daring questions.

it's probably no secret to most of you that one of my favorite pastors is mark driscoll--he is the pastor of a church in seattle called mars hill, and i regularly listen to most of his podcasts as they become available. i think he does a really good job of incorporating a "conservative" (as he is often called) theology into his church while being incredibly missional to the culture in his city. his sermons are perfect for long drives or if i need something different than what is all around me.

at the beginning of january, he started a new sermon series, answering the top 9 questions that attenders of mars hill submitted and voted on for him to preach on. what a cool idea! here is the list of questions:

• 01/06: #9 "There's no doubt the Bible says children are a blessing, but the Bible doesn't seem to address the specific topic of birth control. Is this a black and white topic, or does it fall under liberties?"
• 01/13: #8 "Why do you make jokes about mormon missionaries, homosexuals, trenchcoats wearers, single men, vegans, emo kids and then expect these groups to come to know God in the same sermon?"
• 01/20: #7 "Why does an all loving, all knowing, and all sovereign God will into creation people He foreknows will suffer eternal condemnation? Why does Romans 9:20 feel like a cop-out answer?"
• 01/27: #6 "Of all the things you teach, what parts of Christianity do you still wrestle with? What's hardest for you to believe?"
• 02/03: #5 "How should Christian men and women go about breaking free from the bondage of sexual sin?"
• 02/10: #4 "If salvation is by faith alone (Romans 3:28), then why are there so many verses that say or imply the opposite, namely that salvation is by works (James 2:24, Matthew 6:15 & 7:21, Galatians 5:19-21)"
• 02/17: #3 "How does a Christian date righteously; and what are the physical, emotional, and mentally connecting boundaries a Christian must set while developing an intimate
• relationship prior to marriage?"
• 02/24: #2 "What can traditional/established churches learn from "emerging" churches?"
• 03/02: #1 "Do you believe that the Scripture not only regulates our theology but also our methodology? In other words, do you believe in the regulative principle? If so, to what degree? If not, why not?"

i mean, some of these are going to be so controversial, but i think it is good how much publicity this series is getting, and how many people will be tuning in to listen to what mark has to say. you can download the sermons here, and subscribe to the mars hill church podcast to get all of the ones that haven't been preached yet as they become available!