Why Did We Stop Building Altars?

At Mizpah, the old prophet gathered together the wayward nation for a sacred assembly of prayer, fasting, and repentance.  Their arch enemies surrounded them for a great slaughter.  But the old seer prayed on their behalf, took a suckling lamb and offered it to the LORD as a whole burnt offering.  And God heard the pitiful cries of His beloved people, and spared them from the hand of the Philistines. Then, the old man had a large stone erected near the place of their deliverance and called it Ebenezer, which meant "this marks the place where the LORD sent His saving help to us." 

We live in a time of innumerable signs and countless, empty words pointing us toward our next consumerisitc opportunity, however, there are very few "altars" marking our cultural landscape that speak of the ancient paths that our souls desperately need to follow in this hour. 

Is the Sacred Vow for Now?

We hear of Roman Catholic monks, priests, and nuns making vows of poverty, chastity, and charity, but is there place for evangelical or charismatic Christians to make vows to the Lord? 

Most of us good Bible-believing folks would immediately reference the Scripture in Matthew 5:33-37 where Jesus exhorts us not to swear at all, but rather let our "yes" be "yes" and our "no" be "no".  But is Jesus saying not to make vows?  After all, didn't the apostle Paul, author of nearly half of the New Testament make a vow in Acts 18:18?

I guess to answer this, we first need to know what a vow is.  Simply put, a vow  is an earnest promise to perform a specified act or behave in a certain manner; it is a declaration or pledge.  In other words, it's a "yes" or "no" with strong assertion, serious commitment, and possible consequences attached.

Re-monk recap

Blog Issue Contents

I. Month in Review
II. New 30 Day Life-Shift Cycle Begins
III. New Additions to the Site
IV. Announcing the Winner of the 30-Day Challenge

It's been a month and three days since the re-monk journey began.  Some of you have joined us by participating in the 30 day challenge, others have stopped in to read an article or just to see what i have been up to, and still others have probably accidentally stumbled upon the site through a google search (hence my viewer from Mongolia).  Whatever the case, i hope that you are enjoying what you find here!

The Re-Monk Rule

"Every major monastic movement decided at some point that it needed a rule of life by which to work, serve and live. The Augustinian Rule brought order to a fragmented movement.  The Benedictine Rule balanced prayer, study, work, food, and rest to create an orderly way of life for their monasteries.  Francis's Rule was both inward and outward, balancing poverty, chastity, humility, and obedience to God in prayer, work, harmony and preaching."

 ~ Punk Monk by Andy Freeman and Pete Greig, p. 105, Regal books 2007