Smoking Cigars to the Glory of Christ…

This is from Jared.  You can read the whole thing here: Click.  I enjoy for some reason stories of Baptist par excellence Spurgeon and his stogies.  

In 1874, Christian World Magazine reported a curious exchange between itinerant preaches Dwight Pentecost and Charles Spurgeon taking place upon a joint appearance at a worship service. Pentecost included in his sermon an impassioned tale of heeding God’s call to give up smoking, as it impeded his piety. Many saw this testimony as a passive aggressive dig at Spurgeon, himself a well-known cigar smoker. When Spurgeon took to the pulpit, this is what he said: Well, dear friends, you know that some men can do to the glory of God what to other men would be sin. And notwithstanding what brother Pentecost has said, I intend to smoke a good cigar to the glory of God before I go to bed to-night. If anybody can show me in the Bible the command, “Thou shalt not smoke,” I am ready to keep it; but I haven’t found it yet. I find ten commandments, and it’s as much as I can do to keep them; and I’ve no desire to make them into eleven or twelve. The fact is, I have been speaking to you about real sins, not about listening to mere quibbles and scruples. At the same time, I know that what a man believes to be sin becomes a sin to him, and he must give it up. “Whatsoever is not of faith is sin” [Rom. 14:23], and that is the real point of what my brother Pentecost has been saying. Why, a man may think it a sin to have his boots blacked. Well, then, let him give it up, and have them whitewashed. I wish to say that I’m not ashamed of anything whatever that I do, and I don’t feel that smoking makes me ashamed, and therefore I mean to smoke to the glory of God.

Great Post Go Vote!

This is from Ted Kluck’s blog…we know and love him for his book “Why We are Not Emergent...”  It is about who would win in fighting matches between various people of some Christian deveration.  Check it out and vote!

D

Just when you thought Christians could not get anymore embarassing…

This video surfaces:  Suspicions are running rampant that LBEAR is the guy in the middle:

As an update I have discovered the blog that originally posted them…and I love it you can find it here!… He has more Zany videos and you must see them!

Also apparently the group that did the video is something of a cult called the Way International

Cause Cakes Can Be Delicious and Funny…

Who doesn’t like cakes and humor?  (besides the Chinese government and James Dobson…China because Commies don’t like such wasteful use of sugar and James Dobson because he suspects that cake and humor together are a tool of the radical Homosexual agenda…)

Anyhoo if you are not the Chinese government, James Dobson or a California homeschool parent under his evil spell click here.

A Post From 2007…Still True…

A revisit of a post from 2007 that I enjoy:

So I was just reading about this church down Nashville way and I read their whole pitch and it just stressed me out…here are some of the quotes:

you WON’T see people in polyester singing badly

some of the best Christian “rock” music

Make no mistake, it was an EVENT…

Now I read that and I would just laugh if I did not believe that this truly wanted to reach people for Jesus, but shoot, when will the church learn that just because you are not wearing polyester it does not mean that you are not outdated? Just because you are not back in the ’70’s does not mean that your church is not firmly entrenched in 1992. Why are we bragging about the fact that we have stepped within two decades of pop-culture? Honestly the next time I hear a church describe itself as contemporary I will puke: 1. If you have to describe yourself as contemporary you are not and 2: the word has no meaning or value, it assumes a singular cultural and societal situation that does not exist. We never stop to ask: contemporary to whom? In most cases we the church are only contemporary by comparison to ourselves, and thus are not really contemporary in the sense in which we use it, but updated (yet still desperately behind). The church is essentially a poor caricature of cultures past while at the same time neglecting any real power she has. I would beg the church to discover the term missional, I know it does not go on the billboard as well, but it lives much better and will have a greater impact

Beyond that let’s be honest, some of the excesses of the 1990’s were indeed excesses, I don’t really want church to be an “event” I want it to be an encounter, an encounter with Jesus. I wish churches would just minister in their context and tell everyone it is all about Jesus instead of bragging that every week before the services you have a clown.

P.S. for all you churches stuck in the 50’s this post in no way validates your issues

P.S.S. My friend Aaron observed that I am just being closed minded and this is probably why our church is not a mega-church, here are his comments:

Dave, you know why we aren’t “growing” (as big as that church) ODDS ARE…

…it’s because we DON’T have jugglers pre-service

…it’s because we DON’T have hula hoop competitions (didn’t you read the book about that)

…it’s because we DON’T have our pastor paraded in on a motorcycle (side note, that would have been sweet if it was Palm Sunday…and the people were waving and laying down palms for him to enter into)

So I Was Teasing Before…

But this one really is me…Surprised?
D

(who is only a Calvinist because Jesus was)

California Homeschooling Decision…

This is an outrage.  This is terrible.  Requiring parents to know the subjects they are teaching! As one homeschooling Parent said “This is Just like what the Nazis did to the Eskimos in the 1850′s”

(Joke courtesy of Seth Meyers of SNL and dedicated to Becky …”)

I Know Funny…and This Crap is Funny

Stuff White People Like

If you are white, emotional and lack a sense of humor…I totally recomend you do not click here. I particularly found number 71 hilarious because it is so true. My whole trip to the Philippines was nearly ruined the morning I woke up and found the hotel lobby crawling with other white people! If hundreds of them were allowed to stay there…then what would be special about me? I would just blend in, like a speck of white amongst a bowl of rice, if you will.

Martin Luther is Funny…

“Do you suppose that abuses are eliminated by destroying the object which is abused? Men can go wrong with wine and women. Shall we then prohibit and abolish women?”
– Martin Luther

“…while I sat still and drank beer with Philip and Amsdorf, God dealt the papacy a mighty blow.”  – Martin Luther

You Can’t Stop Art Boulet..you can only hope to contain him…

There are so many reasons why Art Boulet is the bomb…His Reformed Theology, his knowledge of the Old Testament…the fact that he once backed me up in a face book group when I ripped on Ray VanderLaan…but the number one reason is found in the Feedback section of this months Relevant Magazine: His feedback was printed for all the world to see! He is ubiquitous. Go Art.