If you’re still interested in reading about and weighing in on the Christian response to the death of Osama bin Laden, allow me to link you up.
Corey Mullins, our Legacy missionary to Wollongong, Australia writes his reflections in his Mentalcourse blog here. In an email exchange yesterday, this faithful man of God considered the oxymoron, “Christian hatred.” Corey wonders why Christians look and act so much like the world and concludes it’s all about spiritual formation: “One hour on Sunday just isn’t enough to conform our thought patterns to Scripture. But, sadly, that’s all most of our people are getting.” Corey goes on to tell me about a friend of his in Korea whose church is open every morning from 7:00-8:00am for Bible reading and prayer. Many people — actually, Corey says “most” of the church’s members — come in on their ways to work to pray and meditate on the words of God. I wonder about us here at Legacy where, for almost two-and-a-half-years now, our elders and ministers open our prayer rooms every weekday morning from 7:00-8:00am. Quincy comes. And usually nobody else. Corey says most of these churches in Korea “are full of first generation Christians which may explain the difference. Maybe we’ve become lazy with our spirituality.”
David Smith, the preaching minister at the Missouri Street Church of Christ in Baytown, Texas, has compiled a list of 18 other preachers and ministers and theologians, mostly CofC, who have written articles about bin Laden’s death. The posts run the gamut of almost anything you can imagine as a Christian reaction to the death of this terrorist. The page with all the links is here. While you’re at it, go ahead and read Smith’s own personal angle here. Scroll down to his second post, Osama bin Laden Talks with God. Wow! How does he keep his job at Missouri Street writing like that?
Finally, my great friend Jim Gardner pointed me to a blog post by Kurt Willems, a former classmate of his at the Fresno Pacific Biblical Seminary. Kurt explores the things that “grieve the heart of God.” Click here.
This Sunday I am preaching from my favorite Bible verse, John 16:33. These are Jesus’ last words to his disciples before he gives himself up, before he dies on the cross as a sacrifice for every sinner in the history of our planet: “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
Peace,
Allan
Thanks for the mention and links, Allan! You’re constantly cranking out “good stuff” and I’m humbled to have some sense of inclusion in your blog. Two notes. (1) Most of the links are to authors who are not (to my knowledge) of a CofC heritage, although some are (such as yourself, John Mark Hicks, and Dan Bouchelle). (2) “How does he keep his job …?” Ha! By the grace of God, brother, by the grace of God. MoSt Church is such a blessing to me. I do hope everyone understands the “interview” framework of the “Talks With God” post is from my sometimes bizarre imagination, and not a literal “revelation” or something that I claim to have actually experienced. Just want to make that clear to any who might have a concern. 😉
Will I see you at the Sermon Seminar at Austin Grad. in a few weeks?
Thanks for links – after watching the reports yesterday morning, I audibled and decided Timothy and elders and deacons can wait a week while we discuss this.
John 15:13 in KJV
I do not know anything about Sarah Cunningham except what I am quoting here:
“Bin Ladin has been killed now. Please, in honor of the hard lessons learned by the victims and rescuers of Ground Zero, let the hate die with him.
And in this moment, in your words – words that children will overhear, words that will impact people’s psyches, words that will contribute a little bit of good or a little bit of ill will to our planet – choose peace.
I do know that the following two comments come from men who are self styled ‘evangelists of the the good news” and preach for congregations with “Church of Christ” on the sign out front of their building:
“Rather than shooting him in the head they should have used a flame thrower on him prior to dispatching him to hell.”
“If there was anything left of his head or upper torso, I would have sat him on top a pig hanging both from the chopper over the heads of the entire region, but that’s just me.”
Thanks for sharing my blog article. What an interesting time we find ourselves in as Christians in America…
Thanks for these posts Allan. Let me just add when I say “maybe we’ve become lazy with our spirituality,” I’m not just talking about Christians in general but one I know particularly well – myself.
Jay Guin, elder at Tuscaloosa’s University Church of Christ, offers a blog entry with many additional scriptures on the subject. http://oneinjesus.info/2011/05/thought-question-how-should-christians-feel-about-the-death-of-osama-bin-laden/
Jay’s own perspective is found at http://oneinjesus.info/2011/05/thought-question-how-should-christians-feel-about-the-death-of-osama-bin-laden/#IDComment148640684
David, I never miss a Sermon Seminar at Austin Grad. I’ll see you there.