I’ve heard most of these in church or seen them in the pages of Christian publications. You may have heard a few of them, too: Church members get divorced at the same rate as anyone else. The church in the U.S. is dying. Most Christian young people are shacking up and having sex. Half of... Continue Reading

The hearts of my children are too messy, my wisdom is too limited, and my heart is too sinful in order to successfully shepherd my children into the kingdom of God. Only God can do that, and that actually gives me a great amount of comfort. I firmly believe that God will save my children.... Continue Reading

In His exchange with Nicodemus, Jesus gave us a very negative explanation for unbelief: He said that people love darkness and hate light (John 3:19), so they have no interest in Christ. But more of the story is shown in John 4. Many people are kept from God simply because they think they don’t belong... Continue Reading

My point is, the effects of the spiritual shift in our culture to a predominately Oneist view of the world are all around us.  According to Pew, those affected by that shift are often sitting right next to us during service at church.  Knowing this is, I think, the first step to speaking to the... Continue Reading

We need to be mindful of how we communicate these profound truths to children (and, let’s be honest, adults too). The emotional implications for some of the extremely dramatic language, imagery, and metaphors we use can be damaging. Jesus simply said, “Let the little children come unto me.” Not, “Compel them to come unto me... Continue Reading

Most of Jesus’s famous statements about the truthfulness and permanence of the Jewish scriptures—”not one iota will disappear from the Law until all is accomplished,” “the scriptures cannot be broken,” “it is written,” “the scriptures must be fulfilled,” “David, speaking by the Spirit,” and so on—give the impression of having been largely uncontroversial to their... Continue Reading

Given the choice between religious freedom and sexual expression, President Obama picked sexual expression. The Executive Order announced Friday and signed Monday contains no exceptions for faith-based contractors. It makes you wonder how long we can try to dodge bullets before our religious freedom is little more than a faint memory.   We dodged a bullet (for now at... Continue Reading

Heaven is a place of restoration. Weak hands are strengthened. Feeble knees find vitality again. Paradise is void of rheumatoid arthritis, prostate cancer, and all other effects of the fall that trouble mankind today. In heaven, “the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then shall the lame... Continue Reading

“Many contemporary forms of education privilege non-agonistic modes of discourse, seeking to avoid confrontation, combat, and threatening challenge, and to foster an inclusive, egalitarian, affirming, and safe community. People trained within such contexts are affirmed and protected from exposure to direct, forceful challenge and opposing voices. The modes of discourse privileged and taught within such... Continue Reading

“And it turns out that there are fewer hills to siege and die on than I thought. I thought there were few to begin with, but now I’m convinced there are fewer than the few I initially thought. And some of the hills worth dying on already have much better soldiers attacking them. So I’ve... Continue Reading