Dangerous Faith in Santa Muerte
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RealityBites blog
From Maradona to Jesus
Is Maradona the best footballer of all time?
Worldwide there are 200,000 worshippers of Diego who attend the church of Maradona. The faithful follow their own 'bespoke' ten commandments which urge them to 'love football above everything' and 'name your first son Diego'.
The Church of Maradona insists that you get baptised by slapping a football!
There are three ways of looking at this odd story.
Materialists will dub this 'mere superstition'.
Relativists will nod approvingly: whatever works for you.
Ben Jones is a technical genius!
It was so uplifting working with Ben Jones this morning at Leeds City College. Ben is a wonderfully imaginative youth worker and I do commend his organisation Missional Generation to you.
The VirtualReality experience was a powerful and breathtaking journey through five very different planets and you felt like a seasoned astronaut gazing at the nooks and crannies of the universe in a comfortable and reliable rocket. The students loved it!
Talking to an atheist about Eric Harris
Talking to aggressive atheists can be enjoyable and fulfilling if you have an intelligent and creative spiel.
I was talking to an atheist builder who had a pop at me for being a Christian. He declared boldly: "I'm on the side of science and not religion."
I was straight in there. "Does that mean you agree with Eric Harris then?
The builder was puzzled and asked me: "Who is Eric Harris?"
I smiled inwardly and launched into my bespoke evangelism patter.
RealityBites in Crete
Just came back from a great holiday in Crete with Anne. Truth be told, Crete has a lot more sunshine than Leeds and Zeus, the Greek god, was supposedly born on that fair isle! We didn't bump into the husband of Hera or any other Greek deity but we did have a remarkable encounter with a witty and outgoing plasterer, Ron and his delightful wife, Sally. (These names are not the real names.)
Jehoshaphat, Jihadists and Evil
Last night I delivered my presentation on Mafia and the Problem of Evil to about thirty members of the evening fellowship at St Peter's in Harrogate.
At TFN we are committed to giving Christians an opportunity to think through challenging and difficult topics. Almost every day we hear about atrocities perpetrated by IS jihadists etc. How do we make sense of these terrifying stories? In my presentation I try to help sixth formers (RB in schools) to understand five ways of looking at evil and atrocity.
1) Evil is caused by bad karma (Hinduism)
The gospel, the fakir and the bed of nails
An Indian fakir had been living on a bed of spikes for 18 months. Why was he doing this?
The desperate man said this: "I worship God in this way but I confess that the pricks of these spikes are not so bad as the pain I get from my sins and evil desires. My object is to crush the desires of self that I may gain salvation."
There are four ways of looking at this self-torturing fakir.
Some say: "Get off the bed of spikes and lie down on this Bonaparte French bed worth £2,700."
How Evangelism can be Fun
Very encouraged that my article 'How Evangelism can be Fun' is featured on the front of the Baptist Times. To date 15 people have made comments about my article.
So delighted that an old friend, Jeffrey Dudiak, Professor of Philosophy, The King’s University, Edmonton, Canada wrote this:
Teenagers are intrigued by Mafiosi and the gospel!
Thanks to everyone who prayed for me yesterday. I really need this prayer support. RB is a ministry that is committed to reaching out to British teenagers and during this conference there was some serious bespoke evangelism going on. Please look at previous postings if you don't understand this way of talking about mission.
Bespoke Evangelism and Fish and Chips
Bespoke evangelism begins with everyday conversation. This might involve chatting about vegetarian cooking, fish and chips, the royal family, detective dramas, sport, social events, photography, poetry, travel in exotic locations, gangster films and Hollywood stars. We find out what people naturally enjoy talking about and then we build bridges into this enjoyable chat zone. We seamlessly connect Christian faith to garlic, diamond rings, the royal family and fish and chips. It's relevant, imaginative and fun!