Gary Anderson says sin has a history. He’s not talking about the history of our personal sin — why we did it or what it’s enduring effects were. He’s talking about the history of the way we talk about sin. He says this is evident by the change of metaphors that are used to describe/define sin in the Old Testament. He explains why this is significant by employing the philosophical thought of Riccouer, who argues that the meaning of words…
Every year we celebrate Advent. We celebrate the coming of Christ to save the world. The only problem is he didn’t save the world and he doesn’t save me in the way I’d hoped. He doesn’t fix my problems. He doesn’t remove my pain. He doesn’t make life easier so I can live it the way I want. The real saving that happens is the saving that God intended to do from the very beginning. It’s a salvation of presence….
One of the most exciting terms used to describe the church today is the word missional. It correctly categorizes the people of God as a community on a mission — a people sent out by Jesus to extend and promote his ministry and message in the world. But unfortunately, what it has devolved into is frequently little more than do-gooder volunteerism. I believe the word missional ought to properly characterized the church (and I hope it does ours), but I…
Alyosha Karamazov, the protagonist in Dostoevsky’s novel The Brothers Karamazov, disappoints me as I’m sure Jesus would have if only I understood him as a first century Jew would have. Alyosha is described from the outset as the hero of the story, and as I progressed through the novel, the author repeatedly promised tales of Alyosha’s forthcoming heroics. I eagerly anticipated learning of what Alyosha would do that would qualify him as the hero of the story. I thought, maybe he’ll…
I love Jim Gaffigan. His routines are funny because they humorously describe the most common human experiences. He has great bits on recycling, bacon, watching TV, and working out to name a few. In the clip above, he captures the awkwardness of evangelism. He perfectly portrays the discomfort that comes when someone says to you, “I’d like to talk to you about Jesus.” There is ample reason for us to feel uncomfortable when a complete stranger approaches us and says,…
What if God actually helped us? What if, in our moment of pain, we could pray and our pain would go away? What if, when we suffered, we could ask God for help and our suffering would actually cease? That’d be nice. It would be nice if knowing Christ meant saying goodbye to pain. But since it doesn’t, I’m glad that Christ suffered. As Jesus was nailed to a cross, God didn’t help him either. He abandoned him. And…
A couple of weeks ago over the weekend of April 16-17, 2010, Wheaton hosted a conversation that engaged N.T. Wrights scholarly work. Wheaton has made the these lectures available for free in mp3 download format. I’ve just downloaded them, and I look forward to listening to what the presenters have to say.
I’m not sure if this is just human nature or if it’s been indoctrinated into me by my culture: When things don’t go well, I’m tempted to think God hates me. When a series of unfortunate events unfold, I feel like God is out to get me. When I get lost, then get a speeding ticket, and then get chastised for being late, I’m having what my son would say is a no good, very bad day. And, I can’t…
Angry people are so unbecoming. Wrathful people are even worse. They come across as vindictive. When these people unleash their latent anger, watch out. You may or may not have been the one to upset them, but you better get out of their way once they’re mad. They seem set on destruction — the destruction of other people through abusive words, attitudes, and maybe even physical violence. Being full of wrath seems like a personality defect, and that’s why we…
As a child, I remember talking to myself. I remember thinking through conversations with myself in my head and sometimes even mouthing them out with my lips. I would replay conversations that I had earlier in the day, or I would try and act out and anticipate upcoming conversations that I knew I would be having in the future. At some point I remember noticing that it was a little weird that I would mouth out conversations and I stopped…