Pastor Erik's Sometimes Dangerous Blog
Erik DiVietro
Teaching Pastor,
Bedford Road Baptist Church, 2004
Master of Divinity,
Liberty University, 2016
PhD in Bible Exposition,
Liberty University, 2022
Oddball Contrarian,
Since Birth (according to his parents)
Who decides what cool is? I have a theory that the reason our culture is so obsessed with coolness is that we are obsessed with youth. We no longer reverence maturity and complexity. There was a time when we viewed age and maturity as virtues. Today, I see pastors who are in their fifties trying
Cool exists on a sliding scale. The term sliding scale comes from economics. In some situations, a wage or fee structure is based on another factor – such as the cost-of-living index. The scale does not necessarily slide in proportion, but it moves with the predetermined factor. When it comes to cool, the adjusting factor
The quest for cool is an endless one. Personally, I think coolness is defined by factors that have no bearing on effectiveness or reality. Consider for a moment how we now listen to television, film and music celebrities on matter to which they have no right to speak. Just because someone is a popular person,
I am in the middle of reading Hipster Christianity by Brett McCracken. He spends a lot of time talking about the definitions on terms like “cool”. I have discovered through reading the book that I will never be hip or cool. There was definitely a time in my life when I aspired to coolness. I
The Latin we get religion from is religare, which literally means “repeated binding”. A religion is something a community of people do together, repeatedly. It is a covenant that is renewed, generation to generation. We tend to think of religion as a set of practices or beliefs. This perception is so ingrained in our thinking,
I am currently reading Abdullah Yusuf Ali’s 1935 English translation of the Qur’an which is considered the “Authorized” English translation. To the Muslim, any translation of the Qur’an falls short because Muslims believe that the Qur’an is inspired only in Arabic. Any translation is a poor reflection of it, but since I cannot read Arabic,
Last week, I had an interview with Tom Breen of the Associate Press last week. A quote from the interview appeared in anarticle that got picked up by The Chicago Tribune. He called me primarily because of the way I responded to Rob Bell’s book Love Wins. In a couple of subsequent articles, I discussed
Heaven.
That place where you go when you die. First, you stroll through the pearly gates and meet St. Peter, then you get a crown and a mansion and can eat all you want. There’s a temple and lots of holy people around, angels singing from the clouds. You get a harp. It’s great.
Of course, that image is entirely wrong. Oh, some of it is in the Scriptures, but the way we perceive it and the way it will truly be are two different things.
Recently, the media has become enamored with the works of a scholar from the University of Exeter – Francesca Stavrakopoulou. Dr. Stavrapopoulou has been making the rounds, revealing the “new information” that the ancient Israelites were not monotheistic and that Yahweh had a wife. Every news outlet that has reported on this has made all
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5CKiWMynhQM] [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ssj49PIeJYE] Yesterday, I posted an entry about Rob Bell and his latest book, Love Wins. in it, I noted that I think Rob’s theology is a bit loopy and that his definition of hell is different from my own. Today, I want to take my thoughts a bit further and point out where Rob
