kent lee's blog & ramble

I recently read Why Churches Die by Mac Brunson & Ergun Caner. It’s a very easy to read book for the layperson – in fact, I read it thru in one day. The authors are pastors and write from their own experience about types of problems in the spiritual and social dynamics that kill or hinder churches spiritually. Each chapter presents a common problem with real life examples, and then attempt to connect it to a biblical example. Sometimes the discussions of biblical examples could be more succinct and to the point, and at times, they are forced, e.g., the example of Demas deserting the apostle Paul – forced, since very little is known about Demas, so applying it to specific church problems is forced. Otherwise, they do a good job descriptively of pointing out some common problems, and that’s the strength of the book. Some of the common problems described include legalism, bitterness and unforgiveness, the spiritually dry and coasting syndrome, spiritual atrophy, gossiping, spiri...

Green eggs and ham, as a recolorized staple breakfast food, captures the reader's attention by turning this diurnal sustenance into an unexpected and apparently unappetizing foodstuff. It thus symbolizes the existential angst of modern life, wherein we are unfulfilled by modern life, and are repelled by something that might impart nourishment. The "protagonist" to be convinced of its desirability remains anonymous, while the other actor refers to himself with an emphatic identifier "Sam I am", formed with a pronominal subject and copular verb of existence. This character thus seeks to emphasize his existence and existential wholeness, and even establish a sense of self-existence, with an apparent Old Testament allusion to Elohim speaking to Moses as the "I Am". This emphatic personal identifier thus introduces a prominent theme of religious existentialism to the narrative, probably more in line with original Kierkegaardian religious existentialism, rat...