Sometimes human fallenness increases to such a degree in such places that it really is in the best interests for people to make a clean break with their civil government and start anew with a fresh vision and a relatively clean slate.

I'm sure that historians, theologians and political scientists will be looking into the details of the American Revolution for many more years than they have already. The start of the United States was definitely a good thing, though from our standpoint in Time, we really can't tell what could have happened if things had gone differently.

But whatever your political, national or ethnic affiliation, let's not get confused. Just because the terminology is similar doesn't mean they are similar

Humans rebelling against a flawed government that no longer works for the benefit of everyone, protecting the Good and punishing the Evil (Romans 13.1-2, 1 Peter 2.14)? That's a good thing, and one of the highest expressions of the human spirit.

Humans rebelling against an All-Good, All-Knowing, Perfectly Loving God who really does have their highest good in mind, merely because they think they know better? That's a horrible, ugly thing!

Let's take this time today to remember our country honestly, both the advances and its mistakes, and with humility. We took on a world superpower, permanently and officially separating ourselves from their customs, their heritage, their history to become our own people. Blood was spilled, lives were lost but a new nation came into being. May it fill us with a courage and a nobility for us today, to live and love outside ourselves and our own interests.

But... most importantly, let's remember to lift our thoughts to Jesus in this celebration. Why?

Jesus, the King of the World, came on a rescue mission to forgive and save the traitors who he loved deeply, so they would not get caught up in the judgment they rightly deserved. He permanently added human nature to Himself, joining Himself with the rebel's, joining himself with our customs, our heritage and our history. He lived a perfect life, spilled his blood and died in our place. With His death, he brought into being a new People of God. And with his resurrection and His Holy Spirit, he's established a new Kingdom that is without end. A kingdom of holy, loving people who live and serve Him and each other.

Let's allow our High King to reign in us, to give rise to the sort of courage and nobility and completely overwhelming love so that he can use us all the more.

-- Jude

We have a few prayer requests that came in tonight from various places. Most were anonymous.

"J" is praying for a boyfriend out of loneliness and doesn't know where to even start looking.

This past weekend, "C" almost attempted suicide, but was interrupted, purely by God's grace. Now he's trying to figure out why he's still alive.

Eli and his housemates are going to be moving across the country within the week, so they need traveling mercies.

"K" is in a major transition point in life, having to have moved out from where he was staying. Combined with medical issues he needs God's support.

Just so that we are clear, CFF welcomes everyone, but still urges for the traditional Christian sexual ethic. (Which to many ears here, sounds like a contradiction. Let me assure you, it is not.)

Similarly (and oddly) enough, CFF welcomes the closing of Exodus International as a positive movement in the gay Christian conversation.

The best expression that most closely matches CFF's goals and how we feel regarding the closure of Exodus can be found written by Spiritual Friendship's contributor Wesley Hill. So instead of reinventing the wheel, we have provided a helpful link.

*gears up for the next batch of hate mail*

When the Bible talks about God's holiness, it really means one of two concepts. One concept, and often the one that people immediately think of, is that of God's moral purity. When we say that God is holy, in this respect, we mean that he Is so completely in tune with Himself and His nature of perfect goodness, that he always does what is right and good. Even more than that, unlike us, he never has to be encouraged to act justly or to “be good.” Goodness and purity are God's natural (and really, His only) way of doing things.

The second concept of holiness in the Bible is a bit more abstract and difficult for us to fully understand. God's holiness is also a description of how he is completely “Other” to our realm of experience. The Ancient polytheists had gods that were really nothing more than human beings with superpowers, limited to some set of rules of the universe outside their control – whether it be fate or death or even governmental bureaucracy. The Living God, however, is completely outside the scope of our minds and hearts. God is completely transcendent over all he has made, different in a radical way that is scary and almost frightening because it's outside our comprehension.

As an aside: That's not to say that we can't ever know anything about God, or that He's completely out of our reach. Independent discovery of God and His nature and attributes is impossible, but often God kindly chooses to reveal himself in various ways – culminating in His Son, Jesus Christ (Hebrews 1.1-2). But it still remains that while we cannot know God exhaustively, we can know him comprehensively.

