2012 has yielded to 2013 at last. Looking back, here are the top ten most-read blog posts here at Moore to the Point. Thank you for reading and for dialoguing with me about all sorts of things. I look forward to our conversation in 2013. As Fred Rogers, would say, “You’ll have things you’ll want to talk about … I will too.”
1. Christians, Let’s Honor the President
The American people have decided that Barack Obama should have a second term. And, behind them, in the mystery of providence, God has decided that Barack Obama would be re-elected. So how should Christians respond to our once and future President?
2. School Shootings and Spiritual Warfare
Violence against children is not just tragic—it’s satanic. Throughout history the evil one has lashed out against children because they remind the satanic powers that a Child uproots their reign. The Incarnation, we must remember, was an act of war—the entry of the prince of peace who will crush the skull of the ancient murderer of Eden. We grieve in the midst of these tragic deaths, then, and we also pray for the returning of Mary’s Son who will crush the head of the serpent.
3. Pat Robertson vs. the Spirit of Adoption
For too long, we’ve let our leaders replace the cross with an Asherah pole. Enough is enough. A worldview that views people primarily in terms of their worth or usefulness is not a Christian one.
4. Should Christians Boycott Starbucks?
As those who’ve been vindicated by the resurrection of Christ, we don’t need to be vindicated by the culture. The argument behind a boycott assumes that the “rightness” of a marriage definition is constituted by a majority with power, but that’s exactly what we’re arguing against. We won’t win the argument about marriage by bringing corporations to the ground in surrender. We’ll engage this argument when the outside world begins to see marriages among Christians that are distinctly different—and proclaim the meaning behind marriage, the covenant union of Christ and his church.
The next time you see the trailer for a zombie film, or see the picture of a walking corpse on the cover of a novel, remember that that was your story once too. The biblical story of the Fall of humanity is one of a humanity that comes under the sway of death by obeying the appetite. Yet Jesus offers instead life, and that abundantly, as we eat of his flesh, drink of his blood, and share in his triumph over the accusing slavemaster.
6. Halloween and Evangelical Identity
A friend of mine once explained the difference between fundamentalists and evangelicals by saying, “An evangelical is a fundamentalist who watches The Office.” In this lighter piece, I tried my hand at explaining the spectrum of Protestantism, with tongue in cheek, using Halloween as a Rorschach test.
7. Should I Divorce If I’m Miserable?
With “Christian” pastors and counselors who counsel irreconcilable differences as legitimate grounds for Christians to divorce, who needs demons? Short-term fidelity has everything to do with long-term happiness—the long-term for the believer being trillions and trillions of years reigning with Christ.
8. The Next Billy Graham Might Be Drunk Right Now
Jesus has promised that he will build his church—but he hasn’t promised us that he would build using only those currently in our churches. Let’s remember, those whom God may use to start the next great revival may still be a pagan. The next Billy Graham may be drunk somewhere on Times Square tonight. So, on the one hand, let’s relax. And on the other hand, let’s share the gospel all the more boldly, knowing that God will build his church.
9. Mother’s Day and the Infertile
Mother’s Day is a particularly sensitive time in many congregations, and pastors and church leaders often don’t even know it. Regardless of how you do it, remember the infertile as the world around us celebrates motherhood. The Proverbs 31 woman needs our attention, but the 1 Samuel 1 woman does too.
10. Let’s Rethink Our Holly-Jolly Christmas Songs
Are Christmas song boring? That’s what I heard one man say: “Christmas is boring because there’s no narrative tension. It’s like reading a book with no conflict.” That may be true of some Christmas songs, but let’s remember the Christmas songs of the church. We have a rich and complicated and often appropriately dark Christmas hymnody. We can sing of blessings flowing “far as the curse is found,” and of the one who came to “free us all from Satan’s power.”
