Separation of church and state

If you would like a lively discussion centered around this event - Michelle Obama Marks Campaign Anniv. at Andy Stanley's Megachurch - and its ramifications hit this link ... http://blog.christianitytoday.com/ctpolitics/2011/02/michelle_obama.html.

There's some good reading in the comments.

Foxhole Christians

It has now been a little more than a full month since the shooting in Tucson. The dust (a metaphor for rhetoric) has settled and the suspect has been arrested and has received on of his many days in court.

But with just a bit of reflection on this situation it is easy to observe how we, as a former Christian nation, react to tragedies like this. Great powers of observation are not necessary to see that we act like what we have been. We were at one time a Christian nation (and spare us the secular argument that we were not). God blessed us and we never thanked Him.

I don't think this was an oversight on our part. We just greedily asked for more. So our actions now reflect that attitude. We have become a nation of "foxhole" Christians. We only hit on God for some mercy, justice, understanding or blessing when we're in an "ungodly" mess or tragedy has struck. We don't take time to praise Him or thank Him. When life is going good (or as good as it can be), we seem to exert extra effort to push Him out of our lives, our nation, our schools, etc.

Notice the reaction of our visible leaders following the shooting. Every one of them was asking for prayer and imploring God for mercy and justice. There is nothing wrong with that. But these are the same folks who vote to push God out of our schools or vote for a woman's right to choose.

Well, ya can't have it both ways!

Welcome to Eye On Christianity

You may think it strange that a golf pro is dabbling in the blogosphere in the areas of Bible and Christianity. And you're probably right. Nevertheless we'll try to present a rousing attempt at stimulating theological debate. Well, on second thought we're not that scholarly and intellectual, just a bit practical.

[NOTE: This is not our first blog. There are a couple of stimulating golf blogs that you can find at these links: http://eyeongolf.blogspot.com/ and http://golfbookreview.blogspot.com/.]

Fortunately, there is a certain amount of educational background to support this venture – an M.A. in New Testament from Biblical Theological Seminary and a Th.D. from Trinity Evangelical Seminary of Florida. (Unfortunately, hard economic times did them in.)

We won't try to be too controversial although from time to time we may venture into the arena of opinion. Mostly we'll stick to just good ol' Bible study stuff. And most of this stuff will come from the Sunday School class I am currently teaching at Calvary Southern Baptist Church in Casa Grande or possibly work, thoughts and insights from a PhD. dissertation we are considering. And, of course, there will be periodic observation/opinion scribblings. You're welcome to comment on those. Just be nice.

There will also be an occasional book review since we are into reading a bit and they are really fun to do.

Of course, some will disagree and that's to be expected. But two essentials will remain constant: (1) the Bible is the Word of God absolutely inerrant, infallible in the original languages; (2) Jesus Christ really did exist and He really was God and it is His death, burial and resurrection that affords us salvation. (Not a complete statement of faith, but basic enough to lay the ground work.)

So, let's have some fun and all for the glory of God.