When referring to people and things, these same two concepts come into play, just in slightly different forms. So how is a Christian holy? Again, holiness as moral purity is easiest to see. Holy people love deeply; they tell the truth. Holy people know how to control what they say and think (James 3.2). They live at peace with others and with themselves (James 3.13, Romans 12.18), keep away from sexual immorality and are humble. But these really are just some of the behaviors that flow from holiness.

Holiness has less to do with “acting right” than it does with being holy. Which is where the second idea of holiness comes into play with us human beings. Just as God is completely other and in his own category to himself, “holiness” carries with it the concept of separation. God has called his people holy, apart from and distinct from anything they do. Because we already are God's holy people, he tells us to act holy. (Be holy, I am holy)

But this isn't some sort of sequestering or quarantine. When God sets us apart (makes us holy), he does so for a purpose because he wants to use us in a special way, as his own. In a mundane way, we make things “holy” all the time. Do you have a computer that's only for your personal use? Do you have a home office for your business? Then in relation to you your computer or home office is “holy.” It's set apart for a special use. Would you want your significant other being intimate with others? No, because part of that relationship involves being set apart for only each other.

So what does this all mean in practical terms? Someone who is a child of God has a life that is marked by love and holiness. What is a holy life?

We can think of Christian holiness as consisting of three inter-related parts: a humble and complete affirmation of what God says about sin and its cure, a self-effacing but joyful devotion to God and his glory, an ever-increasing desire of and success in the pursuit of a godly character and ethics.

The Christian begins her walk with Jesus with an accurate view of herself as a still sinning sinner who knows that God is justly and rightly angry at sin. This conviction is brought, and used by the Holy Spirit to bring repentance as the she becomes just as revolted as God is with her sin, abandoning that sin to walk with God. This is an essence of the Gospel, and mark of holiness from which the others flow from.

Next, holiness involves a humble and joyful devotion to God and to His glory. This can take a bit of explaining. You see, the essence of sin is regarding something or someone other than the Living God, as God. When a person enters of life of repentance and trust in Jesus, the appeal of sin is torn down and God performs heart surgery – changing out a heart that's hard and at war with God with one that loves God - allowing for the person to see God as the beauty He really is. The Christian's rallying cry mirrors Psalms 73.25-26. And because pleasing God is the most important priority now, all talents and resources, abilities and time are used to serve Jesus and His People (1 Cor 10.31).

It may seem counter intuitive, but the third aspect of holiness is that the holy one gets “holier.” The Christian considers his life and decides to obey and follow Jesus, since the world and sin aren't as appealing any more (1 Peter 1.16). While his obedience isn't perfect, it touches all aspects of and is a regular and consistent part of his life; this obedience is voluntary not forced or because he is ultimately unwilling to do so, and it also endures until the end. This is the moral and ethical side of holiness that is easiest to see. In becoming joined to Christ, it becomes a battle and a fight to put down the remaining bits of rebellion that God allows to stay. Some parts of this are “natural” and just grow stronger if one doesn't impede it (Galatians 5.22-23). Other parts are a sometimes painful struggle. Every day, the fight for holiness involves picking up the Cross and dying to self (Matthew 16.24-25). He reaches and strives, out of love and gratitude to be more like Jesus, the one who saved him.

That's not to say that the moment to moment obedience is always won or clear. Great Christians have and can fall into serious sin, but it's like calculus: the direction of a particular point on a line isn't an indication of the overall direction. The Christian's holiness isn't just a one time thing, but a direction, an overall trajectory that points to Jesus.

Being a Christian is more than saying a prayer or filling out a church membership card. While our good works are not meritorious, they are necessary. That's just theologian-speak for “holiness comes from a holy heart.” While it doesn't make you holy, it shows that you are.

The Christian Furry Fellowship

A Manifesto

We were all drawn to the fandom for some reason or another. Maybe it was the allure of Disney's Beauty and the Beast, or the message of friendship from the Fox and the Hound. Perhaps someone slipped on a fursuit and experienced the joy at making a young one laugh. Maybe it was the art or the music or any number of things that first made us aware of "Furry" and the community that was quickly making furry its home.

