Root causes of legalism

Posted on July 13, 2015 Written by Mark McIntyre 5 Comments

The result of legalism is that those who are in the system cannot become what God intends them to be. Rather than a deepening understanding of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, legalists are satisfied with rule keeping.

Does the church bring freedom or coercion?

Posted on February 27, 2013 Written by Mark McIntyre Leave a Comment

The church is sometimes charged with using coercion to bring people into conformity with the Bible. Is this true? How should we respond?

Confessions of a functional atheist

One of the accusations against Christians is that we have a psychological need to believe a fantasy. In other words we make up a belief in God to provide comfort against the unknown. Our belief in God is like whistling as we pass through the graveyard. It doesn’t provide any real benefit but it makes us feel better. Is this true? How should we respond?

Conformity versus unity in the church

I have observed that in some cases when a pastor or church leader speaks about unity that what they mean is conformity. There is a big difference. Unity is motivated from the inside out, conformity is enforced from the outside.

The enemy’s best tool

Church leaders have the opportunity to deprive our great enemy of his best and most effective tool. What is that tool? It is us when we are concerned about our own glory and reputation than we are of God’s glory and reputation.

We’ve been hacked

If you tried to access Attempts at Honesty over the last few days and all you got was a blank window in your browser, it was due to this blog having been hacked.

On dealing with the hurt caused by churches

In short, the problem with the church stares back at me in the mirror every morning. I am the problem with the church.

On the peaceful transfer of power

Presidential inaugurations have historically been peaceful transitions of power where the office transcends party politics and is honored by citizens regardless of their party affiliation. But yesterday there were violent protests against our newly minted president.