Summer is officially over (for those north of the equator), lasting from June 21 to September 22 this year. For me, summer effectively covers a slightly different span, starting on Memorial Day and ending on Labor Day, regardless, we must move from summer to fall. Each summer, I have a mental list of things that […]
Struggling with Doubt Isn’t a Sin, But We Must Avoid Letting Doubt Squash Our Faith I once listened as a friend wrestled with the issue of faith versus doubt. She groaned in anguish over her struggle to believe with full faith, dismayed over the arrows of doubt that assaulted her. I blurted out, “Faith without […]
Accepting What We’re Taught Without Scrutiny May Cause Us to Believe Things That Aren’t True In the book of Acts, Dr. Luke writes about the Jews that lived in the town of Berea. He called them people with a “more noble character.” What did they do to deserve this label of respect? This was due […]
Discover What Label Best Describes Our Faith Are you a Christian? Be careful before you answer. By definition I am a Christian, though I seldom use the Christian label. Why? In my book How Big is Your Tent?, I write: “Christian is a loaded term. It means many things to different people. To some, Christian […]
Where Does the Law of God End and the Love of Jesus Begin in Scripture? The Bible divides Christian Scripture into two parts: the Old Testament and the New Testament. The Old Testament looks at the rules God required to be right with him and anticipates a future when he will send us a Savior. […]
God Had a Purpose for His People and They Let Him Down God established Jerusalem as the center of all nations. This suggests he intended them to set an example and be a global leader, showing everyone how to live right and pointing them to him. But this isn’t what they did. In their wickedness, […]
God Calls Us to Move Beyond Tolerance and to Love Others Our culture today talks a lot about being tolerant. Our politically correct society upholds tolerance as a virtue. It’s a position held by so-called enlightened people that we are to tolerate others regardless of their belief, behaviors, or ethnicity. It all seems so right, […]
Becoming a Christian Isn’t a Onetime Decision but a Lifetime of Daily Decisions to Follow Jesus A friend in high school followed Jesus, and her life exemplified that decision. But after a while she fell into an extreme interpretation of the “once saved, always saved” doctrine. Then her life took a turn. She reasoned that […]
The Bible is a Book About Jews and Their Relationship to God The Bible isn’t really a Christian book. It’s more so a Jewish book. Without question the Old Testament of the Bible is Jewish. It’s about Jews, and it’s for Jews. It looks at their faith journey as a people, records their history, and […]
Leah, like her younger sister, Rachel, is an interesting character. While I’m inexplicitly drawn to Rachel, I just feel sorry for Leah. She marries her first cousin, Jacob. The problem is Jacob loves her younger sister Rachel. While Rachel is attractive, Leah is not. Though we don’t understand the details, we do know she doesn’t […]