Renaissance Art: Sexual?

Should Christians watch movies with nudity in them? Should they look at nudity in art? This is a question that seems to have cropped up lately, and today I read a blog that discussed it. By the way, to add what this blog said about the immorality in the 16th century among the high Catholic religious leaders (including the Medici, and also the Borgia popes), many historians have found evidence that the nudity in Renaissance art was for the people who commissioned the works---mainly wealthy patrons and high officials of the Cathlic church. And, essentially these works of art were like nudity magazines today (i.e. Playboy). In addition, some of the art, painted by homosexuals such as Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci, had homoerotic elements which at times was for a few church officials who were homosexuals. All of this said, the art still is stunningly beautiful.

Here is the link of the blog I was talking about:

http://www.reformation21.org/articles/art-nakedness-and-redemption.php

Cat or Dog Theology?

I heard a neat program on a local Christian station a few days ago. In the vast wasteland of Christian radio, this was an improvement. The speaker was talking about dog theology vs. cat theology. I had never heard these terms before so my ears perked up. He explained that dog theology is: When you hear that someone loved you and died for you and will take care of you, your response is one of gratitude as to how fortunate you are and how you will do whatever this person wants.

Cat theology is when you hear the same thing and come to the conclusion that you must be very important if someone did all of that for you.

We used to have dog theology but I think recently the evangelical church has slipped into cat theology. What do you think?

More Occultism in the Church

Here is a startling statistic. Although it's about the secular society, the church is being heavily influenced by the occult. The stat says,

A telephone directory information service has just released figures stated that out of 20 million recent dcallers, those wanting information about churches and religious organizations fell by 24 percent, whereas calls for mediums, palm readers and other "spiritual services" jumped 161 percent.

In recent years, occultism, disguised as "spirituality" has now entered the church. So much of so-called contemplative spirituality" is in reality Buddhist and Hindu muditation, while Bible mediation is something veyr different. And npow Reiki joins the band. Of course it does because it is a false method of healing to replace the Holy Spirit's working of healing. But what is truly shocking (although I shouldn't be surprised anymore at what our so-called "Christian evangelical" leaders are doing) is on of the people WHO is bringing this in.

For that info go here.

What's Wrong with Much of the Charismatic Movement

One Third Wave Charismatic that I have always felt was more right on is Dennis Cramer. Here is his prophetic word for 2011. It sums up very nicely everything that is wrong with the Third Wave Charismatic Movement. In a word---occultism I think you will see that very clearly after you read what Cramer writes about what is happening in the charismatic movement today.

Cramer's Prophetic word for 2011.

William B. Greene in MR

In the January/February 2011 issue of Modern Reformation magazine, there is a short article entitled, The Religious Right and Old Princeton. By t)e “Old Princeton,” the author means in the 19th century when Princeton actually was an evangelical Presbyterian college.The article cites a professor there named William Brenton Greene (1854-1928). Here are three points Greene brought forth. I think these apply very well for today which is why I am listing them.

First, Christians should avoid allaying their faith too closely with a political party. He didn’t mean not to belong to a party, but more what we’ve seen today with the Christian Right and now the New Christian Left. I like what Greene called this—when Christianity wrongly preaches sociology rather than sociology.” That is a priceless quote IMO. He didn’t dismiss social reform as long as it didn’t belong as the center of the faith. Sound familiar?

Second, he said, “In the case of extra-Biblical questions, such as whether railroads should be run by the state or, as with us, by private corporations, the minister may express his opinion as an individual; but he should never use the pulpit for this purpose.” I say a big AMEN to this! As I’ve studied the state of our younger evangelicals today I find that they mostly reject anything the Christian Right has to say as well as the evangelical church itself as a representative of these political positions. And I will tell you exactly what will happen with the Gen X and Y children. They will reject the emergenty-political left socialism Christianity that their parents are espousing. We need to rpeach the gospel and treat people as mature beings who can make their own well-informed decisions. Frankly, I found the Christian Right to treat us as children in a rather controlling manner. And I find the Christian Left treating us in a completely intolerant , controlling manner, putting anybody down in an arrogant way that might disagree with them or with their methods. Greene also said that when a particular political view was espoused form the pulpit, a church membe with another view would feel put down and not welcomed. Boy! Is that a great insight? It absolutely is. I know a few born-again Democrats who don’t feel welcome in their own churches. That is wrong, and I say this as a conservative Republican (not a neo-con, however).

Third, Greene that when preaching about the evils mentioned in Scripture, such as drinking, adultery, etc. the minister should “constantly be on his guard against becoming only chiefly a reformer and agitator. Regeneration rather than transformation should be his aim. The Gospel rather than the Law should be the burden of his preaching.” I’ve been writing here for years that society will not be “reformed” and changed through fleshly social reform or passing a multitude of laws (although we do need good laws). But when these laws are used to try to change people they don’t do the job. They can only deter, and often they don’t do a good job of that as seen for example, in my state of California where the marijuana laws are a joke. If the churches here would preach the gospel of Christ, repentance and the cross, perhaps the society here could be changed.

Greene, however, did espouse a social gospel, but one that came out of proper preaching of Gospel and Law. And I wholehe

Highlights of CT-The December 2010 Issue

Christianity Today-December 2010

If you read this blog regularly you’ll know I am an avid Christian magazine reader. So, from time to time this year, I’ll give you a synopsis of magazines I subscribe to IF there are worthwhile things to report and review. First up this year is the December 2010 issue of Christianity Today. Here are some of the notable articles/blurbs/letters to the editor that you’ll find in this issue. At the end of this post there’s a link to the issue.

The general theme of this issue of CT is Jesus vs. Paul. IMO this is one of the biggest theological debates today along with the emergent vs. modernist church. Actually, both can be reduced to the role of the substitutionary atonement. The main article about this is by Scot McKnight. If you’ve read McKnight you’ll know that he is biased toward the Jesus view. In fact, he is very honest in this article in telling us that. So, it was surprising to me that he presented a fairly balanced view, which as a Pauline person, I appreciated. I wished CT had more articles by other theologians on this topic, but McKnight’s was the only one. If you’re not familiar with this debate, and especially the New Perspective on Paul, this article is a good introduction.

Next up is an article by journalist Eliza Griswold entitled, “The Line Where Religions Collide.” She wrote a book, The Tenth Parallel, which I reserved from my library after reading her article. Griswold explores how Christianity and missionaries are perceived by Muslims, especially those outside of the Middle East.

Te Third Lausanne Congress is the next article. As usual, we see the American dominance and arrogance. It’s amazing the delegates from Third World countries are so patient with us.

Next article is the history and story of YWAM. I think this organization does one of the best jobs balancing the gospel of atonement with the social gospel and this article is worth the read just to see how they do it.

The Letters to the Editor sections of these Christian magazines are the sections I just love because many readers have some excellent things to say and really should write articles for the magazines they write to. Also, the book reviews are another favorite section for me. I’m not into the current Christian music that much but for those who are, there is a section reviewing new artists.

On p. 69 is an interview with Tim Keller, another one who is trying to work out the gospel (Calvinist in this case) with the social gospel. He tells why the social gospel is an important component of any church’s ministry.

Here is the link to the December 2010 issue of Christianity Today:
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2010/december/