When the Coronavirus pandemic descended upon us, one of the many musings that ran through my mind was: will any news story be able to knock this virus off the front page? Tragically, something has: the murder of George Floyd. God is ultimate reality. Therefore, there’s nothing we do that doesn’t relate to him. This is what…
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The year was 165 AD. Marcus Aurelius was emperor in Rome. A devastating epidemic swept through the empire. Some medical historians suspect it was the first appearance of smallpox in the West. Regardless of the actual disease, it was lethal. During the fifteen year duration of the epidemic, between a quarter and a third of the empire’s population…
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Those who aren’t familiar with the Christian gospel may not realize this, but the cross of Jesus Christ is a public statement about the sin of each individual human being. The bloodied and eviscerated body of Jesus Christ serves as a visual demonstration of the heinousness of my sin. In reflecting on this, Milton Vincent writes, “If…
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Friction occurs when the desires of my heart and my external reality are at odds with one another. In order to resolve the friction, we are prone to believe the best way to do this is to change our external reality. Think back to the temptation of Jesus in Luke 4. He’s fasted for forty…
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“I believe in God.” These are four simple words that seemingly say much. When we hear someone make a statement like this, we might even conclude that person is a Christian. But if there’s one thing the Bible teaches about human beings it’s this: our true nature is often more complicated than the words we…
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The book of Proverbs has a number of descriptions for a fool: mockers, simple, obstinate, troublemakers, and sluggards. What’s interesting about poetry, especially wisdom literature conveyed through poetry, is that the text paints a picture of its opposite simultaneously to the picture it paints by itself. So in Proverbs 6 we read, “Go to the…
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It’s Easter season. Perhaps this creates opportunity to give some thought to religion. And one concept even non-religious people ought to think about is the faulty idea that all religions are equally valid. There are a number of ways to approach the notion that “all religions are equally valid.” For instance, we could appeal to…
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The created things of this world typically fall into one of three categories, according to Steve Hoppe. They are: god, garbage, or gift. Here’s the deal: God created us in a such a way that we are shaped by what we worship and serve as ‘god’. For example, if we say “Aaron’s ‘god’ is sports.” What…
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I’m all in favor of communicating the Christian gospel as intelligibly as possible in cultures where the gospel may appear exceedingly foreign. We certainly do not want the gospel to come across that way at the cultural level. However, the rush and push to be “relevant” may possess a counter-productive force to it we’re overlooking….
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These days I’m itching quite a bit. I’ve battled eczema for 30+ years and winter is particularly troublesome. Even though scratching ceaselessly is terrible for my skin, scratching the itch is satisfying. It feels good. C.S. Lewis uses this imagery to describe pride. He writes: “The pleasure of pride is like the pleasure of scratching….
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