What beliefs create peaceful behavior and deal with the discord of religion? Here’s the answer. Part of a series on truth. There’s no getting around it: Everybody has an exclusive set of beliefs. Moralists look down their noses at unbelievers as filthy, undisciplined misfits. Secularists snub religious people as psychopathic nut jobs. And pragmatists demand we shed our religious beliefs when…
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What is the best and final gift of the gospel? It’s not what you think. The phrase “good news” means the gospel. And translated into popular Greek, it means euangelion–a reward for good news given to the messenger. The verb form is euangelizo. It’s where we get our word “evangelism.” Thus, sharing our faith [evangelism] involves sharing the good news….
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The reason behind my wide-eyed fascination with the story of Jacob…and the growing temptation to deceive that follows it. I’m profoundly intrigued by human nature. Our wicked human nature in particular. This is probably why I’m drawn to tragic literature. Psychological disorders. Aberrant sociology. Unfortunately, this taste bleeds into my Bible reading. Seduced by a Biblical Story…
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Part of the 10 Hard Truths about Being Born Againseries. You’ll get no fuss from me: Intellectual discussions deserve appropriate exchanges of argument and counter-argument. All well and good. The only problem is, sin is not an intellectual problem. It’s a spiritual problem. A problem the natural man–dead in sin–sees as foolish: The natural person does…
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In which I write a very nice letter to my friend, the skeptic. Dear Skeptic, I apologize for not writing sooner, but I wanted this to be a meaningful response. Not one kicked out in an hour. See, you level–like many others before you–a serious accusation at Christians that’s worth a deliberate, thoughtful reply. A…
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Here are six perennial–but pernicious–common excuses we use to avoid sharing our faith. With a few pieces of advice on how to overcome them. Sharing the gospel is no picnic, readers. And once the slightest snub arrives, the dream of leading someone to Christ ends. And the excuses begin. Here are six perennial–but pernicious–favorites….
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See how Doug Wilson’s story of a teacher explains the difference between good advice and good news. I confess: Navigating through the nature of God at times leaves me feeling detached and remote. Far off from God. Granted, you can’t put your finger on infinity. Eternality. Self-existence. These topics at first blush are unbelievably impractical, impersonal, ineffable and intimidating….
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What is the Gospel? It’s merely this: Peace with God through the blood of Jesus Christ. Granted, that’s a back-of-the-napkin summary. So much to unpack. But that’s the essence. It’s , “Peace with God,” that began with the birth of Jesus Christ. And that’s what I need to return to. Day in. And day out….
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Part of the 10 Hard Truths about Being Born Again series. People who reject Christ are blind: “In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the Gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” In the last several weeks…
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In which you discover you have an overwhelming problem called God. You have a problem. An overwhelming problem. That overwhelming problem is called God…and what you think of Him. See, the most revealing thing about a person is his idea of God. How God acts. Thinks. Behaves. Responds. What a person says about these…
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