Of course, it would be naive to say that not all of our drives to the fandom were always positive. Some fled here out of a fear of growing up and tackling the responsibilities of adulthood. Some seek the emotional thrill of codependency that the accepting nature of the fandom tends to cultivate. And then of course we have the folks who seem primarily attracted by the sexual facets of the fandom...

Good or bad, we're here. The fandom is our "home." It's a place where we can be ourselves, or through the anonymity of the internet, we can be someone else for a while. But if you're reading this with any sort of interest at all, I bet I can point out something else that you and I have in common.

We're Christians.

The fandom is not very friendly toward folks who are serious in their devotion to Christ. In the same way, it's not very friendly toward serious devotion to Christ either. Many times it looks like a losing struggle: Christian furries who step into the fandom seem to always leave Furry or leave Jesus, never better for their times spent with either.

But it doesn't have to be that way. The story with the sad ending doesn't have to be repeated time and time again.

CFF is different.

We're not the sort who are just nominal Christians, who just grew up in a Baptist home or attended a Catholic school and know the "language" of Christianity, without having faith that's our own.

We're not the sort of Christians who just reduce the teachings of Jesus to "play nice y'all."
No, we see something bigger, more important and more vital behind every word he said.

We don't want to just follow and respect his teachings, but to love and to know Jesus Himself.
We follow Jesus our Savior as he bears the just wrath of God against our sin.
We follow Jesus our Master as he directs us and leads us, shaping and conforming our lives to match his.
We follow Jesus our Friend and Brother, enjoying the joy that He has in us, and that we have in Him.

We want to live boldly courageous lives that don't hide away from pain or suffering, but welcome aches and hurts as tutors and teachers helping us become more like Jesus Christ.

We want to live lives of grace so absurd and crazy that the love we share and demonstrate can't be mistaken for anything but God-love.

We want to live lives of unassuming and unapologetic holiness, wanting to stay in step with Jesus, not out of fear of punishment or for later payment for good behavior but out of sincere heartful gratitude.

We want to live informed lives, full of humble respectful skepticism, unafraid to ask questions and use reason, but equally unafraid to accept answers that are given, shaped not by superstition but formed from inquiry and examination.

We want to live fearlessly quiet lives of full surrender to the one we call Lord, knowing full well that Lord means "Master" the one we not just respect or admire, but the One we Love and Obey.

And even if we aren't fully there, we want to be, and we'll work hand in hand with our Lord, with the gifts he's given us in the Bible, His Spirit and His People, and we'll work with each other to get there.

Come join us as we follow Jesus.
We can't promise riches, popularity or even a smooth ride.
But the Fandom will never be the same.

Last week, I talked a little bit about how genuine Christianity is characterized by two traits: love and holiness. Tonight, I'd like to talk about love.

What is love?



(Alright, enough of that.)

The bulk of the fandom spends their energy racing to find a mate or to find a friend. Sometimes all "we" want is to find someone that makes them feel good. Often this pursuit of a significant other or a mate comes across as "love." But the love that the Bible speaks about isn't something that keeps you emotionally happy all the time, but neither is it something that ends after a few years (whether that's 5 years or 50).

But if you really take a look at the story the Bible presents, you'll find something that may alter the way you look at things: when the Bible talks about love, especially the New Testament, the marriage relationship is not the prime example. In fact, Jesus has very little to say about love as it relates to spouses; when he wants us to know what love is, and what love looks like He points to His Church, the community of Christians who call on his name.

When Jesus wants us or the world to see what love truly is, He points to the Church, His People. 1 Cor 13 isn't a love poem about how one treats his beloved, but a hymn witnessing the love of God that manifests in and through Christians. It's less about "playing nice" and more about loving well. It's not really a definition of love, per se, but a demonstration of how true love plays out in one's life.

If our cartoons and novels and movies were any indication, we definitely see love as the most powerful force in the universe. It's that powerful compulsion, that wonderful feeling that either moves you to wrestle alligators, travel across the country or even just hold the hand of the person you love. It can be utterly terrible when that feeling is unrequited, or worse, given to someone else. Taken to it's logical extreme, this isn't anything more than infatuation. The moment that someone comes along with a "stronger pull" the heart finds itself pointing somewhere else.

