Pure Church

Nice.

The Stuff Christians Like blog is full of this sort of observation.

http://stufffchristianslike.blogspot.com/

I have to agree with the sentiment here ... but what I can't personally come to a conclusion on is whether or not this suggests something good or bad about Christianity. While I wouldn't think that these things in themeselves are commendable, they do tend to suggest some level of "democratization" (vs. a rigorous top-down mandate) of the religion not available elsewhere.

Anyhow ... what are your thoughts about the merit of these things -- either in themselves or what they suggest about Christians as a whole?

To bad there is no commentary on these three items.

The first one, in and of itself isn't a bad thing, especially as it makes the Gospel accessible to young children.

Numbers 2,4 and 5 are definitely ones to be ashamed of.

With number 3 are you trying to say you disagree with 9 Marks contest to have people be able to summarize the gospel in 136 characters?

No other religion has "testamints" that can give you the life saving message and fresh breathe.

(look it up if you don't believe me)

To be honest i wasn't thinking that much about this & untill reading the comments i was just laughing, thinking it was a bit of fun.

I guess all of the above can be done in cheesy & shameful ways with poor & weak content.

Yet all of the above can also be done with solid & strong Biblical content (okay i haven't seen this happen on a t-shirt yet, but it could...)

Deut. 31:12,13: "Assemble the people, men, women, and little ones, and the sojourner within your towns, that they may hear and learn to fear the LORD your God, and be careful to do all the words of this law, and that their children, who have not known it, may hear and learn to fear the LORD your God, as long as you live in the land that you are going over the Jordan to possess."

I don't read anywhere that says to split them up and read the law "accessible to young children."

Chuck,

I don't know about you, but I don't have any expectation of my daughter comprehending the law in elementary school if I read it to her. I do believe that no place does Scripture prohibit me using the means of using a coloring book and children's Bible to read to her about Jesus which ultimately points to and fulfills the law.

There are many means that we use today to make the Gospel accessible to the culture and Scripture may not explicitly mention these things, but neither does it condemn it.

First...praise God for saving you! Yes, we love Him because He first loved us.

I just finished a book "23 Minutes in Hell" by Bill Wiese. I read it on the heals of taking an Eschatology class at Dallas Theological Seminary and Wiese's experience squares very well with Scripture. I think Christains should all take a look at the book because it certainly is motivation to preach the Word! The book can be read in 2 hours. I know there are many Christians that would never use a conversation about hell as a witnessing point, but Wiese does very effectively.

My point is...that it is not our job to decide how God reaches the unsaved. It just may be through a child coloring a Bible picture or someone listening to a so called "cheesy" song. I agree with you that there is some pretty "bad" stuff out there...but there are many hymns that are theologically incorrect as well, yet God uses them. Take a look at Philippians 1:15-18. Paul had it right "The important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached. And because of this I rejoice." Marti

What has concerned me lately is the trend of re-framing old pop songs as sacred music ("Maybe I'm Amazed", "In My Life", "Somebody to Lean On").