What Does Christian Mean? I don’t like the label “Christian,” even though I am one. The Christian label is a loaded term. It means many things to different people. To some, Christian implies narrow-minded. To others, Christian means hateful...
We Must Be Faithful and Fruitful There are many things Jesus didn’t tell us to do to inherit eternal life or become saved. He didn’t say: pray a prayer, be confirmed, go to church, come forward, do good things, raise your hand, fill...
Three Ecumenical Guidelines Ecumenical Is a Word Some May Be Unfamiliar With One definition of ecumenical means “relating to the worldwide Christian church.” A broader understanding is “establishing and promoting unity among...
Accepting Those Who Believe Differently From my research for 52 Churches I learned a great deal about the larger faith community I’m part of. Perhaps the most significant so far is courtesy of the United Methodist Church and their document...
In Whose Name Do You Pray? When You Pray, In Whose Name Do You Pray? This isn’t a trick question or a pluralistic way to approach the god of your choice. This is a simple question. When you pray to the God who is revealed in the Bible...
Pursuing a Balanced Trinitarian Faith There is an amazing little booklet, sporting a tongue-twister of a title. It is The Threefold Art of Experiencing God: The Liberating Power of a Trinitarian Faith by Christian A. Schwarz. In a stellar example...
When Asked about Salvation, Jesus Said, “Follow Me” When people talked to Jesus, the discussion was often about the same thing, whether broached with the phrase “kingdom of God,” “kingdom of heaven,” “eternal life,” “salvation,”...
42 000 protestant denominations Christianity Today recently reported that there are 42,000 Protestant denominations. That is shocking. However, given that in the United States we have a consumerism mentality, this development is hardly...
Take a Step Toward Christian Unity Where I used to live, a fair number of people attended church. None of them went to the church I attended and, as far as I know, no one else attended the same church as their neighbors. Even more confounding is...
Feasting on the Religious Buffet The Western World, especially the United States, is largely an individualistic, narcissistic society. In applying this mindset to religious matters, the in thing is to seek spirituality in an individualistic...
