Welcome to another Thursday UNFILTERED blog post, the only blog that believes that Cain couldn’t please God with his offering because he just wasn’t Abel.
Before you get defensive, the title of this article is kind of the point.
Here’s the thing about ancient books and letters written in a completely different language, culture, and century. You can’t just crack them open like a fortune cookie and expect to walk away with clarity. You’re going to need some context. Quite a lot of it, actually.
Last November, Leonard Sweet invited me to talk to him and his doctoral students about the New Testament. In that talk, I shared four big reasons why most of us are essentially reading the New Testament with a blindfold on and what to do about it.
Most Christians, including pastors, read the New Testament like watching a 3D movie without the glasses. You can certainly see some things, but much of it is blurry and a little headache-inducing. And without those glasses, you’ll never be able to see some of the most important parts, including the unbroken patterns of God’s work along with the metanarrative of His Eternal Purpose. They will remain invisible to you.
You can listen to my entire talk with Sweet and his doctoral students here.
Also, many of you are fairly new to the email list. Meaning, you subscribed over the last three months. Unless you’ve been binging on the archives, here are some of the cornerstone articles you may have missed.
- Rethinking Prophetic Utterances – examines what the New Testament teaching about genuine prophetic words.
- Rethinking the Sinner’s Prayer – explores the origin of this prayer and what the early Christians practiced instead of it.
- A Full Immersion Conference (No Shallow End) – A call out to a pastor who lives in the USA to partner with to fulfill this vision.
- Prophetic Nonsense – a sober critique on how many celebrities in the prophetic movement make wrong predictions, then justify them with absurd pretzel logic.
- Answering Tough Questions from a Ministry Doctoral Student – Frank answers difficult questions from a doctoral ministry students with non-traditional answers.
- God’s Restoration Work Continues (Along with the Opposition) – transcript of a powerful message that Frank delivered at a conference hosted by a Christian college.
- Rethinking the Five-Fold Ministry – landmark article on how the New Testament portrays these ministry gifts compared to today’s teaching.
- Stop Rage-Scrolling Your Spiritual Life Away – a call to examine the culture of outrage on social media and avoid it.
- Rethinking the Second Coming of Christ – dismantles false, but popular, ideas about the Lord’s return.
- The One Habit That’s Quietly Killing People – a lethal habit that no one talks about.
- A Sober Word to the Charismatic Movement – addresses a problem related to Scripture along with a proven solution.
- Why Revivals Peter Out – breakthrough article explaining why campus revivals die out so fast along with the solution.
- Waiting on God Reimagined – presents a different take on the biblical exhortations to “wait on the Lord.”
- 50 Things the Holy Spirit Does – landmark list of what the Bible says the Spirit of God does.
- 8 Signs of a Modern-Day Pharisee – explores the major characteristics of modern-day Pharisees in the Christian fold.
The One Habit That’s Quietly Killing People