This Week on Trans·formed (11/17)

Featured Articles on Trans·formed This Week

Godly Change Requires More Than a Lane Change. Since we’ve already established that I’m a fallen and broken human being, I’ll probably wrestle for a while with a desire to keep going the wrong way just so I won’t have to admit that I was wrong. Or, maybe I’ll try to exercise my creativity and see if I can find a way to turn around, but make it look like it was my idea the whole time. Eventually, though, foolish stubbornness subdued and hubris broken, I acknowledge the superior wisdom of my wife and admit that I’m going the wrong way. That’s repentance

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Happily Ever After? Would Joseph’s decision be seen as a cover-up for his own participation in her pregnancy? In New Testament times pregnancy outside of marriage was not only seen as a major sin, it was a huge cultural shame that would continue throughout the life of the mother and child—and beyond. It might have been asked, “Is this not the son of a harlot?” rather than, “Is this not the son of a carpenter?” What kind of marriage and future life together did these two hope to experience? What were the odds of a “happy ever after?”

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Living On a Whole New Level. Davis underscores what Eugene Peterson wrote in Practice Resurrection, that life can (and should!) be lived at a whole different level. We can participate in life out of death—life that trumps death, life that is the last word. There are three reasons: First, with the announcement that the kingdom of God is at hand (Matt 4:17), a new age has dawned.

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Other Posts of Interest from around the Web

• Religion in Public Schools: America is Religious, but also Illiterate of Religion. America is famously religious, but also famously illiterate of religion. Only about half of Americans know, for example, that the Quran is the holy book of Islam or that the Dalai Lama is Buddhist. So why is Modesto School District the only one in the nation requiring students to take a world religions course?

• 10 Old Wives’ Tales About Church Growth. Many of the discussions are helpful, but there are a number of subtle beliefs that still creep up that aren’t healthy. In fact, they’re downright superstitious and, at times, dangerous to the church. I’ve collected these myths over many conversations, coffees and lunches with church leaders and I’d like to share them with you.

• Why the Lost Gospels Did Not Make the Canonical Cut. It was not the fault of Christian censors or a theological thought-police that the “other” Gospels were criticized and rejected. The “other” Gospels were not recognizable as “gospel,” and they failed to capture the hearts, minds, and imaginations of Christians in the worldwide church.

• The Dangers of a “Build-A-Bear” Theology. The struggle we have with Build-A-Bear theology is exactly what you would expect. We either cut ourselves off from collective wisdom about the work of God in the world, or we borrow so selectively on it that we isolate ourselves from one another.