A few days ago, a friend from an Assemblies of God-oriented discussion group raised an interesting topic. Since I haven't posted much here for a while, I thought I'd share my thoughts and joyfully invite your comments.

The Good Pagan

Carissa wrote:

Amen, Carissa!

It's a sad myth among us Christians that people can only act "good" by knowing Jesus when, in fact, Christianity is proof of the fact that good behavior is possible while not helpful at gaining eternal salvation. When the rich young ruler came to Jesus, he was not condemned by Jesus for bad behavior. The young man, in fact, kept all the commands since childhood. He said as much and Jesus, knowing

In some cultures and eras, apostates face certain death. In America, it's the church that's dying from apostasy.

Apostate — it's not exactly a common word. But for those doomed to hear its rare pronouncement, it can mean imminent death or serious eternal consequences.

Like repentance, apostasy implies a rejection or abandonment of a practice, ideal, or belief. And one religion's penitent is another one's apostate.

This irony became apparent in the first formal court case involving charges of apostasy in Kuwait. The court found Hussein Qambar Ali guilty for converting from Islam to Christianity in December 1995. Since Shari'ah law in Kuwait (and many other Islamic societies) prescribes the death sentence for apostasy, the court called for Ali's execution, along with the termination of his marriage and the distribution of his possessions to heirs.

"Apostasy in the Islamic world is serious," said Ali. "Anyone, even an ordinary person, has the right

My friend and fellow PneumaBlogger, Frank N. Johnson over at Strategic Digital Outreach, was recently highlighted on GospelCom's GospelCon blog. In “Flawed Follow-Up or a Flawed Philosophy of Evangelism?” Frank writes:

The editors of Leadership journal have posted another incisive commentary on the state of the Church today in their Out of Ur weblog. It’s about how we (in the Western church) have turned the gospel into a pimping enterprise. There’s nothing really new here, it’s the same complaint Bonhoeffer had about “cheap grace.” But the language is, well, provocative. From church planter Jonathan Yarboro:

Travis Johnson, over at The Edge Church Think Tank, posted an article bemoaning the incredible shrinking church: “The Great Shrinking Church. What Gives?!?!” First, he cites some statistics from The American Church:

That America is becoming an increasingly secular nation is no surprise. That traditional church style seems increasingly irrelevant in the “naughties” and that church numbers are in decline—again—no surprise.

So, taking an unflinching look at the numbers (there was more cited), Travis concludes: