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Revelife Christian Blog

Wednesday, 19 June 2013

Superhuman Spirituality: Marketing "Man of Steel" as Man of God

I don't normally go see movies in theaters, but this weekend I grabbed some friends and saw Man of Steel. I'm not a huge superhero fan -- I don't read the comics or know the detailed back stories of many of our favorite major superhero characters -- but I'd say Superman is one of my favorites. That, together with the combination of Zack Snyder (300) as director and Christopher Nolan (Inception) as producer, gave me the feeling it would be worth the $10.50.

And, for the most part, it was. My criticisms of the movie aside, as they have no real bearing on why I'm writing today, I noticed, and it seems quite a few other people have noticed, some distinctly Christian metaphors throughout the film. I believe these are analogies that are inherent to the traditional Superman mythology. The battle of good and evil, the adopted unearthly son, the man with superhuman powers who risks his life to save the world -- these are all Christ-like attributes of the Superman story.

It seems Snyder and, more importantly, Warner Bros., the studio behind Man of Steel, expected these analogies. In fact, I'd venture to say they did more than expect it -- they encouraged it. How? More Here...

Tuesday, 18 June 2013

Quarter-Life Confessions of a Gay Christian

By Tom Zuniga

I recently published a book. My first. You might have heard. It’s all about struggle and redemption, and I titled it Struggle Central: Quarter-Life Confessions of a Messed Up Christian.

But that’s almost not what it was called.

I spent many weeks brainstorming the perfect title. The “Struggle Central” portion emerged without much conscious effort thanks to last summer’s hearty camp experience hiding in bathroom stalls – my centralized Struggle Headquarters of four flimsy walls and a toilet.

The main title was easy; figuring out the subtitle, however, required more time and brainstorming. More Here...
Submit Your Posts to Revelife!

We want to take a moment to extend an invitation to those of you who haven't submitted something to Revelife in a while. We know there are many of you who have, for whatever reason, stopped submitting your posts to Revelife. It's not easy for us to find good content, and there are many of you who are fantastic writers. We miss seeing your posts in our editor! If you haven't submitted a post in a while -- or ever -- we want to invite you to share with us your thoughts. If you're looking for inspiration, here are some general topics we like to feature:

- current events
- social issues
- popular culture
- personal experiences and testimonies

Feel free to send us anything in these categories or on any other subject that you find interesting. It is the breadth and depth of subject matter we feature here on Revelife that makes our community unique.

If you're new to Revelife -- or just need a reminder -- visit our About Us page to learn more about who we are.
Break Through These Three Barriers to Find More Barriers

There's an article I see every once in a while that addresses three barriers that need breaking through in order for the church to see growth. Not spiritual growth. Numbers growth. As in, more people. The author goes as far as contorting scripture to fit his points. The following are his three suggested barriers. If we read scripture correctly, trying to overcome these barriers will only end up creating new ones.

1) You must develop an unshakable conviction about growth (Colossians 2:19).
I would agree if the author was talking about spiritual growth. But again, numbers are the emphasis here. The reference given is taken completely out of context. Colossians 2:19 reads, "and not holding fast to the Head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God."

The picture here is not of a body expanding in size. Paul was talking about a body that grows in maturity. If you read the passage in context, he was responding to a teaching in Colossae that was not rooted in Christ, influenced by evil spirits. Just reading that one chapter, the context is pretty clear. You don't even need doctrinal training to pick that up. It feels like the author BibleGateway'd the word "growth" and found a verse that fit. More Here...

Monday, 17 June 2013

From Zero to Hero: Jesus, the Unexpected Champion

What does it mean to be a hero?

Here's a question. Name the video game where there's a character that seemingly comes out of nowhere and is given a quest. Along his journey he meets people that offer help by giving him advice, a chicken, and/or training. He fights the occasional adversary and then, at the very end, he goes and rescues a princess, kills a bad guy or reclaims a lost possession. You've won the game and there's an end credit scene where this hero has a grand parade complete with streamers and vast crowds jubilantly cheering his name. He's then given a great honor or the throne to the kingdom. Most of all, this hero is thanked and loved by the people he has now saved.

What video game is this? I'd start with Zelda: Ocarina of time, Super Mario, Kingdom Hearts, God of War, Final Fantasy, and Prince of Persia-- just to name a few.
It's interesting then that God paints a very different definition of a hero -- one that, if translated to a game, wouldn't be very marketable. Why? Because it is so against our humanistic definition of what a hero should be. More Here...
Does Your Life Have a "SPAM" Filter?

