And… I’m happy to report that the family member behaved far better than I expected. No arguments, no challenges. Just decent people having a holiday dinner together. What a relief.

It's a *great* book. I grew up with a lot of evangelical understandings about the Old Testament sacrificial system, and my theology hinged on them. Well, it turns out most of those ideas about sacrifice and atonement were wrong. And that has huge implications for my ideas about salvation. READ THIS.

It really doesn't surprise me to discover that people really do value easy answers over accurate answers. Just look at politics and religion today.

I'm all in favor of corporate events that remind us of these things, but I think it's critical to keep the bigger picture in mind.

I don't really think God is as interested in our Sunday events as we are. Amos 5:21, Isaiah 1:11–17, and Jeremiah 7:1–7 are pretty important reminders of this.

As such, worship has little to do with a Sunday event, which is merely a tool we use to remind ourselves of these things. Whatever happens there is transient and doesn't show God's true glory to the watching world. It's how we treat the foreigners and poor and oppressed that is true worship.

With respect, I think that's a poor definition of "worship," that is very cultural, not universal. As I read it, Romans 12 says the true worship by the Body of Christ is to accurately represent the Father, so fully that we cannot be distinguished from Him, and when people see us they see the Father.

Here’s another thought. If you see the concept “worship” as being much larger than simply gathering to sing songs and listen to a sermon, what you said is absolutely correct. We only truly represent God accurately and fully on the Earth when we do it in community. We have to be the corporate Body.

Put differently, would a small house church provide the same dopamine boost? How much are big corporate services a draw for purely human reasons, and small intimate gatherings less of a draw for that same reason? But the intimate events are where real discipleship and growth happen.

I think I agree with the insight… but the same could be said of any weekly communal activity… bowling league, bridge club, football game, etc.. The hard question to answer is whether large institutional religious services provide a secular dopamine hit that has nothing to do with spirituality. /1

YES! And here's a longer writeup that does a great job deconstructing what happened in that meeting: www.facebook.com/bruce.fanger...

Really provocative to a person like me raised on the idea. I’ll have to chew on this one.

I’ve been learning how the gospel writers probably tailored their narratives to tell a story, more than convey actual historical facts. It seems apparent that they made some things up. Maybe this is one.

Reminder: Fox News is admittedly an entertainment website, not a news organization.

Hint: extreme bottom right, third row from the end.