. When you put your trust in the sword, you lose the cross.”

A good article worth reading. Also worth reading is Boyd’s The Myth of a Christian Nation, which I read earlier this year and really enjoyed. I don’t necessarily buy into everything Boyd espouses, but he makes a lot of good points regarding the differences between the kingdom of God and the kingdoms of this world, and the perceived confusion of the two by some American Christians.

I’ve also heard good things about John Meacham’s American Gospel : God, the Founding Fathers, and the Making of a Nation. I have it on my request list at my local library and am waiting for it to become available.

Global warming

I’ve been trying to figure out the whole global warming thing. Some say we’re in great danger. Others say it’s nonsense. I personally don’t have the knowledge at this point to know, but I’m working on it, I guess. Having found it at my local library, I just started reading Al Gore’s book An Inconvenient Truth and have found it quite interesting. It contains a lot of information about greenhouse gases, climate change over the centuries, how much CO2 is in the atmosphere (and how much more will be in the future), oceanic temperatures, etc. It’s very informative and fascinating (and also has some cool pictures), although how much is true, accurate, embellished, and so forth, I really can’t say.

I also have on my DVR at home a recent program from the Discovery channel featuring Tom Brokaw, called Global Warming : What You Need To Know. I’m about 2/3 of the way though the 2-hour program, and so far it has been similar to Gore’s book, going over much of the same information. I also found interesting some of the interviews with scientists who said they were formerly skeptics of global warming, but now believe it to be a reality.

I get a little cautious listening to arguments of either side, but I tend to be more cautious of those who are opposed to changes that could potentially benefit the planet. I’m just finding it hard to believe that all we have done in the very recent history of the planet hasn’t had some negative impact. I am also aware that I could be wrong. So, I continue seek more knowledge on the subject. (And if you’re reading this and can recommend other sources of information, please do so.)

Rebuilding Ragamuffins

I discovered a number of months ago (through his website) that Brennan Manning was going to be in central Arkansas later this year for a conference. I immediately emailed the contact for the event for more information. I have read several of Manning’s books over the years, most notably The Ragamuffin Gospel, which I’d first heard about via an interview with Rich Mullins. Rich had mentioned the book and Manning and I decided to check it out, and it has become one of my favorites.

The contact told me she would send me more information later, as it became available. It is now available, as I received some registration forms in the mail yesterday. It will be the first weekend of December, and seating is limited, so I need to register soon. Unfortunately, the cost is $50, and since I hadn’t really budgeted for it (it had been a while and I’d basically forgotten about it), I wasn’t prepared to register ASAP. I don’t really want to pay that much to begin with. That seems to high to me. But, I currently have some items on sale on eBay, which I hope will sell and help fund my registration cost. It doesn’t seem that Brennan is available to hear very often (or at least not around here) and I would hate to miss an opportunity to hear him, so I would like to secure a spot soon. We’ll see.