Many people think those who were born in the 21st century are the most fortunate people. Yes, there is some truth to that statement, but now we are going to look at how the young generation can recognize one of the most powerful dangers of the 21st century by installing life’s most important SPAM filter in their heart.

Let’s look at what SPAM is. SPAM is an acronym meaning Sales Promotional Advertising Message. This is a very popular term in email programs. SPAM filters protect the inbox by blocking unnecessary, unhealthy and unworthy messages from coming into the box.

SPAM doesn’t come from our friends or anyone we are working for. It comes from bad guys or those who want to sell me what I don’t want. If I start reading my SPAM messages, my time will be wasted, and my money and identity could be stolen. The consequences could be even more destructive. So I really love my email’s SPAM filter. It will recognize those messages and put them in a different message box for 30 days and then they will be automatically deleted.

It is the same in life. More Here...
When Everything Goes Wrong, It's Just Life

It is simple statistics. It has to happen -- those days, or weeks, or even months for some when everything that can go wrong does. It may not actually be everything; it just feels like it. It doesn't matter how busy your life is. In fact, life can be very simple, but still the house of cards can fall for a time and the whirlwind is experienced.

It is then that patience can be developed, which is in reality a form of simply becoming centered and slowing down and doing one damned thing at a time and learning to let go of the illusion of control. It is like all the lights at a very large intersection all turn green at the same time, and there is a lot of chaos all at once.

Patience for me can be very difficult. My mind tends to race, so it is then that I make it slow down and focus on that ‘one thing’ in front of me that I have to deal with. I tend to see the whole heap at once, which can be overwhelming. But if I learn to look at what is before me, it not only allows me to pick through what needs to be done, but also keeps my feet on the ground. One person at a time, one task, being patient for this instance -- learning that is all I can do, as well as asking for help when needed. More Here...

Sunday, 16 June 2013

Sunday Service at North Point Online: My Bad Church Experience (Part Three)

It's Sunday, and for Christians across the globe, today is a day to go to church. We go to church for a lot of reasons -- to sing songs, to listen to good teaching and to spend time with our community. We here at Revelife hope that you will take some time today to visit your local church.

But we also know that, for any number of reasons, you might choose not to go to church. Whatever the situation is, we don't want you to be without the church experience today. That's why we feature the online services at North Point Community Church in Alpharetta, Georgia.

Today, North Point Community Church in Alpharetta, Georgia, continues a series that, if you're one of those people not going to church today, might strike home for you. The series is called My Bad Church Experience. North Point's services are streamed online live at 9:00am and 11:00am with rebroadcasts at 2:00pm, 6:00pm and 10:00pm (all times Eastern). Hope to see you there!

If you like the services at North Point, you should know that there are North Point Strategic Partner churches all around the globe. To see if there is one in your area, click here.

Saturday, 15 June 2013

Calvinism and Arminianism: Five Views

By Will Green

For those of you who don't know what Arminianism and Calvinism are, that's good. This is a knotty theological debate and there's been many a Bible discussion I've been in where a Calvinist and Arminian have butted theological heads. To sum up the debate quickly, a Calvinist is like 'See those non-Christians? That's not God's incompetence, that was intentional' and an Arminian is like 'Why, oh why, does humanity resist the gospel?'

Here are 5 kinds of views about this difficult theological debate that I collected earlier.

'Compatibilist' Calvinism

'Free Will' Calvinism

‘Mysterious’ Arminianism

'Works-Response' Arminianism

'Semi-Pelagian' Arminianism

Here's a chart summarising each view, with more of an explanation below:

More Here...
Breakdance Messiah: Religious Imagery or Foolery?

A new 30' mural in Bristol, England was recently unveiled. The piece was painted by London street artist Cosmo Sarsen after winning a competition.

A spokesman for the Catholic Diocese of Clifton praised the mural of the Breakdancing Jesus as artwork that will get people talking about religion and would appeal to youths and the multi-ethnic populous.

Clifton Youth Ministry coordinator David Wheat observed: “It helps to bring Christ out of our multi-ethnic Church and into the lives of religious and non-religious people, as Pope Francis urges us to do.”
More Here...