the concept blows my mind as I believe all faithful believers experience this at least one (or several/many) time(s) during their lifetime.

It is my belief that our church experienced a “cleansing of the spirit” on Sunday and I say let’s keep pressing in to Jesus until we are joined at the hip like Siamese twins.!! Please do not be distracted – LISTEN to God’s whispers.

Thank you so much for posting this! Over the past two years, Brandon and I have caught so much grief over our decision to marry young. This article really exposed both sides of the controversy and gave us both insight on some things we will have to work on!

Thanks!!
Michelle

And you should definitely do vids…b/c they’ll capture the beauty of your thoughts and the power of your rants a little more than the text…

I agree with Shawn that the context and intent of sexual scenes/nudity are important. For example, I’d suggest that in a movie like “Schindler’s List” there were both titillating sexuality and nudity that was designed to repulse–to show the horror, degredation and shame of Nazi oppression. It’s significant to me that what sticks in my head nearly 15 years after seeing the movie are the gratuitously titillating scenes rather than those that portrayed the horror.

I’d raise a question for both Piper and Shawn regarding violence. I’ve been convicted in the last few years about being entertained by violence that in “real life” I’m repulsed by. A recent study found that some 60% of Christians in the South now believe that torture is sometimes or often morally justified. Does Piper share this belief?

I wonder if shows like “24″ are contributing to the desensitizing of society toward the willful breaking of the human spirit through violence. We know that the military uses first-person shooter games in training, and that at least one of the school shooters (Paducah, Ky) appears to have gained some real-life skill through these “imaginary” games.

Jesus died for his enemies, and he must weep when they die without him. Yes, sex matters, but violence is another blindspot in the evangelical world.

I knew that I was looking for that strat kind of particular snap and I can say that some americans standards sounded very bad.

I finally bought a mexican standard strat.

I play on an old (196x) traynor bassmate tube amp that I modded (bass/treble instead of tone button and a 12″ vintage 30 speaker) and on a korg 3000g multi effect.

The fact is that just using the function called “tube distortion pedal” and a simple reverb I can easily have about exactly the JM sound.

I programmed the expression pedal to ajust the gain and with the pedal set on 3/10, the sound is purely JM in the slow dancing… video up here. so don’t need that 600$ tube screamer!

Brilliant scene. Totally true to the Gospel, and true to our fallen Christian condition.

Good to hear from ya bro…

http://www.amazon.com/Crazy-Good-Sex-Putting-Myths/dp/0310273560/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1237482715&sr=8-1

Again, thanks for some of the cool info on his gear. And also, to the guy that wanted the small fender tube, a Blues Junior would be right up your alley. Perfect for blues tones, gets nice cleans at low volume, and a really sweet blues overdrive without cranking too loud. (though its 15 tube watts is actually QUITE loud, I run my amp in 15 watt mode all the time, and its still vicious)

Keep Wailin’ Guys!

http://www.amazon.com/His-Brain-Her-Differences-Strengthen/dp/031024028X/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1236020060&sr=8-1

It evens weaves in some science.

I started playing guitar about a year ago; I play left, so its tough to find quality guitars that don’t cost a bundle. Found a Mexi Strat. last year, but was playing mainly acoustic until now. I love my strat. now that my skills are a little more advanced. I started playing on a Marshall 10w amp & am now is search of more power, but that won’t blast out my apt. neighbors. I’ve been told to go Fender tube…..any suggestions?

My frustration to some of the “new” church methods of us youngsters is probably somewhat reactionary – and comes from me feeling judged and rejected by others of my generation for not jumping ship on serving in a church with people over 55 and instead doing something essentially “cool,” while talking more about social action, yet actually doing less than “first church” up the road for real people with needs, like heating bills.

My criticism isn’t with the coolness factor. Coolness could be called slang for being culturally savvy – which I’m all for. It is with the idea that because we don’t have buildings we’re biblical, or because we don’t have clear doctrinal boundaries we’re somehow more intellectually advanced…

I don’t know exactly Jason. I find your criticism fair – but something about the afforementioned groups smells wrong and out of sync with a healthy ecclesiology, among other things.

Don’t get me wrong about house churches – I think Paul planted some. However, I think it’s an amoral issue – like wearing sandals. You could say wearing sandals is biblical in the same way that house churches were. The truly pertinent question would still be, “What Gospel is preached and what sort of disciples are made?”

And it just so happens that the church in Jerusalem was a “megachurch” by today’s standards, and the homes of the wealthy tended to be used precisely because they had ample meeting space. People get off on all sorts of weird rants in order to try to say “We can do better.” Yes. I agree. Can you show me how? I’m desperately wanting all the help I can get, but in my experience emergent are spices rather than sustenance. They help me understand the mission field more because they really are quite culturally plugged in – but I would add, only to a specific bandwidth of culture.

I’m probably more harsh than necessary on the so-called emergent movement because my hopes were so high coupled with feeling personally judged. And that’s not healthy on my part.

That’s sort of my deal I think. And in trying to serve a church with a full spread of cradle to grave people, I can understand why reactionary movements gain such traction. There is something to cause reaction. It’s hard to pastor any church, especially one as culturally diverse as a “traditional” one – that is, one with people marrying and birthing, and people dying of old age and shuffling behind walkers – as my wonderful church has.

Blessings bro!!! Love what you’re doing. Stay centered on Jesus.

I would appreciate clarification at some point on one of the interfaces through which we connect regarding your critique of the emergent/organic/cell people. It seemed to me that at several points you equate the traditional church and the Church, the Body, whereas I view them as often distinguishable. As I read the emergent/organic/new monastic folks, they–like early Anabaptists–have decided the institutional/traditional church has become the “religion” Jesus criticized, and they are leaving precisely _because_ they love his Body, in contrast to some of my friends who have said “screw it all” and are now agnostic/atheist.

Are some of these people leaving for impure motives (rebellion, boredom, acedia)? Undoubtedly. But many folks are probably also staying in traditional churches for impure motives (anonymity, power, their parents are buried in the cemetary).

I agree with your plea to “shoulder the cross” and faithfully live within the structure of the traditional church, but it seemed that you held that up in contrast to what the emergent/organic/new monastic people are doing. These folks have decided that shouldering the cross means leaving the traditional church–some for pure, some for impure motives–and by doing so they’re offering a challenge to the traditional church and a life-giving alternative for people in our generation who might otherwise end up outside both the structure of the traditional church (not necessarily bad) and the Body (heart-breaking).