Polk Perspectives

The big topic, unfortunately, in religious circles for the past week was the predicted rapture that was supposed to take place on May 21.

Harold Camping’s prediction proved to be false, which wasn’t much of a surprise to most Christians who believed Jesus when He said no one would know when He plans on returning.

But the coverage that the story garnered certainly portrayed Christianity in a less-than-desirable light. Atheists seized the opportunity to discredit Christians and the Bible in general, when in fact it was a VERY small group of people who simply interpreted the Bible incorrectly. Continue reading →

Sorry for another delay in this post.

We had some old friends in town for a few days, and that took precedence. Definitely had a great time at Disney and just hanging out.

But, it’s time to get back to the business of giving you all some interesting links about faith.

The first one is great for anyone who uses social media, which I’m assuming is most people reading this since I pretty much promote this on Facebook and Twitter. Continue reading →

So this is the late Tuesday edition of my Faith Links, and I apologize again for the delay.

Relevant Magazine put up a very interesting follow story to the Rob Bell controversy relating to his book Love Wins. I covered the substantive issues of the controversy in an earlier post, so I won’t rehash the details.

The Relevant article is titled “What Love  Wins Tells Us About Christianity,” and the writer pulls out 10 points that can be gleaned from the firestorm. Continue reading →

I want to start off these links with another good article from Relevant Magazine, which again is quickly becoming one of my favorite destinations for modern Christian perspectives.

There were a number of good Easter related stories from Relevant, but one that I found interesting addressed Good Friday and the possibility that Christians tend to push it to the background because, in large part, it causes us to confront death.

The writer mentions that Good Friday draws the lowest church attendance of any day on the Christian calendar, compared to Easter, which draws the largest crowds. It’s certainly been a few years since I have made it to a Good Friday service.

But this year I began to feel a stronger connection to Good Friday, thanks in part to being more exposed to it now that I work at a Christian institution, Southeastern University. I’ve always felt that the greatest thing that can motivate me to walk with God and draw near to Him is the reality of the Cross. Jesus did really die for us nearly 2,000 years ago, and it was a brutal death, as anyone who has seen Passion of the Christ knows well.

I appreciate that this article helps to make the Cross a reality, and I hope you enjoy it, as well.

Here’s the link: click here.

Other Links

• Relevant Magazine also did an interesting series this past week addressing the budget crisis in Washington, D.C. They did it in two parts, and you can read Part I here, and Part II here.
• Does Christian art sometimes seem lame to you? Here’s a good take on how to express those feelings.
• Is Easter borrowed from a pagan celebration? This Christianity Today article on its Christian history blog explores the facts.
• The Dove Awards, Christian music’s annual celebration, was held on Thursday night, with Francesca Battistelli taking home the big award of Artist of the Year. Here’s a roundup of the event.