David TateComment

The Church Camp Effect

David TateComment
The Church Camp Effect

Why is it that our churches' pews are filled, yet for some reason the world is becoming a darker and darker place?

What is it about the pastor's message that is failing to truly reach those amongst his congregation? Despite our love and passion for Christ, why is it that our lives don't seem to experience any true transformation?

I'm trying something a little bit different with this post. Every now and then, I'm going to start making videos in which I address issues that have been on my mind rather than just typing it all out, so here's my first attempt at that, addressing the questions posed above. Hope you enjoy!

Why is it that our church's pews are filled, yet for some reason the world is becoming a darker and darker place? What is it about the pastor's message that is failing to truly reach those amongst his congregation? Despite our love and passion for Christ, why is it that our lives don't seem to experience any true transformation?

To Infinity and BeyondDavid Tategospel, upside down, bible study, i surrender all, jesus, christianityComment

Our Topsy-Turvy Gospel

Just last night, I read the introduction to John Bevere’s Good or God?, a book that tackles the subject of how “good without God isn’t enough” – in other words, how doing good things does not necessarily mean that you are aligned with God’s will. I’ve been wanting to read this book for quite some time, but only recently did I find myself with the spare time to actually sit down and start reading.

However, as is the case with most books (and all other sources of entertainment, for that matter), I felt the need to go online and start reading reviews of the product prior to beginning it myself – I do this not so much to see whether or not I will enjoy it, but more so to see how well it holds up doctrinally and whether or not it is written to a standard that leaves people actually enveloped in what is being said, rather than bored to death due to lackluster insights and overall lack of passion by the creator of the piece. Good or God? received amazing reviews (4.52/5 stars on Goodreads), but there was a something I noticed: of the two “bad” reviews the book received, they both seem to address a particular touch subject…

To Infinity and BeyondDavid Tategospel, upside down, bible study, i surrender all, jesus, christianityComment
Our Topsy-Turvy Gospel
In This WorldDavid Tatevegas shooting, bible, tragedy, massacre, vegas, las vegas, grief, counseling, cope, bible study, jesusComment

Vegas

59 dead. Over 500 injured. The deadliest mass shooting in modern US history.

This is the news that we all woke up to on Monday morning as a result of the tragic events that took place in Las Vegas on Sunday night. A 64-year old man made his way up to the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay hotel and sent a hailstorm raining down on innocent concert-goers for Lord knows what reason, and now we wake up and fall to our knees as we ask God a short but extremely important question: “Why?”

What does this mean for all of us? What does it mean for Christians as people begin to accuse our God of malevolence or claim that this incomprehensible evil is proof of His inexistence? How are we supposed to live faithfully in a world where evil runs rampant and we are striving to live like Noah in a world that’s unaware of the Flood that’s coming? How do we respond to this pain, this suffering, this tragedy? What cold we possibly do to cope with the outbreaks of hatred and violence in the world that surrounds us?

In This WorldDavid Tatevegas shooting, bible, tragedy, massacre, vegas, las vegas, grief, counseling, cope, bible study, jesusComment
Vegas
In This WorldDavid Tatepassages israel, texas a&m, passages, israel, aggies, u of h, passages 2018, texas techComment

1 Passageonians

From David, a follower of the Way and a disciple of the one true King,

To those brothers and sisters in Christ for whom, by the grace of God, I was permitted to shepherd during our time in the Holy Land:

Grace, peace, and understanding unto you from God our Father, Christ His Son, and the Spirit that grants discernment, alive in us right here and right now.

I want to begin by first thanking the Lord for my every moment shared with you, from the first encounters as strangers to the reluctant farewells by which we departed only a short time later. It is by His grace alone that we were brought together, and if I have come to know the character of the Lord at all, it would be left understood that He is not one who wastes any of the time He has allotted. For this reason, I believe that our short time together was a period instituted by God, and through that time I hope we found ourselves capable of bringing Him glory upon glory, living from faith to faith, from hope to hope, from joy to joy. Yes, He gave us this time that our spirits might be enriched and uplifted and our faiths strengthened all the more, but even more so, He gave us this time that we might return the glory back unto Him who provided us with our every breath. To Him be the praise for granting us such an opportunity, and even if such an opportunity had been lost, let us praise Him still more!

