Charging Admission for Worship

It's one thing for Christian musicians to compose works that are informed or influenced by the faith and the ideas associated with it. But when such music is labeled 'Christian' then several important lines are blurred. It becomes a form of 'sacred' music in the minds of many and as such its performance can be associated with worship.

More New Calvinist Nonsense from G3

https://g3min.org/on-baby-grands-and-expensive-hymnals/

This would have to be reckoned as a sequel to a previous post responding to G3 on the issue of pianos. Apparently this ministry website excels at missing the point.

Some of the Lameness of New Calvinism on Display

https://g3min.org/why-is-the-organ-relevant-for-major-league-baseball-and-irrelevant-for-local-churches/

One has to chuckle when one considers that the author of this G3 article considers himself to be a 'hardcore' or die-hard Calvinist – a real old school type.

And yet as the article makes clear his thinking is in fact terribly divorced from Church history and the historical theology surrounding the larger Calvinist movement and in particular its views on the issues of worship.

Lausanne and the Evangelical Undermining of Sola Scriptura: Watering Down the Word

http://evangelicalfocus.com/magazine/4929/Bezalel_and_Oholiab_Artists_and_craftsmen

This article is not unique. In fact there are dozens just like it produced on a daily basis. I've repeatedly addressed these issues in my writings and yet since there are so few who seem willing or able to provide the necessary critique I feel compelled to keep doing so, hoping that someone will stumble upon it, or that this time it will 'click' with someone.

AFR: Blind Guides of the American Evangelical Movement

A couple of weeks ago I was driving about an hour south of where I live and picked up American Family Radio (AFR). As bad as the Family Life Network is, I must say AFR is perhaps worse, or at least more overtly political. Every time I've tuned in, its airwaves propagate Scriptural error and bad politics rooted in the network's bad theology.  

The Lausanne Legacy: Danish Evangelicals Seek Political Influence

http://evangelicalfocus.com/europe/4821/God_is_at_work_with_politicians_and_culturally_engaged_people

This is yet another example of the Lausanne mindset on display. Somehow getting legislators into church on Sunday morning is deemed a great victory or accomplishment.

American Style Evangelicalism in France

https://www.youtube.com/watch?reload=9&v=XOHbYDfxmew

Expressing the spirit of the modern, these congregations are hip, entertaining and impressive. Putting on high budget productions and appealing to contemporary values and norms, the American Church Growth model is flourishing in Europe.

Italian Churches and the Struggle Over Buildings

http://evangelicalfocus.com/cities/2556/Italian_evangelicals_fight_to_legalise_their_places_of_worship

First I must say: Shame on the Baptists and Assemblies of God for cutting a tax deal with the Italian government. Lobbying and subsidies are not how the Kingdom of God is built.

Enemies Roaring in the Midst: Memorial Day and the American Church

https://www.lewrockwell.com/lrc-blog/memorial-day-blasphemy/

https://www.lewrockwell.com/lrc-blog/a-memorial-day-sunday-success-story/

The first story is par for the course. I suppose we can be thankful for the reported success in the second piece but to me it wasn't the 'success' that was of interest but the report of just how bad things have gotten.

Some Historical Notes on Music in Worship

http://lavistachurchofchrist.org/LVarticles/AmazingHistoryOfInstrumentalMusic.htm

Obviously the Bible is the ultimate standard. But we don't live in a vacuum. Our ideas are deeply imbedded and without realizing it many of the categories we embrace stem from extra-Scriptural thinking.

A key part of Sanctification is the 'renewal of the mind'. We are regenerated but we are also being regenerated and we need to learn to think through... everything.

People of the Book

We practice Family Worship in my home. Every day we attempt to read some portion of Scripture accompanied by discussion and the occasional hymn or two. I have impressed on my children the absolute wickedness of failing to acknowledge and show gratitude to the God who sustains and has saved us.