Enter the Motorola Droid. It is the latest attempt by an Apple competitor to knock the iPhone off its pedestal. It has a lot of similar features as the iPhone including an intuitive touch screen, multiple media capabilities, and a growing list of apps. Two features found in the Droid that are missing in the iPhone are a slide out QWERTY keyboard (a feature I find much nicer than the virtual keyboard) and a free GPS navigation service. The Droid runs on the Google Android 2.0 OS which means it smoothly connects to all of the Google tools. However, the GPS service is the deal maker. The Droid not only connects to Google Maps but also takes the maps function to another level by giving you street by street audio directions as you are driving. And…the navigation service is free.

So here’s the question of the week…

Is the Motorola Droid truly an iPhone killer (or at least a competitor)?

And…the Droid is releasing on the Verizon network which could make things even more interesting. Since my employer just hooked us up with a Blackberry Tour, I probably won’t be getting a Droid anytime soon. But if I were getting a phone in the near future on the Verizon network, this would be the phone.

So this leads us to a question of pastoral importance:

Is seminary necessary to become a pastor?

And for further thought…

Which is a better option: seminary or church internship?

Should we have a genre called Christian music? Why or why not?

I have a lot of things that I want to say about this but I will leave that for the comments and maybe some further posts.

So there you have it. Greg has posed the question. What do you think? It is an extremely relevant question for our time. Many of us have been members of churches that have argued and even divided over the style of music being played during Sunday morning services. Is musical style that important?

I think that millennial views need not be among those doctrines that divide us. . . . I am suggesting that what you believe about the millennium—how you interpret these thousand years—is not something that it is necessary for us to agree upon in order to have a congregation together. The Lord Jesus Christ prayed in John 17:21 that we Christians might be one. Of course all true Christians are one in that we have his Spirit, we share his Spirit, we desire to live out that unity. But that unity is supposed to be evident as a testimony to the world around us. Therefore, I conclude that we should end our cooperations together with other Christians (whether near-ly in a congregation, or more at length in working together in missions and church planting and evangelism and building up the ministry) only with the greatest of care, lest we rend the body of Christ for whose unity he’s prayed and given himself. Therefore, I conclude that it is sin to divide the body of Christ—to divide the body that he prayed would be united. Therefore for us to conclude that we must agree upon a certain view of alcohol, or a certain view of schooling, or a certain view of meat sacrificed to idols, or a certain view of the millennium in order to have fellowship together is, I think, not only unnecessary for the body of Christ, but it is therefore both unwarranted and therefore condemned by scripture. So if you’re a pastor and you’re listening to me, you understand me correctly if you think I’m saying you are in sin if you lead your congregation to have a statement of faith that requires a particular millennial view. I do not understand why that has to be a matter of uniformity in order to have Christian unity in a local congregation.

So let’s get right to the point. Do you agree with Dever? Is it a sin to break church unity over the issue of the millennium?

(HT: Justin Taylor)

The U.S. military Central Command has established a rule called General Order Number One that forbids active-duty troops from “trying to convert people to any religion.” In spite of this rule, the military has encountered a growing “problem” among their chaplains. Some Christian chaplains have continued to be involved in evangelization through Bible initiatives. “The effort is an example of what critics call a growing culture of militarized Christianity in the armed forces.”

It should come to no one’s surprise that Christian ministers serving as chaplains would seek to share the truth of the gospel in the hopes that many would believe and be saved. If the gospel is true and Jesus is the Savior of humanity, doesn’t it make logical sense that people convinced by such things would naturally want to share this news? The impact and influence of the gospel in such desperate situations such as war and conflict should not be underestimated. What hope can a soldier, caught in the line of fire, have unless he believes in Jesus as deliverer from pain, suffering, conflict, and death?

On the flip side, some people would say that the mixing of religion and government via the military can be a dangerous thing. I see the implications of an amicable union to be detrimental to the church more than the government. State sponsored Christianity does not have a good track record. However, Kathryn Joyce also points to the negative aspects of Christian influence on public policy and military actions. The melding of both worlds raises the potential for holy war in the name of God’s will.

That leads me to my question for the week: How should Christian faith and secular government interact with one another? What type of relationship should they have?

Is Roger Federer the greatest men’s tennis player of all time?

I agree with Sampras that it is impossible to compare eras or account for all of the circumstances during a player’s career. That said, Sampras did endorse Federer as the greatest ever. Quite a compliment coming from the man who sits atop the major titles list with Federer. I’m not sure that we’ve ever seen a men’s player dominate over a five year period like Federer has. Laver was a master in his own right. Bjorg was a beast in the short time he played. Connors still holds the record for most tour wins (almost double Federer’s total). But if history judges greatness by major titles, Federer will take the cake when it is all said and done. I’m not quite sure that we’ve seen an all-around game like Federer’s before. He can do it all and do it extremely well. I would have liked to see him and Sampras (in his prime) battle it out. I think Sampras has the type of game that could give Roger fits. In fact, Roger has never really faced a great serve and volley player like Sampras before. Sampras seemed to be the last of the old guard (though I think many players on the tour would greatly benefit from a serve and volley aspect to their game).

So…I say Federer is the best ever based on what we can judge. However, I think Sampras would have been more than formidable. Who knows…we may be having this discussion about Nadal in 5 years.

Does a person have to be baptized to be saved?

It is an important question relating to the Great Commission and how we go about making disciples. So…fire away.

It has been debated as to whether or not Paul is speaking about a regenerate (saved) or unregenerate (unsaved) individual. Paul seems to refer to his own life since he uses the first person so often (though someone might make the argument that it is a hypothetical example being used to express a concrete truth). But let us assume that Paul is speaking of himself. Is he referring to pre-conversion or post-conversion Paul? Better yet…here’s our question for the week.

In Romans 7:14-8:4, Paul speaks of the conflict between the old and new nature. Is Paul referring to a person prior to conversion (from the perspective of the gospel), a person transitioning toward faith in Christ, or a person who is already a believer?

I was surprised that the Boston Celtics didn’t make it on the list. I mean 8 straight NBA championships is some feat. What do you think?

Who deserves the title of greatest three-peat in sports?

It’s a toss up for me. The Bulls three-peating twice in an increasingly bigger and more athletic NBA is extremely difficult. But who can deny Lance the title when he fought off cancer and then came back to dominate the sport of cycling. The jury is still out.