If you've listened to many an evangelical teacher or preacher, then you've heard the idea that the highest love, popularly called agape love, is love that does what it has to do regardless of the circumstance or situation. While it is true that love is a big dose of commitment, sometimes this definition can make love into a dry, cold duty, where everything is done out of commitment, and not out of longing or genuinely wanting to.

When God's love captures and captivates a person, when one's life is shaped by the Gospel of Jesus, however then love, True Love, becomes the natural outflow. This love isn't merely affection, though the bubbly feelings are a definite part of it. God-love is more than commitment, though the commitment that characterizes God-love is something that goes far beyond the "thick and thin" that we're normally used to. Love, as the Bible describes it, is the joyful and commitment pursuit of the the loved one's highest good.

Often, this means meeting another's needs. If we go back to what Micah says about love ("to do justly and love mercy") we get a super condensed view of what God repeats over and over to us in the Old Testament. This was a time when the lead male was the head of the household, if he was rendered unable to work, or he was killed, the family he provided for would die soon afterword. But with the commands to "love your neighbor as you love yourself" (Lev 19.18) and other various laws, Jesus was teaching His people that love meant going above and beyond what was culturely "required" to what was loving. "To do justly" (or acting justly) meant being fair and just - making sure that the law protected the innocent from harm by punishing evil or promoting welfare. "Loving mercy" meant to not hold grudges and to live in peace, providing a voice for those who may not have a voice for themselves (often in the Bible times, these were orphans and widows). God was always talking about and demonstrating his love for his people: First by making them his own, then by rescuing them from Egypt, then by giving them His laws. The Old Testament is full of the Lord's love.

When came to Earth and started teaching, as the Messiah, one of his roles was to expand on the Old Testament laws, clarifying their role and the realities they pointed to. In doing so, with the "love your neighbor" command, Jesus extended the love that His people were to have to each other to those "outside" God's People, even their enemies. And in this way, we know we're to love and meet the need of those who do not know or do not accept their need. In response to our love for them, Jesus taught that his followers were to expect unfair treatment - even persecution - but to return that hostility with humility and love.

That's what Jesus did for us after all. While we were still rebels and his enemies, He came into our world, became one of us and died in our place. Our neediness was for reconciliation with God, for someone to take our punishment and to make right what we made wrong between us and God. Before any one of us even cared a thing for God or his Son, and in fact, while we were still intimately opposed to Him, Jesus became our substitute. That's the sort of love we need to demonstrate to the world. Sometimes people need a shoulder to cry on. Sometimes they need a place to stay or food to eat. Sometimes they need a voice in a corrupt social institution. But people always need the love of God to show them their sin and bring them to repentance.

God's gracious. His love is so vast and wide that He has even let people who snub him, actively or not, experience that thrill of being loved and loving another. But that's really only a small, Sam's Club sample of the real thing he has in store for us. The love of God is enduring, and sometimes it's misunderstood (which results in pain), but it will never let you down, ever. But why stay with only a sample, when you could start on the main dish here and now?

Start trusting Jesus today. It was his main message while he was on Earth: Repent and turn from your sins, because God's loving rule is hear!

Back in the first few centuries AD, claiming someone was a Christian was a huge offense. Nowadays it seems that one of the worse things a person can do, is claim that someone isn't a Christian.

Everyone wants to be a Christian now it seems. Jesus is all the rage with his teachings on “love and brotherhood.” And many who want in on the approval and acceptance of themselves within the larger sphere of the culture have hopped onto the “Jesus Bandwagon.”

Being a Christian can mean anything from “not Jewish, Hindu, Islamic or Buddhist” to “I believe Jesus's teachings on being friendly to others.” But with everyone and their brother claiming to be a Christian, how do you know you have the real thing? A designation without defining characteristics has no meaning. We all have a general idea of what it means to be a “furry” - in some form or fashion we enjoy and celebrate the Animal Kingdom. If someone came up to the Anthrocon Convention wearing a Klingon outfit or cosplaying as Yuna from Final Fantasy X, they'd be welcome to enjoy themselves, but no one would seriously consider them to be “furry.”

