Notes From Off Center - Latest Comments

One of the issues I have had in discussions with people is the role that ATS plays in seminary education. My suggestion is that seminaries need to say the heck with ATS and just start doing what best serves the church.

Another issue is simply the whole denominational issue in general. This is mostly a mainline problem. In evangelicalism, an M.Div. is not a requirement for ministry. I grew up in a church where no one had a degree beyond a B.A. Denominations should take a look at evangelical churches and how they manage to create viable congregations without going through the indoctrination, err... i mean seminary education, process.

I've posted some thoughts on this here.

Re: THX 1138: Brilliant Dystopia

google seo — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 08:36:59 -0000

Suzanne Collins's The Hunger Game series is set in a futuristic dystopia, ...

Re: Harold Camping: End of the World!

john o'rourke — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 20:36:21 -0000

hello. john o'rourke from sligo, ireland here. As a believer, I know that my saviour and Lord Jesus Christ is coming soon. To say that the Lord is coming back on a specific date is purely speculative and open to ridicule. Unbelievers will mock and try to shame us christians. Harold Camping is a christian, but he shouldn't be doing this. A false prophet is somone who denys that Jesus is fully God and man. Harold believes as I do in the hypostatic union, so He is not a false prophet in that sense, but he is, however, making a false prophey. Do you see my point? Many christians have said in the past :"Thus sayeth the LORD", but they may have been immature. To make a prophecy you need to listen carefully to the Holy Spirit, and He will guide you into all truth. God bless folks...and don't start a guessing game.Jesus will come back for us - He promised us!

Re: Harold Camping: End of the World!

James — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 11:36:09 -0000

Ironically, you have copied and pasted this "post" here and on Amazon (multiple times). I could paste my remark from then, but I simply suggest that you read the book 1994 and see how confident Camping was back then. As one who believed him then (to a degree), I am much more skeptical now.

Re: Harold Camping: End of the World!

Rev Fred — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 19:58:13 -0000

The world is in such a mess our only hope is God's return. You who don't want him to return, ask yourself: Who is going to help the world. The world is truly beyond any human help. No jobs, no money, no future. Greed and violence and vice has already destroyed our world. Now our only salvation is the Lord's intervention.

Re: bathroom graffiti: inverted dominance

Concrete Floor Polishing — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 06:12:20 -0000

The image of women in advertising is only there to serve this dominant pattern of masculinity as a way to support it.

Re: Harold Camping: End of the World!

Lizzi — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 10:26:36 -0000

It is disrespectful to make fun of another person's appearance (such as your parody picture). The God who created Harold Camping is the same God who created you. You are making fun of God's creation. A true Christian would never do this.

Re: Harold Camping: End of the World!

Lizzi — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 10:23:20 -0000

The role of Bible teachers is to teach what they have learned; and teachers and students learn and grow as each day passes. Each human being today possesses knowledge that each did not possess 10 years ago, or 5 years ago, or 1 year ago, etc. We are all learning and growing every day. If a Bible teacher teaches something and it turns out that he was mistaken, this does not mean that he is a “false teacher”. Suppose Mr. Camping had decided not to share what he had learned about 1994 during that time because he was not 100% sure; and suppose Christ had returned in 1994? The people left behind would have wished that someone would have warned them. Just because Christ didn’t return in 1994 as Mr. Camping believed during that time doesn’t mean he’s a false teacher. It only means he didn’t understand all the pieces of the Bible puzzle during that time. He’s still a very good teacher. And ever since 1994, there has been more opportunity to spread the gospel to more people all over the world, which is the most important aspect of this whole thing. If some people “lost their faith” because Christ did not return in 1994, then it reveals that they were not true believers of Jesus Christ. True believers continued to follow Jesus Christ and forgave Mr. Camping’s biblical misunderstandings of that point in time. Mr. Camping is a true servant of God who tries his best to study, learn, and teach to the best of his ability. There are many people who are trying to assassinate Mr. Camping’s character, which is a very ungodly thing to do. A true Christian would never, ever engage in character assassination.

Side Note: I keep hearing and reading comments from unbelievers saying “if you believe the end is near, stop paying your bills” or “stop paying your mortgage” or “bequeath all your possessions” or “what will you do on May 22, 2011 if Christ did not return.” True believers would never stop paying their bills; that would be stealing, which is a sin. Just because someone is utterly convinced that the end is near does not mean that they should bequeath all their possessions; that’s silly. If it turns out that Christ does not return on May 21, 2011 due to a possible missing piece of the Bible puzzle (which I doubt very much), true believers will continue believing in Christ and will continue spreading the gospel because Christ will eventually return. And Harold Camping will continue studying scriptures to try to get more clues from the Bible. He is still a Christian and a good teacher, and true believers will not reject him. True believers are not “Campingites” or “followers of Harold Camping” or “slaves of Harold Camping” or “brainwashed”. True believers are followers of Jesus Christ and followers of Christ’s Words, which are God’s Words. And true believers understand that no human being is perfect, and everyone makes mistakes, and the person who makes mistakes should not be rejected. True believers don’t just blindly follow any teacher. True believers check out the Scriptures for themselves to verify interpretations, and if there are things in the Bible that they don’t understand, it doesn’t mean they are in danger of losing their salvation. Just because Mr. Camping has misunderstood some scriptures, it doesn’t mean he is a false teacher who is causing true believers to go astray. That’s not possible. True believers can never lose their salvation. In my opinion, Mr. Camping is the best Bible teacher ever.

Re: Harold Camping: End of the World!

Connorwiggie — Thu, 30 Dec 2010 12:29:42 -0000

AMEN

Re: a christmas story

Drew Tatusko — Mon, 27 Dec 2010 09:44:50 -0000

I think this was quite eloquent :) I think you read my thoughts exactly. Christ lives in spite of our mess. If that doesn't sum up the gospel I don't know what does.

Re: a christmas story

Drew Tatusko — Mon, 27 Dec 2010 09:42:44 -0000

Thank YOU!!

Re: giving joseph too much credit

Drew Tatusko — Mon, 27 Dec 2010 09:41:33 -0000

Huh?

Re: giving joseph too much credit

Drew Tatusko — Mon, 27 Dec 2010 09:41:21 -0000

Annie,

That is interesting and I am all for the use of extra-canonical sources. Whether or not he was righteous is these days in large part going to depend on which tradition is reading the story. I personally don't care if he was righteous or not. My only point here is that we read this story understanding that he and Mary were just people thrust in a really crappy situation by their God.