Life can be funny sometimes.

Or maybe I’ve just got a twisted sense of humor.

Over the last couple years I’ve come to believe that many of the things I’ve been taught to avoid and in some cases even demonize, are not in and of themselves evil. Music, alcohol, etc.

A friend of mine explained it to me this way: “America is a nation of gluttons. We do everything to excess.” And he’s right.

Sadly though, people like to pick and choose what they demonize. I know people who are quick to condemn me for having a drink, yet most doctors would consider them to be obese and last time I checked, the Bible is just as harsh towards gluttony as it is drunkenness.

And just for the record, I’ve never been drunk. Never even been buzzed. And I don’t ever plan to be either.

Anyways, ever since moving back to Louisiana, I’ve really begun to ask the question, “What is church?”.

Do I have to go to a building with “church” in the name in order to “go to church”?
Do I have to go to that building at a certain time, on a certain day?
Does there have to be a very specific order that determines what is done in “church”?
Is an online community real community?

I’m still wrestling with these questions daily, so by no means am I saying that I have all the answers. Nor am I against the traditional Protestant concept of church. I believe that church, when done right, is an awesome agent for change, discipleship and spiritual growth.

The big question I’ve been wrestling with is, have we put God into a box by putting His church in a box?

Last time I checked, the Biblical definition of a church is the regular assembly of believers for the purpose of edification and instruction. In other words, to refresh and to teach. If that is church, then I go to church every Sunday night at McAlister’s where there is a Bible study. And if online communities count, I go to LifeChurch.tv every week.

All of that brings me to this: earlier this week a friend told me that they have really begun to “question my lifestyle”, because I don’t go to (their definition of) church, I enjoy the occasional adult beverage and have been known to smoke a cigar every now and then.

Yet the funny part (funny to me) is that twice in the past two months I’ve had very deep, thought-provoking, long conversations with an unchurched friend of mine about Jesus, the Bible, church and sin, and during both conversations we enjoyed a couple cigars and some bourbon.

Thoughts?

and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
- Matthew 6:12 (ESV)

This one verse from the Lord’s prayer sparked an interesting discussion amongst some friends last night. No one disputed the belief that if you are unable to forgive others God is unable to forgive you. But at the end of the evening we were left with an interesting question: Can you forgive someone without approaching them and doing it face to face?

As we went around the table, the answers ranged from “No, you have to contact them somehow, someway, unless they’re dead.” to a simple “yes”.

So we were told to investigate the scriptures for ourselves and come back the following Sunday evening with our answers and the scriptures to support those answers.

Needless to say, I’ve been doing a bit of research. I’m of the opinion that the best practice in most situations is to go to the person (or at least contact them) and let them know you’ve forgiven them, but that there are some situations where that just isn’t ideal. Situations that would do more harm than good.

And yes, I’ve got scriptures to support my position.

But I wanted to open this up to those who come across my blog.

What are your thoughts?

Why?

Several of the blogs I follow do a weekly best of the web style post where they post links to blogs, articles, videos, etc. that they find interesting. Figured I’d start that here as well. And yes, I’m using the same name as the VH1 show. If you have a suggestion for a name for this weekly post leave it in a comment. Thanks!

Blogs

1. Part six of Perry Noble’s Seven Things We Allow To Guide Us At NewSpring series.
2. Smashing Magazine’s Ten Harsh Truths About Corporate Websites.
3. Michael Jordan on failure and success.
4. Caption Please.
5. It’s nice to see a Christian artist get some recognition in the world.
6. Can women be porn addicts too?

News

1. Got an idea for a business venture? Mark Cuban might help you out.
2. Professional wrestler Chris Jericho attacked by fans after live event. It’s people like this that make me ashamed to be a fan.
3. Bible Study Magazine and Mars Hill are giving away 20 copies of Mark Driscoll’s new book, Vintage Church. Not only that, but they are also giving away five subscriptions to Bible Study Magazine and a copy of their Bible Study Library software! Enter to win on the Bible Study Magazine Mark Driscoll page, then take a look at all the cool tools they have to take your Bible study to the next level!