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In Which I Make My Own Bold Predictions!

I’m glad that not many of the people in our congregation have not heard or, or at least wondered about Harold Camping. We will, audaciously enough, gather together on May 22 and worship, as we do every Sunday, despite Camping’s claims that we are apostate for being a part of a “church,” and despite Camping’s claims that the end of the world and the rapture will most certainly occur on May 21, 2011. I’ll even prepare a sermon for that day, despite claims that Jesus will certainly return rapture his true church (people who follow Harold Camping, but who are not in a “church”) on Saturday. I know, I’m just that gutsy.

I will be even more bold. Here are a few of my own predictions:
Continue reading “In Which I Make My Own Bold Predictions!”

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Reactions to Bin Laden and thoughts on zombies

This morning I received an email from a friend and parishioner that included a link to a new house design, with a note that said, “Hey Pastor, I thought you would enjoy this zombie proof house.” In the end, that email may tell you more about me than anything, but I thought it was interesting to receive that link this morning as we in the United States react to the news of the death of Osama Bin Laden.

I guess I should set some things straight first. I do not think Osama was simply misunderstood, or really a decent guy once you got to know him. He was an evil guy. He did evil things. I think if he were here in my house he would want me dead along with my family. He was a bad dude. I have no thoughts to the contrary. It was not bad enough that he masterminded the attacks on September 11, 2001, but he used other people as human bombs, and hid behind his money and connections. In other words, he is a great enemy. He is like exhibit “A” in terms of the word “enemy,” which is really quite an accomplishment in today’s postmodern, relativistic milieu. In fact, if anyone ever taught anything that we ought to do in regards to our enemies, then perhaps this guy, Osama, ought to come to mind, because he most certainly was our enemy. But, of course, you can probably see where that is going. Continue reading “Reactions to Bin Laden and thoughts on zombies”

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Holy Hairstyles

Should you be forced to cut your hair?

I was talking with someone just the other day who had been raised in a pretty extreme holiness church.  What I mean is that particular church, or stream of the Christian church, tends to focus a great deal on the different rules you must follow to be holy.  If you do not do these certain things (or if you do other things) then you are not Christian.  One of the rules that ought to be followed is in regards to hair length for men (and women).  What is the rule?  Why would a Christian church teach that men cannot have long hair?  What is the scriptural mandate for this?

I have worn my hair both long and short.  It is currently on the longer side, so I thought these would be interesting questions to explore, especially since the current sermon series is on holiness.

What is the rule?

The rule is that men cannot have long hair.  “Long” is a subjective term.  Is it covering the ears?  Is it to the nape of the neck?  Is it to the shoulders?  The follow up rule is that women ought to have long hair, and while that does not seem to cause as much trouble, there are those extreme holiness churches that, God bless them, strive to be entirely consistent on this.  Under this rule men cannot have long hair.  It is a “disgrace,” or “unnatural” and a man cannot have long hair and be a Christian.  Admittedly, there are more “liberal” churches that may not question your salvation on account of your hair length, but they would still certainly not consider it proper or the thing that a Christian man ought to do. Continue reading “Holy Hairstyles”

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Being Salt and Light

This week’s sermon actually began as a blog post after I read the article about the reject commercial, and then as I was writing it, I realized it would work for a sermon. Because of that, I have the message typed out and thought I’d share it along with the podcast. So, here it is.

I just read a news story online that told how a commercial with a Christian message was rejected by Fox and will not show during the Superbowl. The commercial is pretty harmless, it seems, with the only real “message” being a reference to the verse John 3:16. Fox said it was rejected for “advancing particular beliefs and practices,” which I thought was funny since that is kind of what advertising does. I’ll be curious to see the Budweiser commercials that refrain from advancing belief that their beer is the ‘king of beers,’ and the practice of drinking beer. What Fox meant to say was that they don’t want to take flak because of a religious commercial, and I get it. It’s annoying, but I get it. We will undoubtedly be subjected to the soft core porn that is a go daddy dot com commercial, but apparently that is less insulting and less damaging than even the hint of Christianity. Whatever. I think the argument that somehow a moral compass is a bit off center, is probably fruitless, because this is just the way our cultural context is.
Continue reading “Being Salt and Light”

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for our natures to change

I love Christmas music. Every year I spend some time looking for new songs or different renditions of old songs I enjoy. This year I found a song by Frightened Rabbit, a Scottish independent rock group that I enjoy. It is called, “It’s Christmas So We’ll Stop.” They sing that it is Christmas, so we should stop conflicts and actions of hatred.

“We’re built to give at least once each year
Now that’s better than never I guess
And life might never get better than this
With the perfect excuse for our natures to change”

It’s a fairly common sentiment, I think, that somehow we ought to treat each other better during Christmas, or that we ought to be more generous during Christmas. Continue reading “for our natures to change”

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Halloween 2010 – Links and Pics

Our Elmo and Buzz jack-o-lanterns

Alright, by the time I post this, it will just about be Halloween, and Halloween is kind of a fun time around the Croel household.  The kids love the decorations and candy.  We’ve been listening to Halloween music for about 6 weeks (it’s about time for that to end, by the way), and we’ve had decorations up since the end of September.  Elijah and Alexandra love to show visitors all of our Halloween decorations – so it’s pretty fun all in all. Here is a link to a post last year about Halloween, and another post from last year that has my Halloween playlist for my ipod.

So… I wanted to get a picture up of our pumpkins for this year.  I let the kids pick out what they wanted, so we ended up with Buzz Lightyear and Elmo.  And to let you know the additions to my Halloween song collection. Continue reading “Halloween 2010 – Links and Pics”