But can you do the same for something like “Christian”? With all the politicking and checkered history that has plagued Christianity, can anyone really know what it means to be a Christian? What does unquestionable Christianity authentically look like and how can we tell?

Some folks will say that a Christian never makes anyone angry, or that a true Christian always follows the rules. Others will claim that Christians will give everything they have to social justice issues, standing up for the rights of others. You'll have people even say that there's no “definition” of a Christian – as long as you call yourself one, you are one!

But James, an apostle from the New Testament, and Micah, a prophet from the Old Testament both give us a simple test. They may put it in different words, but they are saying the same thing.

Pure and undefiled religion before our God and Father is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself unstained by the world. - James 1.27

Mankind, He has told you what is good
and what it is the Lord requires of you:
to act justly,
to love faithfulness,
and to walk humbly with your God. - Micah 6.8

Together they give us a “list” which isn't a list at all.
1. Love – helping those in need, “acting justly, loving faithfulness”
2. Holiness - keeping oneself from worldly influence, walking humbly with God.

These two attributes – Love and Holiness – mark out your life as changed by the Gospel of Jesus Christ. These are essential for being a Christian. While love and being holy don't “save” and don't make you a Christian, they are necessary to being a Christian.

Consider a flashlight. When you turn it on, it shines out a light. But you wouldn't say that the light made you turn it on. Instead, the light shows that it's on. In the same way, love and holiness show that a person is saved, has been born-again and that they are in God's family. A person may not perfectly love or perfectly be holy, but the fact that those traits are there and are increasing by day is very important. Without love or holiness, you can claim up and down that you're a Christian, but it wouldn't really make you one. You'd be the Yuna cosplayer at Anthrocon claiming to be furry.

If you've never met Jesus, then you really only have a vague fuzzy understanding of both of those terms. (Tonight I'll just be giving a basic overview. But you can come back next week as we go deeper into these two tests of authentic Christianity.)

Love -

The Western world has a love affair with love. From songs, poems, TV shows, art, this thing called “love” is the most important thing one can have. And given that God Himself says that He is Love, it really must have a crucial role in our lives.

What can I say about love? The love that God demonstrates, freely works for the welfare and the highest good of others. Since The Four Loves by C.S. Lewis, people have called this love “agapé.” This sort of love is almost completely other-focused: focused on loving and enjoying God, focused on serving others... even to the point of loving one's enemies.

While love is kind (1 Cor 13), it's not always “nice” or pleasant in meeting others needs. A father's love prompts him to give his children vegetables instead of cookie dough for dinner – the highest good being strong healthy bodies in the long run. The Father's love prompts Him to give His children “spiritual vegetables” usually in the form of suffering, discomfort or painful circumstances – the highest good being our spiritual maturity as we slowly are conformed into looking more and more like Jesus.

Love involves meeting others needs, even when they do not see, or worse, refuse to see those needs. The Father sent the Son into the world to take care of our deepest spiritual need – our rebellion against and hatred of God. In the same way, Jesus sent us into the world to teach others and proclaim what He's done for us. The world didn't understand or accept what Jesus taught and revealed to them. No one wants to hear that they are sinners who need a Savior. And likewise, however we demonstrate the Gospel – whether we're pastors or painters, missionaries or miners, teachers or teenagers – people are going to misunderstand and refuse to accept our love.

Holiness -

Way too frequently, we convince ourselves that our happiness is the greatest purpose and the highest good in the universe. As long as it makes you happy and doesn't hurt anyone, then you should be “true to yourself” and follow your heart. But what if your heart is a liar (Jer 17.7)?

Being holy is being separate from worldly influences. The world tells us to follow our hearts, to be true to ourselves at almost any cost. However, the Christian isn't her own anymore (1 Cor 6.19-20) and she answers to Someone who may not have the same vision for how her life should be. Holiness, in part, is submitting to the authority of God and his Word, letting go of our own self-direction and autonomy and giving up the need to call our own shots.

