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The Case for Christian Heavy Metal Music

Do a quick search for “Christian heavy metal music” and you will find plenty of people who oppose the genre, including this guy who doesn’t seem to listen to anyone who replies to his post.

What are the main reasons people oppose heavy Christian music? They bring up the origin of heavy metal being rooted in Satanism, which isn’t really the case.

Sure, many of the early metal bands like Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin were out for a shock effect. They liked the idea of scaring people, but a lot of that came from the massive amount of judgement they got from the masses (mostly Christians) in the first place, because they were different and their music was different.

That’s largely the same today. Dress in all black for a few weeks and see how many people react. It’s obvious that you’re depressed and flirting with Satanism if you dress in all black. There’s not a chance that you simply like the color scheme, right? That’s what many believe.

As Christians, we’re often too quick to find fault in things that can be a pathway to Jesus for many.

You Can’t Hate Tattoos and Eat Medium-Rare Steaks

There are 613 laws in the Old Testament.

As Christians, we don’t follow most of them, other than the ones that are truly sin, today.

There are many ceremonial laws, and laws that blatantly applied to the Jews in the Old testament, but make no sense for us to follow today.

But let’s talk about tattoos.

The Complete Guide to Biblical Fasting: Empower Your Spirit and Grow in Christ

We talk about prayer way more than we talk about fasting, yet fasting is mentioned along side prayer so often. It’s easy to read the prayer part, since praying (or at least the idea of praying) is easy.

When we’re going through a hard time, we know we need to pray. Our friends tell us to pray, and that they’re praying for us, but again… what about fasting? I know it’s not my first thought.

Fasting is an unmatched tool in the results it can bring, but it’s so often forgotten. And I don’t think it’s because everyone is fasting and keeping it to themselves. Sure, we’re supposed to fast in secret (Matthew 6:16-18), but more often that not, we’re not fasting at all.

It’s really easy to forget about something that we rarely talk about in church, and are supposed to do in secret.

Now that I have your attention, and you feel like you should be fasting more (I know I do), let’s get practical.

Christian Minimalism

Minimalism is the new trend.

In a world where owning more seems to be the goal, people are fighting back, and that’s good.

Materialism doesn’t bring the happiness people think it brings.

So, is minimalism the right path? What does minimalism mean for Christians? Let’s talk…

How to Start a Group Bible Study or Small Group

Starting a group Bible study is easy, but if you’ve ever tried to do it, you probably figured out that it doesn’t just happen.

There’s work involved, but it’s more planning than anything.

I’ll walk you through the entire process and included everything I’ve learned over the years, along with plenty of resources to help you out, like always.

Here’s the first step…

Why a Journaling Habit is Important for Christians (And How to Start One)

“I don’t want to live in a hand-me-down world of others’ experiences. I want to write about me, my discoveries, my fears, my feelings, about me.” – Helen Keller

The journal. It’s a commonality among the people we read about in history books.

That’s probably why so many people write about it, and about the importance of it.

“Keep a notebook. Travel with it, eat with it, sleep with it. Slap into it every stray thought that flutters up into your brain. Cheap paper is less perishable than gray matter. And lead pencil markings endure longer than memory.” – Jack London

Think about it. The Bible is here today, because people wrote. I doubt they blogged about their life (I hear computers were much slower 2000+ years ago), but they definitely transcribed it somehow.

Just read through the Bible. If I had a shekel for every time the Lord told someone to “write it down”, I would be able to buy a lot of sheep and oxen. And I would journal about it.

Journaling has a history that’s likely longer than known human history.

So let’s talk about what journaling can do for you, and what you can do by journaling. Then I’ll give you all the tools you need to create a new journaling habit or to refresh your current one.