Marginal Christianity

Romans 1:1-7 (3) 1   Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, 2  which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy scriptures, 3  the gospel concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh 4  and was declared to be Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness by resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, 5  through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles for the sake of his name, 6  including yourselves who are called to belong to Jesus Christ, 7  To all God’s beloved in Rome, who are called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.   Paul writes the Romans that the church seeks the obedience of faith “among all the Gentiles” among whom are the Romans themselves “who are called to belong to Jesus Christ” (v.6). Paul ...

A passage in a little-known essay of C. S. Lewis on ways we avoid God.   Prof. John Stackhouse has reset it to heighten its impact. ======= The avoiding, in many times and places, has proved so difficult that a very large part of the human race failed to achieve it. But in our own time and place it is extremely easy. Avoid silence, avoid solitude, avoid any train of thought that leads off the beaten track. Concentrate on money, sex, status, health and (above all) on your own grievances. Keep the radio on. Live in a crowd. Use plenty of sedation. If you must read books, select them very carefully. But you’d be safer to stick to the papers. You’ll find the advertisements helpful; especially those with a sexy or a snobbish appeal. The passage is in “The Seeing Eye,” a paper collected in Christian Reflections, ed. Walter Hooper (Eerdmans, 1976).

http://www.allanbevere.com/2012/12/cs-lewis-and-name-of-christmas.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+allanbevere%2FROss+%28Allan+R.+Bevere%29&utm_content=FaceBook Three things go by the name of Christmas. One is a religious festival. This is important and obligatory for Christians, but as it can be of no interest to anyone else, I shall naturally say no more about it here. The second (it has complex historical connections with the first, but we needn't go into them) is a popular holiday, an occasion for merry-making and hospitality. If it were my business to have a 'view' on this, I should say that I much approve of merry-making. But what I approve of much more is everybody minding his own business. I see no reason why I should volunteer views as to how other people should spend their money in their own leisure among their own friends. It is highly probable that they want my advice on such matters as little as I want theirs....