Evil things happen in this world, and yet God is still somehow sovereign. This is perhaps the hardest part of Christian theology to accept and understand. How is God sovereign over the persecution of Christians around the world, over the acts of ISIS, over world hunger and poverty, or over smaller evils like my own depression, pain, and anxiety? The answer might be eerily similar to the answer to how a perfectly good Father is sovereign over...
We believe what we sing, so it’s important to sing the most important doctrines of our faith. But I don’t think we give Jesus’ ascension the attention it deserves. Here is a beautiful hymn text that considers the Ascension biblically, theologically, and with implications for our lives, below with my comments: The author introduces us to the Ascended One with biblical allusions from the Psalms, most notably Psalm 24, from which Handel also helps us sing...
One morning, my brother Googled “Bible verses for anxiety.” Many of the people closest to him were being affected with crippling anxiety and he wanted to know how to help. 18% of American adults suffer from diagnosable anxiety disorders, and many more of us regularly experience anxiety of differing degrees and types. I want to add to the long list of explanations and solutions this thesis: We can find hope knowing that anxiety is at...
Both Nietzsche and the collective Christian witness proclaim messages of the redemption of humanity from its current state. But just as their worldviews are different, so are their messages of redemption. In fact, the two worldviews are so different that one’s message of redemption is incompatible with the other’s framework. In a world that has been influenced both by Nietzsche and Christianity, it’s important to sift through the differences. Although Nietzsche and Christianity understand redemption...
Now that school is out for summer (cue Alice Cooper) I’m back home working for my church as a youth ministry intern. As we began to plan for the summer and what we should teach on I recommended books like Colossians and Philippians. You know, something short and sweet that would be really encouraging. So when my youth pastor called me and told me we were going to be teaching through James this summer, 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...
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...
November, for those unaware, is National Adoption Month. For many American’s, adoption has transformed lives in many powerful ways. And for those of us who know the Lord, adoption is certainly one of the most powerful realities true about us today. In fact, J.I. Packer goes so far as to say that his summary answer to the question ‘What is a Christian?” is that a Christian “is one who ahs God as Father.”[1] I wouldn’t...
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