“When spiritual battles take place in our thoughts, praise be to God that we have everything we need to fight those battles – perfect gifts given to us by our good Father who loves us – the Bible and the Holy Spirit that teaches and transforms, our ability to pray and be prayed for, and... Continue Reading

“Among other things, three key events occurred at Mount Sinai: the LORD’s glory was revealed to Moses, the plans for the tabernacle were laid out, and the Law was given. On the Mount of Transfiguration, we see analogies to each of these.”   In my previous post, I introduced my exploration of the significance of... Continue Reading

“While we understand the legal concerns that led to this new BSA direction, it is simply a place the LCMS is not willing to go,” Harrison and Day said. “At our summer 2013 meeting with the BSA, we were assured that changes concerning adult leadership would not be on the table, but that was not... Continue Reading

“Secularity thus defined became indispensable for the achievements of science and technology in modern times, and contemporary societies would be intolerable without these achievements. However, one must not therefore conclude that the secular discourse has completely pushed out all religious discourses.”   As reported in Catholic Education Daily on December 7, 2015, there is a... Continue Reading

“To be fair to Mr. Lucas, conceiving of the mystery of life in a dramatically plausible way is no small task.  The poets of old balked at it.  And yet like so many of his generation, modern technology has made the path of wonder look so easy, so mundane.  Technological advance has fostered the vain... Continue Reading

“Through success and failure I have learned a bit about New Year’s resolutions and want to share a tip— a two-part tip. It’s a simple but important one: Resolve them prayerfully and plan them carefully. This, I think, is a key to successful resolutions.”   Tis the season to begin to consider those annual New Year’s... Continue Reading

“Liberals love to point out the fractiousness of the GOP, whose dramatic fissures have racked the House of Representatives and tormented party leaders. But as Matt Yglesias recently pointed out, Republican divisions are actually signs of an ideologically flexible big-tent party, while Democrats are in lockstep around an agenda whose popularity they too often fail... Continue Reading

“It has long been a given among historians of religion in the South that Calvinism had little, if any, purchase among the enslaved or their descendants, that the doctrines of predestination were invariably arms of the status quo, and that a sin-obsessed Calvinism was simply inimical to the emancipationist energies coursing through black America in... Continue Reading

Suicide is quite a different animal than other deaths. Not only is there no time to say goodbye, but the survivors are left with a million guilt and shame-ridden questions. “Why did I not see it coming?” “Could I have stopped him?” “Was it my fault she killed herself?”   Lilly’s eyes were as hollow... Continue Reading

“First, there’s what we’ll call the “youth group” approach. It’s not so much about the sermons, but more what happens in the small groups. Sometimes, when the discussion moves along, people will begin to talk about areas of “struggle.” One person shares, then another identifies with the same struggle, and pretty soon you have people chuckling over shared foibles and... Continue Reading