Isn't this exactly what Jesus meant when he said to “deny yourself, take up your cross and to follow Him” (Matthew 16.24, Mark 8.34, Luke 9.23)? Being true to God often evidences itself as denying ourselves what we things we want, accepting that what we want and what makes us feel good is often bad for us (1 Peter 2.11).

During the next few weeks we'll be going deeper into what God says, through the Bible, that Love and Holiness truly are. As I like to point out, there's more to what Jesus taught than “just play nice y'all.”

Of course, maybe you want a head start on the next few messages and want to take a look at holiness and love personally. Jesus did talk of love, but it was mostly God's love towards us, and about our need to repent of our sins and turn to Him for forgiveness. If you bow the knee to Jesus today, agreeing with Him that you're a rebel and need a pardon, and if you trust that His life, death and resurrection are all that's needed to satisfy your debts with God, then God will joyfully welcome you into His family. Then you too could start seeing the beginnings of true love and true holiness in your life.

Come to Jesus today and be saved from your sin.

If you have any questions about the message, or how to become a Christian, feel free to seek me out. I'd be happy to show you how.

Don't forget, the CFF Tuesday Night Prayer Service is tonight at 9 eastern, 8 central. We invite anyone who wants to come for prayer to join us! If you arrive early or stay late, you're of course, more than welcome to hang out and others in the channel, no questions asked.



Why do we pray? In part, so that the world could see us joyfully caught up in the love between the Father and the Son

In preparation for Mothers' Day (May 12) we won't be having any official IRC service tonight. The channel will still be open and people will always be available to talk and fellowship, just no Weekend Service tonight.

Stay tuned though! The Christian Furry Fellowship has some news coming soon about this summer!

Happy Ascension Day!

For forty days after he rose from the dead, Jesus continued with his ministry among his followers. Today marks the celebration of his ascension, the end of Jesus's direct ministry on Earth and his ascension into Heaven. On this day, Jesus completed his mission given by God and reiterated the mission he gave to us, his disciples a few days before.

Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.


Jesus did not come into the world to give us a code of ethics to make us better people. (In fact, Jesus's closest followers often realize just how bad off they really are - He'd never encourage us to grovel though). As odd as it may be to hear someone say it, you don't need Jesus to give up smoking, addiction or any number of personal ills.

Jesus did not come into the world to give us a set of principles to be happy people. In fact, from the first mention of Jesus being the Man of Sorrows, all the way through the final triumph against The Rebellion in the world, you'll find that God puts many many more things in a higher priority than our personal happiness. And as a result often uses the pain, suffering and discomfort in this world like spiritual vegetables or bad tasting medicine.

Jesus came into the world to save His people from their sins - from their rebellion against God. And as part of that mission, He's sent us to go tell others about God's love and mercy toward them, about His grace in making them His own and about how to work with Him in becoming more like Jesus everyday.

While the Gospel of Christ will ultimately make you the best and happiest version of you (usually in Heaven, sometimes before then), Jesus came to take care of something that He and the Father consider infinitely more important: our rebellion against God and His Kingdom.

You see, God created a good world, full of joy and love. But because you and I would rather do things our own way, and because we didn't trust God's love and character, we staged a rebellion against Him, and tried to depose God from his place as King. But God, being all-wise, all-knowing and perfectly loving, is really the only person who can be rightfully King. So as the Rebellion continues, not only do we continue to with the treason, but we hurt this world, and ourselves, deeply - and out of his love for us, the King hates the Rebellion.

Like many unlawful rebellions that followed in human history, we were caught, tried, sentenced now awaiting execution. But God still loves his enemies and sought them out in his perfect grace and mercy. He came into this fallen, rebellious place we'd turned his good world into and preached His good news:

If we would submit ourselves to him, waving a flag of surrender by admitting that we are wrong about ourselves and wanting and needing our own way and admitting we are wrong about Him and trust Him with our lives, He would take our place on the judgment block, He would take the punishment for our rebellion on Himself, as one of us, instead of us. (More than that, as if he were the only rebel at all.) And in return, He'll put Himself inside of us, making us part of His Family and His People - full of the love and strength that we were really looking for all along.

