christianity

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I could not resist having fun with that title.  It was just too punny!

One of the more intriguing stories last week was that of the mysterious priest who arrived on the scene of a vehicular accident in Missouri.  19-year old Katie Lentz was on her way to church when a drunk-driver smashed her car.  Emergency workers tried for more than an hour to get Lentz clear of the wreck and it looked like she wasn’t going to make it.  Just then a Catholic priest appeared, anointed Lentz with oil and prayed with her.  It was very soon after that firefighters and EMTs got Lentz out and flown to a hospital.  And the priest?  He vanished before anyone had a chance to thank him for being there.

Curiously, he didn’t turn up in any of 90-some photos that were made of the crash site.  Between that and the effect ...

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Church of Santa-Monica, Madrid, Spain, world's ugliest churchesRealClearReligion has scoured the globe to come up with this set of 35 pages depicting the ugliest churches in the world.  Be they Catholic, Baptist, Lutheran, non-denominational or whatever, these edifices may not be an affront to God… but they are an affront to human eyeballs!  Some of them can’t really help it: they were obviously a convenience store or movie theater before being converted into places of worship.  But most of them – like the Church of Santa-Monica in Madrid, Spain – will have you scratching your head and wondering: “what the heck am I looking at?”  Others, such as Kappal Matha Church in Uvari, India, simply defy all attempts at rationality.  One can’t doubt the faith being expressed in these sanctuaries… but there is no loss of bewilderment about what their architects were intending when they designed them!...

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This afternoon the lovely and effervescent Kristen let me know that she had composed another of her articles for this blog. That’s something I really appreciate about her: how much of a surprise she always is!  Her first entry, “My Bipolar Boyfriend”, has turned out to be one of the more popular posts on The Knight Shift.  I know she has a few others in the works too.

So take it away Kristen! 🙂

“A Beacon of Light”
On Memorial Day weekend of this year, Chris and I went to the Outer Banks.  I had been in the area 25 years ago, at the age of 3, and felt like this was a trip of nostalgia (although I barely remember the first trip).  We enjoyed the Elizabethan Gardens and aquarium in Manteo, but also ventured from Roanoke Island to see Cape Hatteras, Bodie Island, Kitty Hawk, and Jockey’s Ridge.
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Found this graphic yesterday morning and I can’t stop laughing at it!

Biblical Proof, Church of Christ, women, Bible, church, baking, cake, girls

“You read that Bible right woman!!  Now get yo butt to that kitchen and bake me that cake!!”

It’s from a site called Biblical Proof, a blog about “Speaking where the bible speaks, and silent where the bible is silent”.  And there are plenty more hilarious images like the one above on it!

If you think that pic is bad, check this one out.  I’ve a very good friend who is a devout Christian and also a home brewer.  He’s a shoe-in for Hell for sure, huh?

That site is obviously a product of the ultra-conservative fringe of the Churches of Christ.  They’re the ones who believe that unless you are baptized you are going to Hell, that unless you are baptized correctly you are going to Hell, that unless you are a member of the ...

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Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church, Roanoke, Virginia
Icon of Jesus Christ on the ceiling of Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church,
Roanoke, Virginia

What is “church”?  Jesus told Peter that he was “the Rock” and upon it “I will build My church”.

My Catholic brethren hold that Jesus was entrusting Peter and his predecessors as the exemplars and leaders of the church.  There are others who contend that Jesus was speaking of Peter’s faith, and how such faith would be the foundation of His body upon this earth.

My personal understanding of “the church” has grown and developed in recent years, especially as I have visited the congregations of brothers and sisters in Christ with whom I share the faith, but also have differing perspectives about that faith.  There are some who will claim that such divisions do not represent true Christianity, but I disagree.  In fact, I don’t believe that “denominations” are a bad thing at all.  ...

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This past weekend Matthew Warren – the son of Rick Warren, pastor of Saddleback Church and author of The Purpose Driven Life – took his own life after struggling for years with mental illness.  In the wake of this tragedy there has already been considerable reflection by many among the body of Christ about mental illness and what our reaction should be to it.

Ed Stetzer, the president of LifeWay Research, has a very good guest essay on CNN.com.  Titled “My Take: How churches can respond to mental illness”, Stetzer relates his own experiences with Christians plagued with such conditions and how churches should and should not approach it.  From his article…

The first time I dealt with mental illness in church was with a man named Jim. I was young and idealistic – a new pastor serving in upstate New York. Jim was a godsend to us.

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Before I saw Raiders of the Lost Ark in the theater (yeah I was that young: it was a weird weird childhood) and got hooked on archaeology, the Shroud of Turin had grasped my fascination.  All I knew at the time was that it might have been the cloth that Jesus was wrapped in after His death and that somehow, His picture got transferred into the material.  I’ve been reading every serious article and journal paper about the Shroud for most of my life and my curiosity about it has grown more and more.  Especially at this time of year.

What do I think of the Shroud of Turin?  Well, despite many attempts to reproduce it, those have always failed.  And then there is the forensic analysis: just this week scientists announced that the Shroud is almost certainly a product of the First Century.  When you figure in that ...

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From the homily that Pope Francis delivered this morning in his first Mass as the newly-elected Bishop of Rome:

“We must always walk in the presence of the Lord, in the light of the Lord, always trying to live in an irreprehensible way. We can walk all we want, we can build many things, but if we don’t proclaim Jesus Christ, something is wrong… When we walk without the cross, when we build without the cross and when we proclaim Christ without the cross, we are not disciples of the Lord. We are worldly. We may be bishops, priests, cardinals, popes, all of this, but we are not disciples of the Lord.”

Francis also spoke about returning to the Gospels. That without building upon spiritual values and instead trusting in worldly values, all is like a sandcastle before “everything comes crashing down”.

I am not Catholic, but in less than ...

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The chimney has been installed and tested.  The Swiss Guard are even now still sweeping the place for bugs and spies.  Saint Peter’s Square is bracing for the crowds…

Tomorrow morning (Rome time) the College of Cardinals of the Roman Catholic Church will enter the Sistine Chapel at the Vatican.  Once it has been confirmed that no one else is present (apart from a very few medical personnel and other attendants who are pledged to uphold secrecy) the doors will be closed and sealed, and the cardinals within will begin deliberation and voting on who will be the next pope.

It is called Conclave (from the Latin cum clave, meaning “with a key”)  And it is a ritual which has endured for more than eight hundred years.  But what does happen among the cardinals once they are within the Sistine Chapel and its doors tied off with red silk ...

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Pope Benedict XVI, retirement, abdicates, abdication, Roman Catholic Church, history, helicopter

Pope Benedict XVI, the first pontiff in nearly 600 years to depart the seat of Bishop of Rome voluntarily instead of dying in office, flies off by helicopter: leaving the Vatican and the post he has held since 2005.

Now begins sede vacante. The “time of the empty chair”. One which in the days and weeks ahead, the cardinals of the Roman Catholic Church will seek to fill in prayerful guidance. Thus will this most persistent of institutions continue with a lineage of leadership stretching back to the ancient of days.

But in the meantime, though I am not Catholic, this blogger wishes good luck and godspeed to Benedict XVI. May his days be long and fruitful!...

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