Do the ends justify the means?

I recently was part of an interesting interaction on social media. The discussion had to do with methods used in large events hosted by churches. I had made a point about having to make sure our means are in alignment with the ends we seek. One person replied:

God does not concern Himself with our methods; He concerns Himself with our effectiveness. That's why there's awards of gold and silver or wood, hay, and stubble. It's why one person had their talents taken and given to another. Those who handled what they had been given by God were rewarded. The one who lost his talents was cast away, removed from responsibility and was put into a place of oblivion and darkness.

There are many problem's with this person's statement. I'm pretty sure God does care about our methods. We should not use deceptive bait-and-switch methods in our outreach and evangelism, as that makes God look like the stereotypical used car salesman. We should not use entertainment that appeals to sensuality and flesh to draw people to hear a gospel presentation; that creates a contradiction between the medium and the message.

Never Surrender Your Principles

Someone just the other day sent me a direct message in Facebook Messenger. “Brian, I follow your FB threads. Do you believe a Christ follower is justified before God, should they support the Democrat platform/candidates?”

 

Rather than respond directly in Messenger, since I figure many of my online friends and acquaintances may have similar questions, I decided to go ahead and write a blog article answering the question. In addition to making it easier for me to point people to my answer on this topic (instead of having to repeat myself in multiple direct messages or individual FB comments), putting it on my blog also makes it a public record to which I can point should anyone misquote me or take a sentence or two out of context (we all know how internet debates work).

 

The Psychology of Speaking in Tongues

This is not a full regular book review, but more of an interaction with John P. Kildahl's The Psychology of Speaking in Tongues, published in 1972. There are many of Kildahl's observations with which I can concur based on my 55 years in Pentecostalism (I've been in Assembly of God churches my whole life, and am a fourth generation A/G member). But there are also other observations he makes where I feel his analysis is off, or simply doesn't take into consideration other possibilities. Of course, the book is over 50 years old now, and I'm sure Kildahl, were he alive today with access to more data and evidence, would likely reconsider some of his conclusions. 

My format in this article will primarily consist of citing a quote from the book, and then my response to the claims or conclusions that Kildahl makes.

Credibility as a teacher, take 3

I've been reading a book about prayer. Some of the points the author makes are good and needed. But there are examples of sloppy wording, or things that just don't line up with standard biblical scholarship, such that when people who are educated about the Bible (either formally in seminary or self-taught through extensive reading and study of scholarly sources) see these easy-to-avoid mistakes, it ends up with the author shooting himself in the foot when it comes to credibility.