When calamity hits and our world feels as though it has collapsed out from under us, fear seems to be the only sane response to the uncontrolled free-fall that overwhelms us. It is, to be sure, the default response. There may come a time when, in our despair, we cry out to God, “What’s going on here?…
All men will hate you because of me, but he who stands fast to the end will be saved.– Matthew 10:22, NIV-1983 One Man With Conviction Tuesday night, January 17, the Philadelphia Flyers NHL team celebrated Pride Night by wearing LGBTQ+-affirming warm-up jerseys. Flyers defenseman Ivan Provorov chose to abstain from pre-game warmups saying, “I…
There are some phrasings in the King James translation that are simply delightful, and they cannot find equivalency in more recent translational works. One such phrase is in our target text for this week’s blog posting.
Yesterday, we celebrated something unprecedented – God took on flesh and pitched his tent among humanity.1 It is unprecedented because it had never happened before, and no other faith throughout history even purports that such a thing could, would, or did happen. Not only do other faiths and cultures not speak of Immanuel (God with us), many find…
A Bad Hymn Every so often, the discussion will reemerge about how there is bad theology in many of the praise songs used by the modern church. It’s true. There is. Yet, the same can be said for some of the most beloved hymns in more traditionally structured churches. Consider the “theology” from this hymn:…
Telling God How It Is More than once I have had that curious conversation with a young-to-middle-aged man or woman who has decided that they are displeased and disapproving of the way God is running the universe. If you have not had one of these conversations, you need to do so. Get that on your…
I’ve grown weary of hearing/reading the many buzzwords, virtue signals, and phrases of offense being thrown around lately. It can be exhausting to attempt to live up to the standards and expectations of others. Don’t mention critical race theory. People will say [ any number of things]. Don’t say that! They’ll think you’re “woke” or worse…
Consider this … adversity enters our lives, and it is directly related to our faith. This doesn’t happen often in the west, but it does happen. What do we do in response? The normative reaction is to call the prayer hotline and to engage our own prayer life and ask God for relief. “God, we are suffering here. Please relieve us of this pain and burden.”
Just this morning I read a heartbreaking thread from a young woman on Twitter who has decided that prayer is pointless and she has stopped praying as a result. Not cut back. Stopped. Completely. Several others chimed in with some form of, “Yeah, me too. Gave up praying years ago.” I’ll admit that I struggle…
“Oh, get real, will ya?” Such is the retort one might hear when others believe we are living in a fantasy world, or are not seeing things in life as they really are. “You need to start living in ‘the real world.'” I have seen similar statements made against those who invest great qualities of…
