Latest Posts
-
Remembering Difficult Days: The 15th Anniversary of 9/11
Read more: Remembering Difficult Days: The 15th Anniversary of 9/11Yesterday marks the 15th anniversary of the September 11th terrorist attacks. After 15 years, the pain still stings the many families who lost loved ones on that day. The memories still haunt those who survived the attacks, and live with the trauma of the devastation. Memorials and moments of silence permeate the places where many…
-
Becoming friends with God and Abraham
Read more: Becoming friends with God and AbrahamWhy is Abraham called a friend of God? Here are some ideas: Isaiah says it, and James says that “doing good” has something to do with it. (Isa. 41:8; Jas. 2:23) Augustine describes friendship as a “sharing of the counsels of the heart.” (Edward C. Sellner Like a Kindling Fire: Meanings of Friendship in the Life and…
-
Robbing Ourselves of Joy: Entitlement or Grace?
Read more: Robbing Ourselves of Joy: Entitlement or Grace?“You deserve to be happy.” “You deserve someone who treats you well.” “You deserve to be taken care of.” “You deserve the best in life.” Problem: These don’t seem to be happening with much consistency. If there was any cry under which modern culture united, it would be the one that preaches humanity deserving to…
-
The Deadly Implications of Reading Scripture
Read more: The Deadly Implications of Reading ScriptureReading scripture has deadly implications. “For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before…
-
Decoding Kaepernick: American Idolatry and Settling for Symbols
Read more: Decoding Kaepernick: American Idolatry and Settling for SymbolsSymbols and their usage can be a powerful thing. Within literature, music, and film, symbolism is used to communicate a particular abstract truth by using concrete images. These mediums employ natural objects in order to discuss and explain ideas and truths that resonate deeply with us. Sometimes a symbol can be a building or a…
-
Reflections on Catfishing (Part One): Being Known By God
Read more: Reflections on Catfishing (Part One): Being Known By GodWhat does it mean to be known? I’ve been thinking a lot about how we all tend to project images of ourselves and how we all tend to create images of others. It’s something that compels me to get to know people on a more real basis, but it also compels me to be as…
-
What Is There to Desire? A Reflection of My Motivations
Read more: What Is There to Desire? A Reflection of My MotivationsWe all have at least one desire in our life. We may desire something as tangible as a job, a degree, or community. It may be a desire for something lost, like a loved one who has passed. Many times, our desires are motivational drives that help us reach the next goal in life. Whether…
-
Rule of the Community, the Prophet, and the Two Messiahs
Read more: Rule of the Community, the Prophet, and the Two MessiahsIn the Qumran text Rule of the Community it states, “They shall be judged by the first judgements in which the men of the Community began to be instructed, until the coming of the prophet and the Messiahs of Aaron and Israel” (1QS 9.10–11).1 We have here “the locus classicus for Qumran messianism.”2 Although this…
-
Jesus Is Coming Soon
Read more: Jesus Is Coming SoonJesus is coming soon. This is the Bible’s continual answer to the question of when our Lord will return to judge the wicked and vindicate the righteous. The Book of Revelation is part of an apocalyptic tradition that followed the exile of the Jewish people. Apocalyptic literature is often political in its form and theological…