The old trope says there’s no such thing as a dumb question, but obviously that’s not true. Questions like the above and “Will government intervention actually lower the cost of college (or anything)?” are patently stupid questions. Yet, we ask them often, mainly in the hopes of starting an argument. I mean, that has to… Read more »
Posts By: Sam White
What Was the “Reason for the Season”, Again?
Fill in the blank, “__________ is the reason for the season.” We’ve been conditioned by lapel pins, T-shirts and bumper stickers to say that “Jesus is the reason for the season.” But what if that’s wrong? Now, it came about because people who celebrate Christmas as the birth of Christ perceived that the holiday was… Read more »
If Your Church Went Away
I have gotten in the past an advertisement that begins with a question like, “What if your church went away, would anyone notice?” The implication is that my church is so inconsequential that no one would. Therefore, I need to buy their product (or program or whatever) which will revitalize my church so that my… Read more »
Hymns vs. Choruses
(or, how about a good old-fashioned Gregorian chant?) “For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.” ~Sir Isaac Newton Or, possibly, Sir Fig Newton. Or maybe Jimmy Neutron. Anyway, someone said it and life since then tells us they were either very right or highly… Read more »
Is the Church Relevant
The little churches are declining. The big churches are, often, getting bigger. Now, in the little churches, we often complain that we’re getting smaller because the big churches are getting bigger. But I’ve looked at the numbers—at least in our town and other towns I’ve been in—and the statement doesn’t hold true. Yes, the little… Read more »
Will Our Pets Go to Heaven
A friend of mine here in town, we’ll call him Ted, doesn’t go to church anymore. He never went often, but he was going sporadically there for a little while. Then—for some reason and I have no idea how it even came up in conversation—the preacher at the church where Ted was going told him… Read more »
Evolutionary Sin
The citizens of Springfield overwhelmingly voted to allow gambling in their city, but before the vote could be final, everyone in the hall turned to Marge because she seemed the person most likely to throw a wet blanket on the idea. Marge stood up and said, “Once society declares something to be OK, it’s no… Read more »
Thinkers vs. Feelers
Thinkers and feelers who have the same end goal in mind can’t seem to get along. I thought about that opening sentence being my headline, but I don’t like long headlines (long headlines used in the past not withstanding) because they make me think of either tabloids or The Onion. Anyway, it’s been said that… Read more »
Why “Millenials” Are Leaving the Church
Recently, my attention was drawn, via Facebook, to two different blogs by two separate bloggers (can’t remember if I were sent them by the same person) dealing with the same problem: why the church is losing millennials. In both cases, they were appended with notes that read something like, “Well-written article.” And they were. They… Read more »
Preachers In the News
Ministers—professional preachers, anyway—have been in the news recently, both nationally and locally. And it hasn’t been good. That, in itself, is a shame, on many levels. A few years ago I was sitting with a man whose father was on hospice. I had arrived at the hospital as a hospice volunteer to sit with a… Read more »