Good reading from the Free Believers Network http://freebelievers.com/rss-blog http://freebelievers.com/article/problems-and-limitations-of-the-traditional-sermon-concept Here\'s an interesting article on the topic of \"sermons.\" Though I may not agree with everything contained in this article, I think there is a lot of great food for thought here. It\'s well worth your time. http://freebelievers.com/article/walking-away-from-church Interesting article from the LA Times about how this generation is walking away from Traditional church. http://freebelievers.com/article/tithing-is-not-a-christian-doctrine The following essay is a summary of my book, Should the Church Teach Tithing? A Theologian’s Conclusions about a Taboo Doctrine. http://freebelievers.com/article/rethinking-the-tithe In modern Christian circles the practice of tithing has, for all intents and purposes, become a litmus test for one's commitment both to God and to the local church. Indeed, for some congregations one is not allowed to "minister" if he or she is not a consistent tither. http://freebelievers.com/article/a-brief-history-of-the-tithe Under the Old Covenant God made with the children of Israel, he commanded various ordinances pertaining to the institution of the temple with its attendant Priests and Levites. http://freebelievers.com/article/the-battle-for-your-mind This is an amazing article I read on brain washing and how the church played a huge role in the starting of it. This is some REALLY interesting food for thought. http://freebelievers.com/article/the-flabby-body-of-christ-why-is-church-so-dull CHURCH IS boring. I don’t ever recall hopping out of bed on Sunday morning jazzed about the sermon, even when the preacher was good. http://freebelievers.com/article/did-the-father-forsake-jesus-on-the-cross-no For many years I taught the seven sayings of the cross and when I came to the words of Jesus, "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?" I used the text as evidence that the Father had turned His back on His own Son when Jesus was on the cross. http://freebelievers.com/article/christ-the-center It was a few years ago that I first began realizing that American Christianity does a fine job of polishing its rhetoric to reflect a Christ-centered creed, but its practices are far from resembling Jesus of Nazareth in the Gospels. http://freebelievers.com/article/the-new-law-written-on-our-hearts I will put my law within them, and I will write it upon their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each man teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the LORD; for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more. Jeremiah 31:33b-34