“Doing theology” often implies that we understand God better than the apostles or their disciples, and Jesus would really have benefited from a background in textual criticism. But has everything orthodox already been taught? Read the rest of this entry »
I worked in a bookkeeping department for about a year. Every week I had to make one large bank deposit. I totaled up the checks, recorded their bank routing numbers on the deposit slip, then totaled them up again.
My first day on the job, the two totals didn’t match. I was angry and frustrated. This isn’t fair, I thought to myself, this is somebody’s fault. Read the rest of this entry »
The Bible is most often read like a greeting card, whose only purpose is to warm the heart regardless of whether or not its sentiments apply to you. We bend the meaning of the Scripture to fit our own experience. When the Bible describes how God’s people must live, instead of asking, “Am I one of God’s people? Is that how I live?” we declare, “Since I am one of God’s people, that is how I live.” That we may not be part of God’s people is not considered a possibility.
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“Love God, and do as you like, say the free spirits. Yes; but as long as you like anything contrary to God’s will, you do not love Him.”
“You shall find this to be God’s usual course: not to give his children the taste of his delights till they begin to sweat in seeking after them.”
– Richard Baxter
More people are afraid of dentists than they are of death. Maybe that’s because they believe dentists are more real than death. As much as possible, we want death to be handled by institutions such as hospitals and mortuaries. Otherwise we might have to face our own mortality.
Small town weekly newspapers still print that old American slogan in their church news sections: “Attend the church of your choice.” Personally, I couldn’t trust myself to do that. Read the rest of this entry »
“A time is coming when men will go mad, and when they see someone who is not mad, they will attack him, saying, ‘You are mad; you are not like us.'”
– Anthony the Great
