Parchment & Pen Blog

Repost from the great crash 0f 08 I have heard this since I was a very young Christian. It seemed somewhat reasonable as it was explained to me by pastors in sermons and by Christians as they explained the seriousness of sin. Their theology goes something like this: All sin is so bad that even the [...]

I admit, I am not an overly emotional person.  In fact, I find being around overly emotional people uncomfortable and there are at times instances when I wish certain experiences could evoke more emotion within me.  However, as I also find that the discipleship and discipline process, in which God purposes some form of discomfort [...]

Here are sixteen thoughts about going into ministry. They are in no particular order. UPDATE: Please understand, I am listing these idealistically. Although I followed many of these, some of them I did/have not. For example, I went through seminary in 2.5 years. It was supposed to take at least 4. I regret it and [...]

Are there some people who have more clout with God than others? When joining people in a community of prayer, are there certain people who have more influence with God than others? Moses seemed to have more influence than others in his day when he prayed for the deliverance of Israel. The same thing can [...]

More than one Christian friend has suggested to me, in all seriousness, that President Obama is the Antichrist. I haven’t taken such suggestions too seriously, but recently a video has shown up on Youtube that seems to claim that Jesus identified Obama as the Antichrist. Some Christians have been startled by this (and the video [...]

First, let me restate the question to keep us from one debate. What does it take for a person to be qualified to be a full-time preaching/teaching pastor? Is some sort of formal or informal training necessary? If so, what? Is ordination required? If so, how do you define it and from where does it need to come? What are [...]

I have updated this post as a part of my ongoing presentation on issues regarding the life of Evangelicalism, especially with regard to its doctrine. If you are familiar with my thoughts on the issue, you will notice that I have one added criteria (#2).  “In Essentials, unity. In non-essentials, liberty. In all things, charity.” These [...]

All day long, I’ve been wanting to write out a post on what I considered a pretty serious subject.  But when I got to my computer I thought, what the heck, it’s Friday night, I’m home and relaxing after taking my summer class final.  So I thought I would instead share some (hopefully) light-hearted musings [...]