My flash fiction Lord William went live today on the Farther Stars Than These site. I hope you enjoy!
Clark
My new article published at Provoketive Magazine explores how God led me out of shame into Grace and darkness into light.
It has been said that divorce is like a death in the family. I would submit that this is not a fair comparison. When a member of your family passes away, loved ones flock to the funeral. Your friends stand by you at the cemetery and watch as the deceased is lowered into the ground. Friends and family descend upon your house with gifts of food and companionship. I can remember when my mother passed away. My closest friends in the world traveled great distances just to sit with me. We stayed up late that night telling stories about my mother.
During my divorce, however, I was alone.
To read the rest of the article please visit Provoketive Magazine.
Posted in Bible, Blogosphere, Discipleship, Religion, The Web
Tagged Bible, Christianity, Divorce, Religion, Theology
Just for the heck of it, I thought it would be fun to list the top ten Imperfect Disciple posts of all-time in terms of views. These certainly aren’t my top ten favorite posts, but you can’t argue with the amount of clicks they get. Here we go:
10. The Jennifer Knapp Dilemma – Todd’s thoughts concerning music artist Jennifer Knapp’s announcement she is a lesbian.
9. Holier Than Thou – Do you exhibit a holier than thou attitude?
8. Lessons from Habakkuk: Part 1 – I can’t explain how happy it makes me that a strait-up Bible study made the list. I suppose I should complete the series sometime.
7. In the Line of Fire: Should Women Act as Pastors in the Church – This is probably the most controversial post I have written. In fact, one reader trashed me pretty hard over it … he removed his comment after I approved it and then responded; however, my response is still in the comments.
6. Solomon’s Slow Descent into Sin – How could the wisest man alive turn his back on God?
5. What if There Were No Heaven? – How many people would believe in God if there were no promise of Heaven?
4. The Problem With Pantheism – In its broadest sense, Pantheism is the view that everything is God. I have a problem with that.
3. A Study of the Davidic Covenant: A Study of 2 Samuel 7:1-17 – A look at the covenant God made with David.
2. Analysis of Psalm 37 – A look at the structure, history, and purpose of Psalm 37.
1. Is Exodus 22:18 a Command for Christians to Kill Witches? – Far and away this is the most read post in the history of the Imperfect Disciples.
If I’m being honest, I don’t know what has separated these posts from the pack. I’m terrible at predicting what posts will be received well and which will get no attention at all. I am flattered, however, that these posts have been read as many times as they have.
If you haven’t read them … I invite you to check them out and let me know what you think.
In a recent blog post, Pastor Jared Moore responded to the notion that Facebook cause divorce. Pastor Moore argues that blaming Facebook for divorce is akin to blaming sugar for obesity. He writes:
We cannot blame sugary soft drinks for obesity, tobacco for lung cancer, media for corrupting our children, immodestly dressed men or women for our lust, social media for divorce, etc. The problem is sinful hearts, and the only solution is the good news found in Jesus Christ alone. All humanity must admit that the good news is Jesus Christ and that our sinful hearts are the bad news. Husbands and wives cheat because they believe a new relationship (sin) is the good news (gospel). Why do they believe this lie? Because their hearts are evil.
I agree with Pastor Moore. Facebook isn’t the problem; rather, the problem is that in our fallen states we often times prefer sin over a relationship with Christ. Having recognized this preference for sin, however, one must wonder if Facebook is worth it for the married Christian. In the world of social media, temptation often runs rampant. A husband or wife who is prone to cheat probably shouldn’t run the risk of harboring friendships with members of the opposite sex apart from their marriage (online or otherwise). So would it be better if we just abstained from Facebook all together? After all, as Christians we should be looking for ways to limit opportunities for sin … and Facebook sure makes it a lot easier to cheat.
Personally, I would stop short of recommending that Christians abstain from Facebook all together. There are probably some that should, but not all. I would, however, recommend that all Christians who choose to use Facebook should do so wisely. Here are some tips:
1. Create a joint account with your spouse: I recommend all married couples do this because it puts to rest any suspicions (provided both the husband and the wife have unfettered access to the account). One positive result of a joint account is that friends, family, and others will begin to view you and your spouse as a couple. Admittedly, Facebook doesn’t have an official option to do this, but it’s easy enough to figure out after playing with the settings a bit.
2. Use Facebook as a tool to spread the gospel: Many of us are hesitant to discuss our faith with others. While you may not have the guts to evangelize in person, Facebook can be a natural extension of your walk with Christ. Did you have fun at church Sunday morning? Share it on Facebook. Did God answer a prayer? Praise Him on Facebook. Want to invite someone to a Bible study? Invite them on Facebook. Social media can be a wonderful way to share your Faith. If it offends someone, they can always un-friend you, right?
3. Use Facebook to connect with other believers. Utilize Facebook as an instantaneous way to communicate with your fellow believers. I’ve recently discovered that Facebook is a wonderful tool to voice urgent prayer needs. With one status update, I can instantly request prayer.
Granted, we could all close our Facebook accounts and sign up for Faithbook, but I submit there is a way we can use social media wisely.
What’s your opinion?
Posted in Blogosphere, Religion, The Web
Tagged Christianity, church, Facebook, faith, Social Media
A friend recently sent me a link to an article written by pagan author Patti Wiggington titled, Do Pagans Believe in Sin? I offered my friend an unsolicited rebuttal and thought I would share an edited version with my readers.
First, let me say that Wiggington is a wonderful writer. She clearly and articulately states what it is she and other pagans believe. I appreciate that because it makes it much easier to digest and rebut.
Having read the article, I found that Wiggington was suggesting that sin is “relative” – as such, she argues that sin is subjective. Here’s a quote that illuminates her argument, “Ultimately, what matters most is that you find a way to remain true to your own values and ethics.”
Christianity argues that sin is objective. It doesn’t matter what I think is a sin. If I think murder is okay, God still says it is wrong. If I think being a drug addict is okay, God still says it is wrong. Here’s where it gets tough … If I think lust is okay, God still says it is wrong. God says hate is akin to murder, it doesn’t matter what I think. To me, this seems far more realistic and practical than the argument that it is our own values and ethics that are important. Why? Basically, people are susceptible to stupidity. If you think about, responsible fathers treat their children the same way. We don’t leave our naive children to live life on their own as they see fit – we instruct them on the best way to live and the best choices to make. God treats us in the same manner.
Christ teaches that sin is objective, acknowledges that none of us meet a holy standard, and gives us a plan to deal with it and strive to be better. Again, this is exactly how a responsible parent handles their own children. You give them rules and guidelines to live by. When they mess up … you forgive them and love them anyway … just like God the Father does for us through Jesus Christ.
As such, I argue that Christianity is far more responsible than the pagan view and closely resembles an actual parent/child relationship.
In our lives, hind-site is twenty-twenty, right? In her article, Wiggington argues that multiple sex partners are okay as long as everything is consensual. Let’s put this concept to the test. Let’s say a married couple decides the wife should have a fling … everything is consensual, everyone’s adults, and what matters most is that everyone remains true to their own values and ethics. So the wife goes ahead and does it two or three times (now keep in mind that this whole time the Christian God is screaming that it’s wrong and begging her to stop). Somewhere along the way, the husband regrets his decision and finds that it is painful to know his wife has been intimate with another man. He asks her to stop and she does even though she was enjoying herself. Do you think the husband will ever get the image of his wife cheating out of his mind?
This is a case of a human being’s values and ethics changing. We do it all the time. This is why as we grow older we often regret the choices we made in the past. Meanwhile, the one true God has never changed His opinion on sin. Adultery was wrong before the wife did it and it is still wrong now. But even after such a mistake, Christ wants to draw us near, help fix it, and restore our relationship with God the Father.
Wow … God loves us just like we love our own children.
Posted in Bible, Blogosphere, Religion, Theology
Tagged apologetics, belief, Christianity, Paganism, Wicca
Writer Clark D. Goble started this blog as a means to chronicle his imperfect walk with a Perfect Savior and invites you to join in on the conversation. He also invites you to check out the links to his work. Most often, Clark writes about Jesus and theology. He also enjoys writing fiction in a variety of genres.
Todd French is an information technology professional and a resident of Columbus, Ohio; where he shares a humble abode with his darling wife and beautiful daughters. His interests run the gambit from reading voraciously all forms of fiction to rooting for the Cleveland Browns.
