why i attend highland park methodist

Rev. Mark Craig is pretty much the best I've ever seen.  I always tell people that you don't even have to be a Christian to get something out of his sermons.  It's really just like going to a good motivational speech, and going every Sunday gives me some routine in my life, which is good considering I have no structure otherwise. At the bottom is a link to a video of a sermon he gave last Sunday, called "Why I'm a Methodist."  I will personally pay ANYONE $100 if they do not enjoy this, and this includes all non-Christians, non-Methodists, whatever.  His message is that it doesn't matter if you're a Methodist, Buddhist, Muslim, non-denominational, or not even religious.  Pretend I'm asking you to watch a video of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., because it's that good, that relevant, and that universal.

If you use a Mac, click here.

If you use Windows, click here; on the page that pops up there will three drop down menus.  On the first, select "Sanctuary Video."  On the second, select "Why I'm a Methodist."  On the third, select "Windows Media Version."  Then click "Go."

Comments

[Denver Nicks]

I'm reading a book called The End of Faith right now. The opening chapter is primarily a scathing criticism on religious moderation - sort of threw me off initially, since "moderation" generally describes the "religious tradition" in which I was raised.

Essentially, he argues that moderation has zero logic to it. At least, he says, the fundamentalists devote themselves to an ancient text and, superficially at least, don't just pick the convenient parts to believe. Moderation, dude argues, is just an attempt by people to rationalize irrational faith with a modern world that increasingly has less "tolerance" for fundamentalist beliefs (in the sense that science etc. have advanced a great deal and it is just absurd to believe things like god made the sun stand still [which is always does anyway] or the earth and all animals on it was created a couple thousand after Sumerians started brewing beer). There no basis whatsoever for moderation, he says, so we should stop being tolerant of faith-based religion altogether. Interesting argument.

You might find it interesting to go pick it up at the bookstore and just read the first chapter in the coffee shop there. Certainly thought provoking. Full response to book forthcoming on The Blog once I finish the book (in like, two years).