The American government has (partially) shut down, and the internet is buzzing! Is this a breakdown of democracy? Are the Republicans acting like spoiled children, having lost the game but refusing to give up the ball. Or is it the Democrats fault, shoving through some unrealistic piece of trash and then insisting it be implemented? These are the kinds of serious questions currently sweeping across my Facebook news-feed. The fury with which frames these kinds...
The Huffington Post recently published an article thanking the parents of young children for bringing their kids to church because of all that it teaches us about being part of the Body of Christ. I couldn’t agree more. Specifically, I think of all the things the children in our church have taught me about the Eucharist. When you take the Eucharist surrounded by children, you experience theological truths in the flesh. You see them brought...
My name is Brad Blakeley—I’m a graduate of Biola’s Master of Apologetics program, a teaching pastor at the Church at Lake Mead (C@LM), a high school teacher at Lake Mead Christian Academy, and an adjunct professor at Lincoln Christian University Las Vegas Extension campus—and I recently had the privilege of interviewing Sean McDowell, who is listed among the top 100 Christian apologists in the world. McDowell is a gifted communicator with a passion for reaching...
In my quest to uncover Philo of Alexander’s thought concerning the education of young people (my PhD Thesis topic), I found some interesting things in Aristotle’s Politics I thought I would share. Aristotle thought the soul had two parts. The first was the irrational (αλογον) part. The second the rational (λογον) part. His idea was that the irrational part of the soul needed to be trained and tempered before the rational part could engage in the important work of...
My wife and I will be celebrating our 2 year anniversary in October. The last two years have found us discussing, exploring, and analyzing marriage, both as a concept and our own experience. We have attended 2 marriage conferences, participated in a couple’s dinner at our church, read numerous books on the topic, and I have even had the privilege of officiating one wedding ceremony with another coming in the near future. We have learned...
My wife and I are expecting our first baby this December. Right now he is a little 2.5 lb boy kicking around and, we imagine, enjoying himself. A couple of weeks ago one of my wife’s coworkers was diagnosed with cancer. She died last night. Two weeks ago she was in the office, feeling a bit unwell, and now she is gone. Life and death. I am constantly amazed at how strange and remarkable these...
“Your love never fails. It never gives up. It never runs out on me.”* I stood, watching a gym full of hundreds of college students, singing these words of praise and truth. Arms-raised, dancing, clapping, and shouting – I admired their passion. The pulsing drums, the rocking guitars, the melodic keyboard, and the passionate vocals all came together to celebrate God’s relentless love. I joined them in singing these words, and I remembered sitting in...
“What is needed is a realization that power without love is reckless and abusive, and that love without power is sentimental and anemic. Power at its best, power at its best is love implementing the demands of justice, and justice at its best is love correcting everything that stands against love. And this is what we must see as we move on.”
-Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. from “Where do We Go From Here?” Delivered at the 11th Annual SCLC Convention, August 16th, 1967
Occasionally, I seem to think that I’ve got stuff pretty much worked out. I go through my life thinking that if I just make everybody at work happy, keep my family satisfied, advance myself somehow either in my career or educationally, if I just work hard enough or think long enough or talk with enough people that somehow I’m okay. Simon and Garfunkel had the lyric, “I am a rock. I am an island.” I...
“Hey Tanner, remind me of the ministry opportunities you have at your church again?” asked Andrew, who followed up his question with his warm, yet focused and expectant stare through his thin framed glasses. “Oh, well, the primary help I try to provide is in organizing and planning different outreach ministries that our church seeks to get involved in.” Andrew and I have grown to be closer in the later chapters of our seminary days,...
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