Connected Christianity

Apparently, Christians in Egypt aren’t allowed to remarry if they’ve had a divorce (except in cases of infidelity). A new movie shows how hard that can be, and the church is upset that the movies belittles the religion. Is it just me, or is the Egyptian Coptic Church a little crazy? Still, divorce has become […]

Here’s a recent quote from a pastor in California: “I guess there was just a concern for the values of our society, being too caught up in what doesn’t last.” Good point; I agree with him. He went on, “Even in the church we get caught up in temporal things.” Another good point; I definitely […]

In March, a Colorado megachurch hosted a forum on church security. Their focus on increased security comes from an incident in December, when a man entered and started shooting at people after a worship service. Two were killed and three wounded before a volunteer guard shot the man, who then killed himself. Definitely a horrible […]

This week the Vatican published a list of new sins. Apparently modern times mean modern sins, and the Vatican doesn’t want to leave anything out. The new sins include environmental harm & pollution, genetic manipulation & cloning, social & economic justice issues, and drug trafficking.
I think it’s a neat idea to send out regular updates […]

Apparently a lot of pastors are using weddings and funerals as opportunities to preach evangelistic sermons and offer altar calls. Now, maybe I’m a heathen, but I don’t like that idea.
A lot of the reasoning is because, since church attendance is down, weddings and funerals are a great time to preach to a crowd that […]

A recent study by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life found that over a fourth of adult Americans have left the faith of their childhood to join a different one or stop affiliating with a church. If you count the people that change denominations within Protestantism, the number jumps to 44% of adults. […]

I recently read an article about how often people present false selves. Psychologists call this the “impostor phenomenon.” It is a secret sense that we are not as capable as others think we are. Apparently, impostorism is running rampant these days.
Psychologists devised a questionnaire that gauges how much we present false selves. Men who scored […]

Why can’t Christians get along? Our main message involves love, peace, reconciliation, redemption…. you know, really good things. So why do we have a hard time following our own advice?
I read that over Christmas, a fight broke out between priests at the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem. You’d think if anyone could be understanding, […]

There was an interesting article this weekend that examined the recent trend among young males to postpone adulthood and prolong adolescence. The article, “The Child-Man” by Kay Hymowitz, discussed how, because the average age of marriage has increased, males now indulge longer in adolescent behaviors and concerns, existing in a “hormonal limbo” and acquiring […]

I heard some interesting interviews with two pastors who have different views on the tradition of tithing. The tradition has roots in the Old Testament, with the likes of Abraham (Ge 14) and Jacob (Ge 28) giving a tenth of their belongings as offerings of thanks, but the two pastors in the interview have evolved […]