Final Words From a Dear Sister
When our forwarded mail arrived in California one of the letters we received was from one of our elderly members back in Saint Petersburg. I had heard she had died on Christmas day and I really hated not being there to be present with the family. So I was at first very surprised to have […]
What Does It Mean To Lay Down Your Life for Your Brother? 1 John 3:16-18
“16 This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. 17 If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be […]
Easter, Bodily Resurrection and the Immortality of the Soul
One really common belief across religions is that existing comes with an inalienable right to continue to exist in perpetuity (forever). That is called the immortality of the soul. That view didn’t come from Judaism or Christianity but from the Greeks. Socrates and Plato both influenced this idea and it has had a heavy influence in […]
Kids, Play and the Power of Narrative
I have been reading Donald Miller’s book A Million Miles in a Thousand Years, highly recommend it. This book is Miller’s reflection on working with producers on the movie version of Blue Like Jazz. Turns out, life isn’t like the movies…most of us wouldn’t make good movie characters. As Miller reflects on their take on […]
Mass Shootings: Christian Perspective on Prevention and Reaction
I am posting this here over from a facebook status update I put up this morning that created a pretty lengthy conversation. Here is a little bit of my perspective on this. You can put armed guards all over the place and that will deter crime. That is on the prevention side of the equation. […]
The Humanity of the Unborn: The Ancients Understood It For Two Reasons
“The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel. 15 He will eat curdsand honey when he knows enough to reject the wrong and choose the right. 16 But before the boy knows enough to reject the wrong and choose the right, the land of the two kings you dread will be laid waste.” – Isaiah […]
Privacy & The Death of Community
Yesterday, something tragic happened to one of our neighbors. There was police tape everywhere and police all over their yard. I went out to speak with one of the officers that was next to our yard and he really couldn’t tell me anything at all. Some years ago I would have known that officer by […]
The Real Face of Abortion…What Would It Take to Change Your Mind?
I have wrestled with whether or not to post this. Just a warning…this is not for the faint of heart. All I ask is that the comments not get into political wrangling but stick with what is really going on here. Last week I saw something I hadn’t ever seen before. I saw a picture […]
Glimmers of God’s Perspective
Two years ago last month I got an email from my mother. She had forwarded an email from the church office back in Alabama that a dear friend had passed away. I was stunned. Sammy couldn’t have been much more than 40 years old. I checked my email later in the day and the strangest […]
The Myth That Redemptive Violence is a Myth: Part 2
One of the ways we get discombobulated in the debate over whether or not violence is ever acceptable is that the definition of redemption that is used is often extremely narrow. The redemption people are talking about is the redemption that Jesus brought on the cross…nothing more, nothing less. I will say that is a […]