The Tulip Driven Life

This is my first blog post that is being written for The Tulip Driven Life. And to inaugurate this blog, I felt I should write on something that is very dear to me, something I am very concerned about and dogmatic about, and yet something that others may not fully agree with me on. I also think this entry will embody the purpose of this blog- to think critically about how we as Christians are to live our lives in accordance with the will of God. The Bible speaks frequently in the New Testament of spiritual gifts. The main places that these are discussed are 1 Corinthians 12, Romans 12, Ephesians 4, and 1 Peter 4. I get the title of this blog largely from Romans 12:4-8 which says: 4 "For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, 5 so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another. 6 Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, let us p...

I attended the Passion conference with some friends in Atlanta Jan. 1-4. If you have not heard of the Passion conference, you can check out their website here:  http://www.268generation.com/2.0/splash1c.htm I got sick on the fourth and have not been able to write anything on the conference until now. My mind is still a little fuzzy but I would like to attempt to share my thoughts on the conference as best I can. The Music As many of you know, I am not a huge fan of most Christian music that is being put out today. This is largely due to the shallowness of the lyrics at best and the unbiblical views of God and Jesus and man at worst. There also seems to be a real emotionalism and even romanticism that pervades the Christian music of young people today, and it has begun to infiltrate the church on Sunday mornings. Having said that, many of the songs at Passion I had never heard of before. Apparently Passion's music is pretty well known worldwide, but not to me. I can at least...

It seems to me that many in the world of Christian fantasy are writing and reading books that aren’t actually Christian. I know that may seem like an outrageous claim, but it seems to be true. I’ll labor to make my case. First, we must determine what makes Christianity different from all other religions and all other worldviews and forms of thought on life. After we have determined what makes Christianity unique, what the basis of our faith is that separates it from all other faiths, then we must simply center the message of our writing on this. Sadly, I think many in Christendom, including pastors and theologians, have forgotten our foundation. We have forgotten the message of the cross. In other words, we have forgotten the true gospel. Given that the Church so often fails to even preach the gospel correctly in church to the congregation and share the gospel rightly to the lost and dying world, is it any wonder that the gospel has been lost in our writing as well? I think our l...

NOTE: I have left out a very important passage that favors my position. In Matthew 13:53-58 we read that Jesus refuses to do "many mighty works" in his own country, his own land, Nazareth. Why? Verse 58 tells us why, "Now He did not do many mighty works there because of their unbelief." Another example of Jesus refusing to heal and minister to those who were in need because of their unbelief and because Jesus was sent by God to only minister to the lost sheep in the house of Israel, the elect. From Scripture, it is clear that we are commanded to serve the poor. Undoubtedly, one thing that the church does a lot of is “mercy ministry” type work. Yet I have concerns about the intentions and purposes of many in the church who are so passionate and doing so much when it comes to ministering to the poor. I think Scripture is clear that first priority goes to the Christian that is in need, not the unbeliever. Much emphasis is placed on feeding the poor, serving the poor,...

I have heard some who do not trust in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior from sin say that God dishonored His Son Jesus Christ by sending Him to live and die on the cross for sinners, bearing the penalty of sin of God's people in His own body on the cross. Some, I believe atheists Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens, go so far as to say that what God did is equivalent to 'cosmic child abuse." Their argument is that God punished Jesus with sin that He did not commit, and God made Jesus do this, therefore, God is a terrible, abusive, evil parent. I want to briefly give Christians ammo to counter and disprove such an idiotic argument. Firstly, Jesus WANTED to do the will of His Father. In other words, God's plan to offer up Jesus as the sin bearer and substitute for His people is something that Jesus wanted to do. Nor did Jesus have to be talked into coming down to live and die for the salvation of sinners. There was no disagreement in the Godhead. Jesus, of His own f...

As Calvinism (also known as reformed theology and/or the doctrines of grace) continues to make headway into the Church again, some may wonder why this "new" teaching is becoming so popular. The truth is, it isn't new, it's old. It is the faith of the Puritans, it is in step with the theology of Martin Luther who came before Calvin, it is the faith and theology of Charles Spurgeon, of the leaders of the first great awakening such as Jonathan Edwards and George Whitefield, and the writer of the hymn Amazing Grace, John Newton, was likewise a Calvinist. So, why have so many godly men who have lead the great revivals of the past been proponents of Calvinism? Why did Charles Spurgeon even say that "Calvinism is simply a nickname for historical Christianity?" The truth is, I would argue, because these men all saw the truth of Calvinism as revealed in the Bible, and it is the realization of the truths of Calvinism that set their hearts ablaze to live as they were c...