Confessions of a Recovering Pharisee

[Fox Business]

The nation’s economy has had a positive effect on churches’ weekly attendance as people look for hope, but author Wayne Jacobsen says people may not find the answers they seek from organized religion alone.

“Though well-intended, many of the work-driven religious cultures thrive on guilt, conformity and manipulation, which devours the very love it seeks to sustain,” said Jacobsen. “Because organized religion is a man-made institution, it has, in instances, become more about the way people act, than truly engaging people with a Living God.”

This false, “works-based” system of religion can drive people away, says Jacobsen, leaving them disappointed, yet still searching for hope found through God’s love even in tough times.

“While some people find organized religion to be spiritually uplifting, others find it empty and irrelevant. They ‘leave religion,’ not to abandon their faith, but to find truer expressions of it,” Jacobsen said. “Faith is more than a performance-based attempt to ingratiate themselves to God. It’s a personal engagement of love and trust with the God of the Bible.”

Read more here.

[From me]

The author is right in his observation about the personal relationship with God.  If someone is turning to religion it will fail them. It is who people turn to that is going to make a difference! Going to church is great but that isn’t going to change your life unless you allowed God to take control of your life.

What do you think?

Create your own here.

[Yahoo News]

More than 100,000 Britons have recently downloaded “certificates of de-baptism” from the Internet to renounce their Christian faith.

The initiative launched by a group called the National Secular Society(NSS) follows atheist campaigns here and elsewhere, including a London bus poster which triggered protests by proclaiming “There’s probably no God.”

“We now produce a certificate on parchment and we have sold 1,500 units at three pounds (4.35 dollars, 3.20 euros) a pop,” said NSS president Terry Sanderson, 58.

John Hunt, a 58-year-old from London and one of the first to try to be “de-baptised,” held that he was too young to make any decision when he was christened at five months old.

The male nurse said he approached the Church of England to ask it to remove his name. “They said they had sought legal advice and that I should place an announcement in the London Gazette,” said Hunt, referring to one of the official journals of record of the British government.

So that’s what he did — his notice of renouncement was published in the Gazette in May 2008 and other Britons have followed suit.

Michael Evans, 66, branded baptising children as “a form of child abuse” — and said that when he complained to the church where he was christened he was told to contact the European Court of Human Rights.

Read more here.

[From me]

I don’t believe in infant baptism anyway.  I think calling it child abuse is a little overboard though.  I believe that a believe gets baptized when to follow in obedience to Christ’s command and as a symbol of the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus.  What these people are doing is a good reason to do believer’s baptism.  If someone is baptized and they don’t know why or they do it for someone else it might give them a false sense of security.

On the other hand, why are these atheist groups being so militant about something they say they don’t believe in?

What do you think?

[Salt Lake Tribune]

The monthly schedule is church-like, with its parenting classes, guest speakers and small group meetings to hash out shared beliefs. But God isn’t part of this Cambridge congregation.

Greg Epstein, the humanist chaplain at Harvard University, is building a God-free model of community that he hopes helps humanists increase in numbers and influence.

Epstein sees potential in research showing that there are more people with no religion. In the latest American Religious Identification Survey, released this month, 15 percent of respondents in 2008 said they had no religion, compared to 8.2 percent in 1990. Epstein believes that group includes large numbers of people who are humanist, but have never identified themselves that way and can be reached.

At the same time, there is broader acceptance of those with no faith, as indicated by President Barack Obama’s mention of “nonbelievers” in his inaugural address, Epstein said.

Read more here.

[From me]

I guess this shows the need for community no matter what someone believes or doesn’t believe.  The sad thing is that the humanist beliefs won’t bring anyone to eternity. Sure there are a lots of good people in the world.  But being good isn’t good enough.  All of us have sinned and messed up.  There is only one person who is good and that is God.  Those statistics are scary.  In less than 20 years the percentage of humanists have almost doubled.  We who are followers of Jesus need to do a better job sharing our faith in Jesus.

What do you think?

[Christian Post]

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is scheduled to receive the highest honor given by Planned Parenthood Federation of America Friday evening.

The 2009 Margaret Sanger Award, named after Planned Parenthood’s founder, is scheduled to be given to the former New York senator turned most visible American ambassador at a dinner reception in Houston.

Social conservatives and pro-life activists find the award troubling because it is named after a noted eugenicist and is given by the nation’s largest abortion provider.

Read more here.

[From me]

Why would Secretary Clinton want to accept an award named after a woman who was known for eugenics?

What do you think?