Red Hot Read

Posted By Denise Miller Holmes on November 4, 2011

Savvy Article #1107

Many people don’t know what worldview is, and the best way to describe it is that worldview is philosophy.

Philosophy is that mental filter you wear to see the world through. We all need to make sense of this world and have a way to tell right from wrong, wise from foolish. So, as human beings, we adopt a worldview.

The Bible offers both salvation and philosophy—God’s philosophy.  God says in the Word that His thinks differently than mankind. Isaiah 55:8,9  ”’For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,’ declares the LORD. ‘For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways And My thoughts than your thoughts.’”

And it is because God’s thoughts are “higher” that we are to have God’s thoughts, not man’s. “See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ.” Colossians 2:8 NASB

There are two main benefits that come from adopting God’s worldview. When Paul wrote in Romans 10:2,  “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect,” he was saying that adopting God’s thinking changes us from the inside out. And that transformation enables us to replicate God’s will on this earth.

And not only does putting on God’s philosophical filter change us, it fights a war against evil and…changes the world.

“For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ,..” 2 Corinthians 10: 3-5 NASB

It is the taking of our thoughts and submitting them to God’s worldview filter that fights evil and causes true change in people. What about you, are you ready to be transformed and change the world?

Here is a great exploration of worldview by the team that brought us The Truth Project.

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Category: Articles
Tags: biblical vs. world view, Denise Miller Holmes, relationship with God, worldview

Posted By Denise Miller Holmes on May 16, 2011

Savvy Article #1106

Shredding another’s heart is how some people feel good about themselves. Unfortunately, I’ve been around too many people who think my heart is perfect fodder to boost their self-esteem.

In My Grief and Betrayal, I told of my one-year recovery from the greatest and most devastating rejection in my adult life. I was finding even fond memories about that person too painful to keep.

Even the authority I had gone to for solace and wisdom disbelieved my story and blamed me. (more…)

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Category: Articles
Tags: Betrayal, emotions, Friends, God's love, Grief, healing, relationship with God, relationships with people

Posted By Denise Miller Holmes on May 10, 2011

Savvy Article #1105

I wrote my opus, Facebook and Intimacy, with a smile on my face and a laugh in my tummy. It was meant to be funny, and I assumed that my little cadre of friends and I would get a hoot out of it and that would be the end. After all, who comes to read my blogs? Pretty much just…one…two…(I could count them on a couple hands and I might throw in a foot.)

So imagine my delight when a name I didn’t recognize appeared in the comments. Yahoo! I might actually be growing this blog, I thought.

The comment was wise. An older woman, it seemed to me. Seasoned. Definitely not a flighty girl. A good follower to have! (more…)

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Category: Articles
Tags: Christian Culture, Denise Miller Holmes, Patsy Clairmont, Red Hot Read, Savvy Article

Posted By Denise Miller Holmes on April 26, 2011

Savvy Article #1104

Here are the last three Pathways from the book Sacred Pathways, by Gary Thomas:

7) Care Giving—Caregivers best worship God by caring for others. Some might call this the gift of helps. A Caregiver feels God’s Presence as he volunteers at a hospital, or counsels, or de-weeds an invalid’s yard.

My observation is that not every Caregiver gives care in the same way. For instance, with my Masters in Counseling, I delight in listening to others’ emotions. However, ask me to clean and I’m OUTA HERE. My husband, on the other hand, is often outside helping our neighbors cut down trees, paint, whatever is needed. (more…)

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Category: Articles
Tags: Caregiver, Contemplative, Denise Miller Holmes, Enuthusiast, Gary Thomas, Red Hot Read, relationship with God, Sacred Pathways, savvy Christian, worship

Posted By Denise Miller Holmes on April 11, 2011

Savvy Article #1103

Here are three more ways to worship and connect to God from the book Sacred Pathways by Gary Thomas.