In This WorldDavid Tatepassages israel, texas a&m, passages, israel, aggies, u of h, passages 2018, texas techComment
1 Passageonians
To Infinity and Beyond, In This WorldDavid Tategender roles, christianity, bible study, imago dei, masculine god, christ, bible, man and woman, complimentarianismComment

Resurrecting God the Father

It is essential to my argument that I begin today’s writing with a disclaimer:

** Before even beginning to address specific gender roles as they are outlined in the Bible – especially as it pertains to why God is consistently, throughout the biblical narrative, referred to with male pronouns – we must establish that we are discussing things from a strictly Christian perspective. It is easy to object to the biblical ideas of masculinity and femininity when considering the sinfulness of man and the oppression that submission might so easily espouse within power-hungry and demeaning individuals, but we must accept, going into the argument, that we are speaking from the ideal as established by God in His creation of man. In this, we must discuss matters such as submission, sacrifice, headship, and leadership not according to the negative connotations established by a prideful and lustful society, but rather according to the biblical standard to which we all must strive. When you give a man a gun, he may use it to either protect or to slay – we may guide him towards the former, but the option by which he uses it is up to him. All rules and roles in any governance or society stand the possibility of being abused; the Bible seeks to establish gender roles in a manner that is holy and set apart, glorifying to God for the betterment of mankind. A rational and concise conversation regarding such matters is impossible if we do not first establish a stable worldview which we can then extrapolate. Thus, for the purposes of this article, it is my request that we set aside secular ideologies and rather read the “He” of God the Father according to the Biblical context, that we might better understand Christian ideals and even more greatly come to grasp the beauty of God’s love towards us. **

I will begin my argument by stating this: God is spirit. Of course, He stepped into the flesh via the person of Jesus Christ and thus lived on the earth for approximately thirty-three and a half years as a Middle Eastern man, but from eternity past to eternity future God is, according to His divine nature, spirit. Thus, He is neither male nor female; however, the way in which God manifests Himself is masculine in nature, in that he designed man as an image meant to reflect Him. Therefore my thesis is that our use of the pronouns “He,” “Him,” “His,” etc. are essential in comprehending our own selves in relationship to God.

To Infinity and Beyond, In This WorldDavid Tategender roles, christianity, bible study, imago dei, masculine god, christ, bible, man and woman, complimentarianismComment
Resurrecting God the Father
David Tate3 Comments

The Modern Jefferson Bible: Christians Embarrassed of Christ

“It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (Heb 10:31).

I spent quite some time thinking about this verse earlier this morning, and I figured I would share some of my thoughts.

Over the last few years, months, and especially weeks, I have become increasingly concerned that it is our forgetting the truth of this statement—that it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God—that lies at the underbelly of many of the modern church’s greatest issues. The God we preach from our pulpits is—how can I put it—too soft. We speak only of grace and nothing of judgment, only of love and never of wrath, and even when we do mention these other things, we get through them as quickly as possible to try to get back to the more lighthearted and uplifting stuff.

Why is this a problem? I think there are many reasons, but first and foremost, it is that in doing this, we are failing to see that God’s graciousness is actually magnified by the severity of the judgment we deserve, and His love is seen most clearly when we firmly grasp how deserve we are of His wrath. Whenever we neglect spending time meditating on God’s judgment and wrath, we actually understand God’s grace and His love even less. By neglecting, overlooking, or speeding through any aspect of who God is, we necessarily bring upon ourselves a limited understanding of God as a whole.

Perhaps democracy has caused us to lose our understanding of kingship and submission. Perhaps we have spoken to often of God as our ‘buddy’ and our ‘pal’ and have lost reverence for Him entirely. I can’t claim to know the source of this neglect, but in truth, I think it all boils down to one heartbreaking conclusion: I think we’ve become embarrassed of God.

David Tate3 Comments
The Modern Jefferson Bible: Christians Embarrassed of Christ