Morgon77's New Writeups

The Emerging Church (person)

2008-07-29T14:35:02Z

The essential problem with the Emerging (i.e., Postmodern) church is that is not a cohesive movement or structure.

When people attempt to place the Emerging church, they try to compare it to other things. They try to pin it down as a denomination, or a heresy, or a trend.

However, properly stated, there are Emerging members in ever denomination or sect of Christianity at this time. Most of them, much like Calvin, Luther, and others before them, have no actual wish to splinter the church further, but rather wish to get back to the heart of what really matters as a body.

In one of his earlier books, Emergent Church author Brian McLaren wrote that the Emerging Church is like the reeds growing under a pond, that in spring finally emerge and are seen by all for what they are...they don't move from the pond to show their true colors.

However, the Emerging Church has also, increasingly, become a hotbed for proponents of Universalism, Christian Liberalism, and various heresies of a…

The Divine Conspiracy (person)

2008-01-05T07:06:03Z

Title: The Divine Conspiracy: Rediscovering Our Hidden Life in God
Author: Dallas Willard
Published: 1998
Publisher: Fount

This was an astoundingly perspective altering book for me to get ahold of. I'd certainly been aware for most of my life that what I saw active in the Christian community lacked, in many ways, what Jesus Christ actually seemed to be saying in the bible, but lacked the correct structure of linguistic context to state how that lack of alignment seemed to play out.

Then, on the recommendation of a friend, I picked up "The Divine Conspiracy".

Willard is a pastor, as well as a Philosophy and Theology professor, and that comes across very quickly. This is not easy reading, this is not a walk in the park with Max Lucado. This dives straight in to some extremely serious, heavy duty thinking about why we're where we're at as a society, as a world, as a religion, and how that does or does not match up with what Jesus seems…

Bittersweet Chocolate Apricot Challah (thing)

2005-11-08T19:57:55Z

Makes 2 loaves.

You will need:

1 tbs active dry yeast
1/2 cup sugar
1 tbs salt
6 1/2 to 7 cups unbleached all purpose flour or bread flour (as needed)
1 3/4 cups hot water
4 large eggs, at room temp, lightly beaten
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 tbs vanilla extract
1 tbs dutch processed cocoa
4 oz best bittersweet chocolate
1 package dried apricots, chopped

All ingredients should be at room temperature. Anything that is cold will retard the growth of the yeast, and since most of the flavor comes from the fats being added, that is not desirable with this loaf.

Melt the 4 oz of chocolate and let them cool. You do not want this hot when you add it, as that may react badly with the eggs and such.

Chop up the apricots and soak them in boiling water to restore moisture. You can use this boiling water as your hot water in the bread, to add flavor.

Using either a bowl and wooden spoon, or a stand mixer (my…

Gonna go buy me some Jesus! (idea)

2005-07-22T14:42:28Z

The drive to fill Niche Christianity has swept our culture enormously.

What previously was the venue of strange, robed old men in odd corners of the market hawking the fingerbones of saints for luck is now a vast and ever growing river of sheer cheese.

But at least, I suppose, some of them mean well.

A previous noder mentioned the instance where Jesus threw the money changers out of the Temple.

John 2:12 - 17 (Amplified) Now the Passover of the Jews was approaching, so Jesus went up to Jerusalem. There he found in the temple enclosure those who were selling oxen and sheep and doves, and the money changers sitting there at their stands. And having made a lash of cords, He drove them all out of the temple, both the sheep and the oxen, spilling and scattering the brokers' money and upsetting their trays and stands. Then to those who sold the doves He said, "Take these things out of here! Make not My Father's house a marketplace!" And his disciples remembered

…

cutting edge Christianity (idea)

2005-07-22T04:38:18Z

The entire concept of "Cutting Edge Christianity" is rather filled with irony, from a sheerly semantic standpoint.

For instance, "Christian" is a term that the Jewish church used to mock followers of Christ, that the church wound up taking on simply because it worked so well as a common label, and it stuck. Therefore the name itself is anything but cutting edge, especially since, from a common understanding of what it is to be Christian, at least in America, its ideals have little to do with its founder, Jesus Christ.

Being that everything about Christ's activities during his three year ministry leading up to his death and subsequent ressurection was completely counter-culture, to the point of being unfashionably so (to the degree that he often made moves within his own standards of spiritual philosophy that actively turned away disciples, because they weren't hard core enough) that even today, many people never really get close to them, the concept of cutting edge is almost a joke.…

hobo dinner (thing)

2005-07-06T21:34:17Z

A healthy home alternative to this is as follows.

Ingredients:
1 chicken breast per person being fed
Potatoes
Carrots
Onions
Chicken Broth
Seasonings

This is great to have when you don't really have the energy for a big production but don't have anywhere to go soon, or you're making lunch for the week ahead, and trying to stay relatively healthy.

First, lay down a sheet of aluminium foil for each chicken breast. You're also going to need a jelly roll pan, or a pyrex baking dish, to prevent leaks.

Shape the foil into a cup around the chicken breast. Next, add chunks of potato, carrot, onion, and whatever else is handy. Your only real limitation is what sounds good to you, and the ability to close up the foil packet when you're done.

Next, add about 3 tbs of chicken broth to each packet. Then season. Salt and pepper is good. I use Cavender's greek seasoning...you can get the same effect by adding some garlic salt and…