The Simpsons Movie & Religion

Erik August 10th, 2007

A recent ChristiaNet.com survey asked Christians, "Is The Simpsons Movie appropriate for Christians?" The majority of Christians polled had not seen the movie, but that didn't stop them from offering their opinion on it (and it didn't stop ChristiaNet.com from sending out a press release on their silly poll). It didn't stop us from talking about it either.

On this week's SBE we talk with Mark Pinsky, author of The Gospel According to the Simpsons, about The Simpso … (Read More)

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Active Culture (Re-Air)

Erik July 27th, 2007

This weekend, radio stations across the country will be re-airing the previously broadcast episode of SBE titled, Active Culture with Dick Staub author of, The Culturally Savvy Christian: A Manifesto for Deepening Faith and Enriching Popular Culture in an Age of Christianity-Lite. This is one of my favorites. If you missed it, hit play below or download the mp3 and listen later.

Don't forget, you can get each week's SBE delivered free by hitting the "Subscribe" button in th … (Read More)

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The Power to Stop Pretending

Erik July 23rd, 2007

One of the greatest tragedies in the lives of Christians is that, in many cases, our most dishonest hour of the week is the hour we spend at church. We wear masks of unreality, superiority, negativity, and acceptability. Too often, we've been wearing masks so long, we don't even know our real selves (or one another).

You may think that if they really knew you, they would kick you out…so the best thing to do is to just keep on pretending. But that's a lie that will keep yo … (Read More)

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Harry Potter: Even Worse than the Smurfs

Mark Tesreau July 9th, 2007

Recently, I listened to the pastor of a well known mega-church sermonize from Revelation 21:8 that we should not see the Harry Potter movies because Harry is a sorcerer and sorcerers are going to Hell. So as not to take him out of context, his comments were as follows.

"I really think you ought to think long and hard before you let your children go see Harry Potter at the movie. I really want to encourage you in that area. God has, in the Old Testament and the New, come down hard a … (Read More)

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I'm Out of Here!

Steve Brown July 6th, 2007

I'm going away on vacation!

Well, that's not exactly true. I'm going to spend a week teaching the missionaries of my denomination at our conference center (Ridge Haven) in the mountains of North Carolina. Then my wife and I are going to spend most of a week with our children, their husbands and our grandchildren at Dollywood in Tennessee…

…and then a week recovering from the first two weeks!

During that week, I'm not going to pray, go to church or read the Bible … (Read More)

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"The Church is a whore…

Erik July 2nd, 2007

…but she is my mother." - St. Augustine

How did Christians get so religious? Where did we go wrong? How is it that being forgiven has made us feel so guilty, being loved has made us so uptight, and being free has made us so bound? How did sinners who have been forgiven repeatedly become judges?

The Church really is a mess, but be careful…that's Jesus' wife we're talking about. No matter how jacked up she is, a man will put his foot down if you start talking ba … (Read More)

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