What I'm Reading and Stuff

It's painfully obvious that I'm not very good at blogging, and I'm really, really not good at blogging often. I thought I'd share a list of what I've read and what I'm reading these days, and maybe some ideas for future posts.

What I'm reading now:

• The Myth of a Christian Nation, by Gregory Boyd. Boyd is my favorite Open Theist, and he has some provocative ideas regarding evangelical Christianity and its (in his words) idolatrous quest for political power. The Kingdom of God was never supposed to be an improved version of any kingdom of the world (even America's!). It is debatable whether America ever really was a Christian nation, so trying to "take America back for God" and many other conservative evangelical hobby horses are wrongheaded and destructive to that which actually is the kingdom of God. It's pretty interesting so far.
• Relativism: Feet Firmly Planted in Mid-Air, by Francis Beckwith and Greg Koukl. Moral relativism is a self-defeating philosophy which is impossible to be consistently and honestly lived, let alone defended as "right."
• Making Small Groups Work, by Henry Cloud and John Townsend. I'm not very far into this book, but I can tell it will be a gold mine of material for anyone starting, leading, or attending a small group.
  

Some ideas I'm kicking around:

• A Sunday School series on social issues: what does the Bible actually teach about . . . homosexuality (and the Christian's response to it), abortion, multiculturalism (esp. how to react to the growing immigrant population in the US), and any other issue that will probably get a lot of people really mad at me. :) The aim is to use the Bible (and not Fox News, conservative talk radio, or Focus on the Family) as our guide to seeking truth and grace regarding people who behave or believe differently from what we believe. Christians, let's stop being jerks to people who disagree with us. We all know about 1 Peter 3:15a-b ("But in your hearts set apart Christ Jesus as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have."), but how many go on to read 1 Peter 3:15c: "But do this with gentleness and respect"?
• Christians Songs that Inspire Me: this would be a counterpart to my several entries under the title "Christian Songs that Annoy Me."