Today is Ascension Day, when we celebrate our King leaving this Earth to prepare the way for the next phase in his designs to stop the Rebellion. It's a chance to bow the knee to Jesus Christ and give up your rebellion if you have not yet. But it's also an opportunity to reach out and tell others of His love and grace even if you have!

In case you may not know, the Christian Furry Fellowship has prayer services every Tuesday at 8pm Eastern in our IRC channel.

Do you need a friend to just listen? Do you want some advice, instead? Whether you're looking for answers, or just a place to ask questions, we invite everyone to come and join us as we celebrate Jesus and worship him with our prayers, with our broken neediness and with our happy festivity.

The easiest way to join in is to head over to http://foxnet.in/chat/ type in your name where it says "Nick" and you'll want to put CFF where it has "Channels".

For those who can, point your IRC client to Server: irc.foxnet.in and /join #cff

We'll be happy to see you there!

After too long of a time in hiatus, the Christian Furry Fellowship is slowly resuming its service to and its services for the furry fandom community. To that end, we're starting up our Tuesday evening prayer services again as we move back into our groove.

So do you need prayer? Do you want some (admittedly limited) fellowship with some Christian furs during the week? Or maybe you just want some out of the ordinary spiritual conversation? We here at the Christian Furry Fellowship invite you to join us! Tuesday nights at 8 Central on Foxnet are our prayer services where we come to pray for each others needs.

Every prayer request gets prayed for personally by as well as others at least three times a week. While we can't guarantee that God'll answer you in the manner you expect, we can guarantee that you'll see how much God cares for you through his people.

Everyone is welcome, Christians and nonChristians alike (though we hope to introduce you to Jesus), fur and nonfurs as well.

Jude here, and let me just apologize to everyone for the slowness and seeming lack of updates.

CFF hasn't been forgotten, but we're in the middle of cleaning up, sweeping out the dust and getting ourselves ready for an awesome new second wind as we serve the Lord Jesus in 2013. Get ready for a journey as we seek to deepen our faith, and connect with each other and with our Lord.

Hello, Jude here!

Perhaps it's the joy of Christmas preparation or perhaps it's an unusually-timed second wind, but the Christian Furry Fellowship is starting to take some steps, make some moves towards the inner and outer growth we need to effectively and efficiently serve Jesus in the furry fandom.

As such, we're looking to expand our ministry teams. More team members means less stress on any one individual as well as a greater chance for an enlarged presence in the fandom.

I will be making a journal post or two in the coming days to let people know what we're specifically looking for, but feel free to let me know your interest, even if your gifts and talents are in some other area that aren't mentioned by name.

For now, there are two basic requirements that I'm looking for.

1) You've had to be a Christian for at least two years. Though it almost goes without saying, we're looking for people who love Jesus and understand that following him means more than "playing nice" but living for Him passionately and intimately.

2) Be able to invest at least 90 minutes toward the ministry of CFF a week (anyone who oversees a particular project would undoubtedly need to spend some more).

If you're available, willing to make a long-term commitment and interested in seeing what Jesus can do in the furry fandom, send me judetherat a note FA or shoot me an email. You can also find me in the Official CFF chat room as well.

Today is the day we celebrate (or at the very least observe) what people consider the start of the Reformation, when Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to the door of Wittenburg Chapel. This was pretty much how people made "blog posts" back then. If they wanted something to be read, understood and acted on, they'd write them down and post them somewhere relatively public.

Martin Luther was great man, but did have his flaws and missteps. He was a rough German, possessed legendary flatulence, a gruff lawyer, and not known to be all that gentle. Not everything borne out of the Reformation was immediately positive either. But with his re-discovery of justification by grace through faith, and his own love of God's Law, he set the stage for a massive public reawakening of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It's the good news that even though we are enemies of God and have willfully cut ourselves off from him, God himself did everything necessary to remove that hostility between us and him. The life, death and resurrection of Jesus, and becoming joined to Him in faith is all that God requires so that we can be fully accepted by him. Our good works may be necessary, but they don't determine our fates.

So ultimately, a celebration of the Reformation is a celebration of our Lord Jesus.

