For anyone who knows me, you will probably not be surprised at the results of this quiz.

You scored as Reformed Evangelical, You are a Reformed Evangelical. You take the Bible very seriously because it is God’s Word. You most likely hold to TULIP and are sceptical about the possibilities of universal atonement or resistible grace. The most important thing the Church can do is make sure people hear how they can go to heaven when they die. Reformed Evangelical 93% Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan 68% Emergent/Postmodern 61% Neo orthodox 54% Charismatic/Pentecostal 46% Classical Liberal 43% Roman Catholic 43% Fundamentalist 39% Modern Liberal 36%

There’s a prime piece of real estate for sale. Buy it… IF YOU DARE!

Taken from an article in my Religion Major Alumni newsletter from the University of Florida:

The more we learn about religion the less likely we will be to surrender our voices, through our lack of religious knowledge, to political leaders who frequently understand their actions in a religious context

Though about two-thirds of Americans supports both evolution and creationism in the public schools, how can we know what creationism is all about, or intelligently debate its place in our schools, if less than half of us can identify the book of Genesis?

Biblical references abound in public conversation about stem cell research and gay marriage, so how can we make an informed decision about these hot button issues without knowing something about the Bible?

Can we understand the war in Iraq without knowing something about Islam? Isn’t it clear by now that we need to have some basic understand of the difference between Sunnis and Shiites?

At the local subway down the street from me, I spotted this in the list of cheese options. I mean, who doesn’t want some Paper Jack Cheese?

From outside the worship space, there came a raucous noise. Something was going on out in the lobby area that started turning a few heads in the back of the sanctuary. Soon, a few people could start to get a peek at the disturbance that was taking place. The motley crew started showing their faces as they made their way in. Sara and Samantha staggered in first, both dressed quite scantily clad for the occasion, dressed in their favorite Pretty Woman costumes. Certainly their profession would be quite questionable to those sitting in the pews. Brian followed suit, with a scent from his breath that has become a permanent fixture and a bottle that offers him an escape from his reality. A couple of men, grizzled and olive skinned came in next; their appearance would make most airline passengers have a few extra beads of sweat. In comes another man, dirt covered as if he’d just walked in the church from a week long camping trip. His body odor suggested an even longer period away from common practices of good hygiene. Nothing about him is attractive or exceptionally of note. He might be the loudest of all them, and he throws his arm around Brian and the group of them take an open row of seats and plops themselves right down.

How welcome would this crowd by at most modern churches? How welcome would Christ be at most modern churches? These are all the sorts of people Christ was with. Christ might very well be the last guy mentioned in the group. Its not that mostly white, suburban people don’t need Christ just as much as everyone else, but Christ definitely had a heart of the pariahs and outcasts of society. But why do so little of our churches reflect that?

I have always wanted to perform this social experiment (and maybe I still will). There is a large young adult worship service in the city I live that I think this would be an effective test. I want to either dress up as a homeless individual, smelling of urine, being a bit quirky in behavior and a bit crass. I want to do it so there is a hidden camera somewhere on the costume. I would proceed to videotape peoples responses to my presence at the service, so if the response is overwhelming freight, disgust, or people seem genuinely interested in talking to me. This would be not for my own satisfaction, but to send to the pastor(s) of the service so they may either address the negatives of peoples reaction or applaud the positives.

Do I think there will ever be churches where the rich suburban Atlanta folks can worship with the broken and least of these of the downtown communities? It is unlikely, but what are we doing to even try? How welcome would a homosexual couple be to worship at church? Would they be able to hold hands while still receiving a welcoming smile from people? Does being friendly and inviting condone behaviors? I don’t think so. If the church is a hospital, don’t you think its best to admit the patients than to turn them away? Do we need insurance for healthcare at churches, insurance that manifests itself in clean clothes and a certain polished appearance?