Ted Haggard: "I over-repented". He says the thing with the drugs and the male prostitute was a "massage that went awry". Uh huh. I've had massages that went awry and all I got was a bruised muscle in my lower back.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704...
I have not experienced this, but I have recently gone from our church saying "please turn off your cellphones" to "and you can follow along with the message on your iphone or blackberry at our website". I find it very disconcerting. Part of it is I don't have a smart phone, and part of it is I find the light from other's phones very distracting during service. And also... I'm no Luddite, but we all have Bibles, right? We're all here at church, right? Do we really need to sign online to experience the teaching together? Can't we just unplug for this hour?
How right you are! Of course those two are really one in the same, God just said it twice because we're pretty thick about it. I am completely guilty of having different personalities in difference places, especially at church. It's hard for me to be authentic at church because I feel I won't be accepted - but that only puts distance between me and God and between me and others there.
Yes, I am very familiar with this phenomenon. We never had a pee jar though - maybe that was in the van that only had boys in it.
That is literally the best thing I've heard all day!
This is so me! I'm the ultimate resolution breaker. But its so comforting to know that mourning and sadness have their place in the faith too. So many times when I say or write anything vaguely negative or depressing many of my Christian friends jump all over me telling me not to be sad and that I should rejoice in God. But it's not always the time for rejoicing and that kind of encouragement without meaning or understanding of the situation just makes me angry!
Of course, part of the problem is an unwillingness to often be honest with ourselves about things. It's impossible to share with others until you're willing to admit things to yourself.
Drinking, smoking, swear words, tattoos. None of that matters so much (unless you are doing it to excess and harming yourself or others). What is supposed to make is different is the radical love of Jesus lived out through us, the sacrificial love that makes you lay your life down for Him and for others. Which will impact people more? Seeing you refuse a beer because you're a Christian, or seeing you refuse to gossip or badmouth someone who has hurt you? Knowing that you're going to say "darn" when you drop something or knowing that you are someone they can come to at any hour of the day or night for help, even if they have wronged you in the past you will love them steadfastly. So many of these things Christians "aren't supposed to" do are things simply meant to make ourselves look better than others, by a particular and ever-shifting standard of "good". But Paul said that true witnessing comes when people are asking what is this incredible hope you have in Christ? And that is not something people ask you just because you never touched a cigar.
Nope, sorry, there's nothing for it. Gotta completely stop playing it for at least five years and then have the most popular worship band at the time do a cover version. It's the only way.
Oh my goodness, where I grew up no Christians EVER smoked. I thought it was literally impossible to be a Christian and have a cigarette. Then I moved out West for a little while and between services the pastor and all the men of the congregation would sit outside and smoke. My poor little brain was so confused.
![[Avatar]](/images/avatar26.png){kind=avatar}
orualundone 
Brainchild