Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Is the Cross False Advertising?

A few weeks ago I was looking at books for my children in a Christian bookstore. The special sale item was an Easter picture book for $5--great price and perfect for my 4 year-old. Thumbing through the book, I was shocked to see the only reference to the crucifixion were the words "and Jesus went to die." The picture on the page showed Jesus carrying a cross, walking up a hill.

No retelling of all he endured leading up to the cross and completely leaving out the events during the crucifixion. In our politically correct society let us not become a PC Body of Christ too.
What are believers to do with Christ and the cross?

First, we are to correctly tell His-tory. I can see book publishers gathered around storyboards discussing the graphic nature of the Easter story being too much for preschoolers. Someone probably speaks up to say '...and if we're not careful it could offend some readers.'

Has the cross and Christ's atoning sacrifice become too embarassing and hard to swallow for some? Apparently it has...






The Easter story is not a sweet and compact cross with lillies and bunnys. It's a brutal,bloody,gory,gut-wretching story that does not end at the cross. The Easter story is the story of our freedom as believers. Without the cross there is no hope for you and I--that is if you believe the Bible. As watering down the gospel increases within segments of the church community--we must stand firm and teach our children the TRUE, COMPLETE story of Jesus Christ.

It's hard to imagine a well-known author, speaker, and pastor saying the atonement of Jesus is nothing more than false advertising. McLaren is just one in a growing sea of emergent church voices who are leading believers astray with their new consumer-friendly Jesus who sends no one to hell because all roads (all religions) lead to him.

Let us remain diligent to teach the truth of God's word to our children--the complete and uncensored version that leads to life eternal.

As the emergent church raises their voice in hopes of diminishing the significance of Jesus' atoning blood, let us raise ours with the truth of the gospel that sets people free from sin and death.

"This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood." Romans 3:22-25

Tomorrow, let me re-introduce you to the Christ...

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Marriage Blog Carnival

Over on MMCW we are kicking off the upcoming May / June issue with a marriage blog carnival. Molly Evert is heading it all up--I guess you can say she is our ringmaster! Molly's written a great piece explaining what a blog carnival is all about:
Kellie

Our May/June issue of Mentoring Moments will be focusing on marriage. We'd like to do a Blog Carnival about marriage to go along with that month's theme.

What is a blog carnival?
In a blog carnival, individual bloggers write about a common theme, and submit their posts to the carnival host. The carnival host writes a post on their blog (in this case our MMCW blog) and embeds links to each submitted article. Readers can click on each link and read what many others are saying about the topic at hand.

Why participate in a blog carnival?
A blog carnival is a great way to build our community at Mentoring Moments blog. We want to hear what you are saying! We can encourage one another by sharing what God is teaching each of us about marriage. This is also a great way to draw some traffic to your own blog.

What do I need to do?
The deadline for submitting an article to the May/June Marriage Carnival is Monday, April 13th. You can write a new post on your blog and send us the link, or you can even choose an old post about marriage from your archives! The only requirements are that the article be about marriage, that it be uplifting (no husband bashing!) and that it be written from a Christian perspective.

There is a form at the bottom of the blog post, as well as in the sidebar of the blog, that contains all the information you need to participate. Just click the link that says "Submit an article to this carnival". Then page down until you see a short form that enables you to submit the specific URL for your post. We'll publish this carnival May 11th.

Please take a moment and enter a post in the carnival! Visit our blog at:
http://mentoringblog.mentoringmoments.net/
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