These are two of my recent reads, with titles that seem to need a little explanation. Randy Newman's book, Questioning Evangelism, is not about questioning the value of evangelism, which might be your first impression. Rather, he is advocating asking questions as a means of evangelism. Forty-five years ago, Tom Skinner published a book entitled … Continue reading Intriguing book titles
Feeling a bit groggy this morning?
Maybe you should move to Saskatchewan. We ditched Daylight Saving Time more than 50 years ago. More and more studies are demonstrating just how useless is this business of turning the clocks ahead one hour. It does nothing to reduce energy costs, which has been its stated purpose from the beginning. What it does do … Continue reading Feeling a bit groggy this morning?
Freedom of the will
Freedom of choice means that I am at liberty to do as I please. Nevertheless, I learn every day in small ways that the choices I make have consequences; and the choices that other people make often have consequences that affect me. Why then should I not expect that consequences might not only be immediate, … Continue reading Freedom of the will
Antichrist
The word antichrist appears in only four verses of the Bible, three in 1 John and one in 2 John. In the Authorized Version it is never preceded by the definite article. There are mentions of "the spirit of antichrist", "an antichrist" and "many antichrists". Rather than being an individual who appears at the end … Continue reading Antichrist
The brief career of a fervent preacher
Levi Young was born in Eastern Pennsylvania in 1841. The date of his conversion is not known, but he became a member of a small Mennonite denomination at the age of 21. Not long after, he became an itinerant minister and evangelist in that group. He never married. He was on fire for the Lord, … Continue reading The brief career of a fervent preacher
Simplicity of the church
It was a fine summer day in 1627 and I was strolling through Plimoth Plantation when deacon Samuel Fuller fell in step beside me. "The church officials back in England are saying that we have no business calling ourselves a church here in Massachusetts, because we have no minister," he said. "But a church is … Continue reading Simplicity of the church
Yes, I’m Mennonite, and Why That’s Not the Point
I wish I had written this. Like the young lady who wrote this article, I wish to portray to people that Mennonites are "quite dreadfully ordinary." I am a more or less normal Canadian guy who became a Mennonite 40 years ago because I believed the Mennonite faith to be the most authentic expression of … Continue reading Yes, I’m Mennonite, and Why That’s Not the Point
Going paperless
In school we learned poems about log drives in Quebec. Loggers worked all winter in the forests and in the spring the logs were floated down the rivers to the paper mills. That is history, nothing but folklore anymore. There are still lumber mills; there are mills producing tissue paper, computer paper, glossy magazine paper, … Continue reading Going paperless
Meeting God in His Word
I grew up in a home where the Bible was read every day and we attended the Anglican Church every Sunday. I became a member of that church when I was 11; a few years later I became an altar boy and continued faithfully until I moved away from home to attend university. There was … Continue reading Meeting God in His Word
Poverty + Prejudice ≠ Hopelessness
Some years ago I read an article in Ebony magazine written by a man who had grown up in one of the worst black tenement ghettos in Chicago. Drug dealing, crime and violence were the everyday reality and the police felt the area was too dangerous to send in individual officers to patrol. Like almost … Continue reading Poverty + Prejudice ≠ Hopelessness
Flatlander Faith 