Statement of Faith

1. The Bible: We believe the Bible, comprised of the Old and New Testaments, to be the inspired, infallible, and authoritative Word of God. In faith we hold the Bible to be inerrant in the original writings, God-breathed, and the complete and final authority for faith and practice. While still using the individual writing styles of the human authors, the Holy Spirit perfectly guided them to ensure they wrote precisely what He wanted written, without error or omission.

2. God:
We believe in one God, who is Creator of all, who has revealed Himself in three distinct Persons—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, yet who is one in being, essence, and glory. God is eternal, infinite, and sovereign . God is omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent, and unchanging. God is holy, just, and righteous. God is love, gracious, merciful, and good.

3. Jesus Christ:
We believe in the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is God incarnate, God in human form, the expressed image of the Father, who, without ceasing to be God, became man in order that He might demonstrate who God is and provide the means of salvation for humanity.

4. Salvation
We believe that salvation is a gift of God’s grace through faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross. Christ’s death fully accomplished justification through faith and redemption from sin. Christ died in our place and bore our sins in His own body.

We believe salvation is received by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. Good works and obedience are results of salvation, not requirements for salvation. Due to the greatness, sufficiency, and perfection of Christ’s sacrifice, all those who have truly received Christ as Savior are eternally secure in salvation, kept by God’s power, secured and sealed in Christ forever. Just as salvation cannot be earned by good works, neither does it need good works to be maintained or sustained. Good works and changed lives are the inevitable results of salvation.


Statement of Practice:

Who we are

The Christian Furry Fellowship is not a church (though intend to become one in the future), because there are certain “church things” we cannot presently do.

Even though not a church CFF is a Christian ministry to the furry fandom. As such, CFF is a safe haven for Christians and nonChristians, furries and those who are not part of the fandom, to learn about and get to know Jesus for themselves, to experience his forgiveness and love.

We are governed by a set of theological affirmations; in other words, all we do here is guided in attitude and action by our statements of belief and practice.

How we work

We at CFF have the primary focus of making the Lord Jesus and the Gospel known and seen accurately; while our acceptance with God isn’t based on how well we perform this task, we want to do all we can to show our gratitude toward Him is genuine and lasting. This page is here to summarize the various platforms from which CFF operates as a ministry. We invite all our brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ to join us we do God’s will towards the fandom in particular and the world in general.

The Christian Furry Fellowship is a Christian, evangelical, missional and post-denominational organization.

That may seem like a mouthful of an organization but its easily understood.

First, we are Christians, that itself sets us apart as different than other world religions and faith-systems. As Christians, we are faithful and conform our lives to the Holy Bible, which produced both the Apostles’ and Nicene Creeds – accurate affirmations basic Christian truths telling about God, who He is and what He’s done.

Where are many good and godly ministries who would stop with the historic creeds, but the leadership of the Christian Furry Fellowship understands that they were the product of specific controversies of the time. So while the creeds are accurate explanations of Christian belief, they are not comprehensive or exhaustive in their scope. In the case of the Nicene Creed especially, Christians generally rejected it for many years. There are many things in historic, orthodox Christianity that simply are not addressed by the Creeds, and it would be irresponsible to merely mention the historic Creeds and stop at that.
Therefore, secondly we call ourselves Evangelical.

Thirdly CFF as a ministry is Missional. This is just a big word that means we acknowledge, celebrate and obey the command we have from Jesus to go into the world to make more people who love Him, trust Him and obey Him. We are to do this in the best, most culturally relevant ways that we’ve been granted in our place in history. Simply put, out of thankfulness for what we have received from God, we then go out and let others know they can receive the very same gift. Our aim is to serve Jesus by serving others.

Finally we are post-denominational. We don’t stop at simply being non- or inter-denominational. Basically, this means that we strive for unity among the different Christian traditions: denominational differences between those firmly within historic Christian belief are not the same thing as sinful disunity. Because people are limited in their knowledge and perspectives, and because God has decided to work within our limited existence for a time, differences in understanding will arise. These differences are used by God to foster communication and wisdom between groups of Christians that may not feel a need or desire to interact. We celebrate our denominations, knowing Christ is glorified the most when we worship and serve through unity in diversity. We only draw “lines in the sand” where God has clearly demonstrated and affirmed is where he draws His line in the sand.