Saturday, July 26, 2008

Are controversies today's incubator for inquiry?

Although traffic to this blog isn't tremendous yet, I expect it will grow. One reason: controversies. What I do represents several crossroads of debate in society (chaplaincy, generally) and in the Christian church (pastorate, generally). Here are a few issues people ask me about regularly that I'm assuming will make their way into this venue before too long:

In Society:
1) Is it right for Christians to serve in the military?
2) How do Evangelical Christian chaplains deal with pluralism (the cooperative coexistence of many religions) and social trends (such as homosexuals serving in the military)?
3) What should Christians think about our present wars and the politics surrounding them?
4) What are the sides of this war and war in general that we're not seeing?
5) What about abortion, capital punishment, the environment, the election ...?  

In the Church:
1) Which is right, Calvinism or Arminianism?
2) Which is right, Continuationism or Cessationism?
3) "I saw preacher so-and-so on TV last night and he said such-and-such. It sounded crazy to me, what do you think?"
4) What about women in ministry? (or ... Which is right, Complementarianism or Egalitarianism?)
5) What does the Bible really say about ... ?

These are just a beginning. Here's a link to a site I like and a more thorough list of "touchy issues" inspiring conversations in some corners of the world and the church:


I'm not sure how timely my responses to inquiry will be, but I can promise to eventually respond to all relevant questions and to be as gracious a forum host as possible. The internet affords us this interesting way of learning and expressing our views. It is today's Mars Hill. I believe controversy can be an incubator for inquiry and even friendship. Jesus certainly never shied away from it. Neither did any of His followers in Scripture. God bless you in your search for answers. 

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