Blog Archives
Our Top 11 Most Discussed Posts of 2011
We had a lot of interesting discussions over at Not For Itching Ears in 2011. We have listed our Top 11 most discussed posts below. They cover a wide range of topics from the Seeker-Sensitive Church movement, Calvinism, Solo-Scriptura, Worship, The Best Salsa Recipe in the Blogosphere, American Idolatry and more. It’s never too late to join the discussion. Jump into any you may have missed. Happy New Year Everyone. Thank you to all who follow us! Read the rest of this entry
The Top Ten Most Read Posts of 2011 from Not For Itching Ears
That’s right, my friends. The following post contains our own version of the Top 10 list: The most read posts from Not For Itching Ears this year. You may be very surprised at the#1 post. It is not only our number one post for the year, it is #1 of ALL TIME. Far surpassing anything else! It is clearly out of character with the rest of the blog and reveals a spicy secret about me… I dare you to try it out. You won’t be disappointed. Read the rest of this entry
Seeing Past the Glitter…Encountering Christ at Christmas
Merry Christmas everyone!
Not being catholic, I seldom read what the Pope has to say. But this year I actually read his Christmas eve sermon. I was touched by his story of the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem. I have posted it here. I hope my protestant friends can read it.
“Today, anyone wishing to enter the Church of Jesus’ Nativity in Bethlehem will find that the doorway five and a half meters high, through which emperors and caliphs used to enter the building, is now largely walled up. Only a low opening of one and a half meters has remained. The intention was probably to Read the rest of this entry
Sunday Morning Funnies: Can You Come up with A Great Caption for This Photo?
I drove by a church in my town today and saw this sign. After rear-ending the guy in front of me, exchanging insurance information, and calling the tow truck, I had time to take the photo. I tried and tried to come up with a caption for this one that was funny. Here are a few examples: “Pastor Steve Boldly Implements His New Church Growth Plan” or “Church Animal Outreach Produces Unwanted Offerings” or “Could This Be the Next Great Awakening?” In the end, I couldn’t come up with anything I liked.
So, we are asking our readers to give it their best shot. Can you come up with a good caption/title for this photo? Submit your best idea in the comment section below.
Worship: Is it a Life Well-Lived or a Chorus Well-Sung?
We love to discuss those things we are passionate about, don’t we? Be it our favorite football team (THE Washington Redskins), politics, sports, movies, cultural issues. Heck we even argue about beer! Remember the Miller Lite commercials? For years, Miller Lite drinkers, including the likes of Rodney Dangerfield and John Madden, bickered back and forth on our TV sets. The argument? What made Miller Lite such a great beer. Some said the drink tasted great. Others said it was less filling. Though they were very entertaining commercials, it makes one wonder: Don’t we have anything better to discuss than beer?
Of course we do! Over here at Not For Itching Ears, we’ve been spending a lot of time talking about a topic that is higher up the food chain: Worshipping God. If you read these posts (millions of people do each hour) Read the rest of this entry
Forget About Singing, God Wants Us to Worship Him HIS way
What is worship and how do we as christians go about doing it? Is it the 30-45 minutes we spend singing at church with others each week? Is it the 20-35 minutes we spend listening to a sermon at that same gathering? Is it the money we contribute to our congregations to keep the doors open? Is worship the time we give to volunteer in the parking ministry or Children’s church?
Let me state as clearly as I can, so that there is no misunderstanding: I think that all the things I just mentioned can unequivocally be considered acts by which people worship God. I just don’t think that doing them necessarily equals worship. I am not advocating that we stop singing, even though the title of this post might lead to that conclusion.
My friends, I have been giving this a lot of thought lately. In part, because I have become so disillusioned with the contemporary church model that claims to be all about worship. I’ve been to 30+ different congregations, all focused on “worship”. It seems that all we are doing is singing songs and calling that worship. Worship appears to have become an event that we grade or a product we consume. Does anyone else find that troubling?
People are always defining worship. Most start off their definition with Read the rest of this entry
Sometimes, You Just Need to add Ice and All Your Problems Vanish!
A friend of mine posted this photo of his dog on facebook, and I immediately connected with it! As it keeps getting hotter and hotter, this old boy seems to have the right answer! Look closely, I think he is sleeping!
I haven’t had time to write lately as I have been moving my family across the country! It is a lot of work, and it is quite time consuming. I should be back wrinting in August.
Jim’s Twice Baked Potatoes Recipe in Honor of Mother’s Day
I was never able to make this delicious recipe for my own mother. But I have made it for the mother of my children many times. She, and everyone else who has ever tried them, absolutely loves them. She pleaded with me to make them this weekend. So I am.
In honor of Mothers Day, I am sharing this secret, highly sought after recipe with my readers. These twice baked potatoes are EASY to make and you can alter the recipe in many ways. It is almost impossible to mess these up. They are a perfect addition to any meal. Enjoy. Let me know how they turn out!
Santiago The Gringo’s Famous Twice Baked Potatoes Recipe
Is Worship Music a Gift or Has it Become our God?
Has the Sunday morning “Worship time” become our God? Bob Kauflin recently discussed this topic on his blog called Worship Matters. It resonated with me and I thought those who read this blog would benefit from Bob’s observations. So…… I have included them here! Be challenged!
“Music is a very good gift. The 13,000 songs on my iTunes are testimony to that. My eyes have often welled up in tears as I’ve been affected by a lyric, a chord progression, or a musical texture. I’ve thanked God for the gift of music more times than I can remember.
Whenever I think about my love for music, I’m reminded of what Martin Luther said in a Foreword to a 1538 collection of chorale motets:
“I, Doctor Martin Luther, wish all lovers of the unshackled art of music grace and peace from God the Father and from our Lord Jesus Christ! I truly desire that all Christians would love and regard as worthy the lovely gift of music, which is a precious, worthy, and costly treasure given to mankind by God… A person who gives this some thought and yet does not regard music as a marvelous creation of God, must be a clodhopper indeed and does not deserve to be called a human being; he should be permitted to hear nothing but the braying of asses and the grunting of hogs.”
While we may not want to emulate Luther’s attitude, most of us will readily agree that music is a gift from God… Read the rest of this entry
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