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I was studying Exodus 20 with this Muslim guy, when he came across the second commandment. To writ:
"You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the LORD your God am a jealous God..."
He was really excited to read this, and called a bunch of his friends in to hear it also.
Muslims think that Christians worship idols. What with Catholic and other statuary and crucifixes and images on stained glass, they may have a point. It soothed him so much to realize that idols are actually forbidden in Christianity.
I am not so sure he caught the whole explanation I gave as to why many Christians do have images of God in their homes and meetinghouses, but it was nice to see him excited about the Bible.
I guess my own spiritual ancestors got in trouble for breaking up statuary in Catholic places, so what to do?
Monday, May 19, 2008
At Least He was the Guest Speaker
Visited a new Fellowship yesterday. The Sunday School was great and worship was a delight; but I was less than impressed with the Speaker.
I call him “the Speaker” and not “the Preacher”, because there was no actual preaching involved.
He started with a PowerPoint presentation with lots of well shot images and graphs. This was followed by a number of inspirational quotes and helpful aphorisms. He would connect these with thought provoking questions followed by long, serious pauses. He talked a bit about current events in the popular press, and it was fairly clear he spent a fair amount a time watching CNN. He tossed in a couple of more professional pictures on the screen, along with a couple of challenging video clips, and then closed with prayer.
The one time he mentioned the Bible, the verse was misquoted and taken out of context.
You can’t preach without the Bible, and you cannot call yourself a Preacher if you do not use the Bible.
Sunday morning should be reserved for the Bible, and a qualified man to exposit what it is saying to us in our times. A typical sermon should require many hours of Bible Study.
Granted, I get on a soapbox for lots of things, but getting up on Sunday morning and not using the Bible is one of the ways that really gets me miffed.
Anyways, I did enjoy everything else, and should be grateful for how God blesses us in so many ways.
I call him “the Speaker” and not “the Preacher”, because there was no actual preaching involved.
He started with a PowerPoint presentation with lots of well shot images and graphs. This was followed by a number of inspirational quotes and helpful aphorisms. He would connect these with thought provoking questions followed by long, serious pauses. He talked a bit about current events in the popular press, and it was fairly clear he spent a fair amount a time watching CNN. He tossed in a couple of more professional pictures on the screen, along with a couple of challenging video clips, and then closed with prayer.
The one time he mentioned the Bible, the verse was misquoted and taken out of context.
You can’t preach without the Bible, and you cannot call yourself a Preacher if you do not use the Bible.
Sunday morning should be reserved for the Bible, and a qualified man to exposit what it is saying to us in our times. A typical sermon should require many hours of Bible Study.
Granted, I get on a soapbox for lots of things, but getting up on Sunday morning and not using the Bible is one of the ways that really gets me miffed.
Anyways, I did enjoy everything else, and should be grateful for how God blesses us in so many ways.
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