A pastor once told me that God’s people are simply pawns in his ultimate plan to glorify himself. Seriously. He said “pawns.” That would be a great metaphor if chess players actually loved their pawns, but they don’t. The world’s greatest chess player never loved his pawns, much less died for them. So when I asked him about his semantic mishap, he said perhaps it’s better to say we’re “incidental” to God’s plan. I’ve heard...
Was Jesus always nice? OK, so it’s not the deepest theological question we’ve ever tackled here at The Two Cities. But it’s an important one. Because, above all, the world expects Christians to be nice. Forget about holiness, evangelism and social justice. Just be nice. But if Christians bear any resemblance to Christ (and we should), we won’t always be nice—at least not by man’s standard. Spend a little time with your Bible and you’ll...
“You know, I think every pastor should study sociology,” suggested Daniel[1], “that’s what I studied in college: if you really knew about communities and how people work, you could… well, pastors are leading groups of people- they need to know this stuff!” Such was the opinion of a customer of mine from last week as we helped him with his business transaction. “Sure, sociology would be helpful,” I thought, “but… theology more so. Were I...
If “aw shucks” inclusivistic sincerity were enough to commend a soul to heaven, hell would starve. Unfortunately, Joel Osteen’s “gospel” is enough to populate hell. Recently, the pastor of the nation’s largest church, Lakewood Church (Houston, TX) was interviewed by Wolf Blitzer on CNN’s “The Situation Room.” Blitzer asked Osteen whether or not Romney, a Mormon, was a Christian. Osteen’s answer was not surprising. He said, “When I hear Mitt Romney say that he believes...
This Labor Day, under the touching glow of a setting pacific sundown, invest some time reading a little primer entrusted to be by a dear friend- A Biblical Case for Natural Law, by Westminster Professor of Systematic Theology and Christian Ethics David Van Drunen. You’re probably thinking this post is a review of this book. Or, at least it’s on the subject of Natural Law. It’s not. For the record, after reading the book, I...
Without knowing it, I grew up believing in a quasi-Wesleyan form of Arminianism. When I went to college, and was exposed to Calvinism for the first time, I was very hostile. I was undoubtedly the most obnoxious Arminian on campus my freshman year. Eventually I came to a point where I decided to be open-minded. That alone was a big step for me. So during my sophomore year of college I decided to study the...
Whether you know it or not you’re an idol. Many people have role models and they call these people idols. At the moment the world is watching the greatest athletes competing in the Olympics. Many of these athletes are ‘idolized’ in their home countries. This year American television audiences are gearing up for the tenth anniversary of the hit show American Idol where new stars are born. Many of us have role models and idols. When...
Last week I watched a few episodes of “Beyond Scared Straight,” the reality show that follows a group of rebellious teens to prison, where they get a taste of life behind bars. Aside from being thoroughly entertained, I learned a lot about false hopes and society’s view of redemption. The show introduces us to fresh-faced juvies caught up in drugs, sex and gangs. Their parents enroll them in prison programs designed to scare the shiz...
My wife took her first philosophy class at her southern California high school. Along with many other historical figures in philosophy, her teacher lectured on Kant. Unfortunately, the only thing that she can remember about Kant is the phrase, “Kant was a real pisant.” To be honest, I have found that this sort of reaction to Kant’s philosophy is pretty common. Michael Slote in his book Essays on the History of Ethics has a chapter...
This year on the 24th of April, Armenia remembers the 97th anniversary of the displacing of 250 influential Armenian citizens from the Ottoman capital city in 1915. This event was the pivotal beginnings of what would be later called the Armenian Genocide. During the Genocide, which took place from 1915 to 1923, Turks massacred two thirds of the Armenian population. That was nearly one and a half million Armenians. These murders were implemented through the...
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