4) Activism— Activists energize themselves spiritually through confrontation. I am consistently reminded that I’m an Activist when I become irate upon hearing of an injustice. I was writing with a friend, let’s call her Lavender Minsk, who was reading mail from an email loop. A man asked the loop about using four-letter words when writing Christian fiction and what were some good guidelines. Many people on the loop verbally crucified this man, not for anything he’d done, but for something he thought. He’d only asked a question.  He wrote back, apologizing to everyone and obviously shamed. (more…)

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Category: Articles
Tags: Activist, Ascetic, Denise Miller Holmes, Gary Thomas, God, Nine Sacred Pathways, Red Hot Read, relationship with God, Traditionalist, worship

Posted By Denise Miller Holmes on April 1, 2011

Savvy Article #1102

In the book Sacred Pathways, Gary Thomas discusses nine ways we are created to worship and connect to God. Learning your particular ways of worship will enable you to both accept yourself the way God made you, and to accept others the way God made them.

I will post the sacred pathways, in a nutshell, in three parts. Here are the first three pathways to God:

1)    Thought— Intellectuals love to serve God with their minds. I am like this. Thinking brings God close. Books and intellectual discussions cause me to rejuvenate my spirit. If you are structured like this, you can spend a long time contemplating just one Bible verse. Analytical Bible study and theology will cause the Spirit to flow. Doctrine isn’t threatening; instead, it’s liberating, and Thomas says, “They may feel closest to God when they first understand something new about Him.” (more…)

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Category: Articles
Tags: Denise Miller Holmes, Gary Thomas, God, Intellectuals, Naturalists, nature, Red Hot Read, relationship with God, Sacred Pathways, savvy Christian, Sensates, worship

Posted By Denise Miller Holmes on July 13, 2010

Savvy Article #1005

I’m fat, and it’s taken a bite of my self esteem. I am a big, round, butter ball, and I can’t hide it. I am not quite roll-me-down-the-aisle-to-my-two-airplane-seats big, but I’m big enough to say “I’m fat.”

I used to have a healthy body (translation, thin) and what is astounding is not the emotional catalyst that caused me to eat gravy, but the amazing effects that being fleshy has on my psyche from the outside IN. (more…)

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Category: Articles
Tags: Denise Miller Holmes, Dustin Hoffman, fat, overweight, psychology, real self, Red Hot Read, relationship with self, relationships with people, savvy Christian, self-esteem, shopping, Tootsie

Posted By Denise Miller Holmes on April 27, 2010

Examiner.com Article #1003

Debating apologetics is the main way to reach an atheist, right? Wrong! Although a Christian should know why he believes and be ready to answer when asked, it is not the primary way to reach an atheist.

There is one thing that too many Christians are currently doing that is making reaching atheists harder. . . .        READ MORE

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Category: Examiner.com
Tags: atheism, celebrities, Christian commentary, Denise Miller Holmes, Denver Christian Perspectives Examiner, evangelism, Examiner.com, God's love, Penn Jillette, witness

Posted By Denise Miller Holmes on March 1, 2010

Savvy Article #1004

Michael J. Wilkins says, “Yes.” A person who is fully human is conformed to the image of God.

In a mind-bending chapter in his book In His Image, Wilkins argues energetically that you, a Christian, become conformed to the image of God by becoming more human.

Bizarre doesn’t cover it. How can you, a sinful human, become more like God by encouraging your humanness?

The answer is in how you define the word human. (more…)

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Category: Articles
Tags: Christian commentary, Denise Miller Holmes, Genesis 1:26, I Corinthians 11:7, In His Image, Michael J. Wilkins, Red Hot Read, relationship with God, savvy Christian

Posted By Denise Miller Holmes on February 22, 2010

Examiner.com Article #1001

There is a movement in this country called New Atheism. This movement is more aggressive and anti-Christianity than atheists have ever been. Even atheists argue about the beliefs and methods of the New Atheists.

In order to understand what New Atheists believe, I paraphrase below Andrew Brown’s 6 tenets of the philosophy, which are found in his popular internet article The New Atheism, a definition and a quiz. He distills these tenets from the writings of New Atheists Robert L. Park, Richard Dawkins, and Sam Harris. New Atheists believe. . .

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Category: Examiner.com
Tags: anti-Christianity, biblical vs. world view, Christian commentary, Denise Miller Holmes, Denver Christian Perspectives Examiner, Examiner.com, faith, God, New Atheism, philosophy, rejecting God, Richard Dawkins, Robert L. Park, Sam Harris, superstition, worldview