Sixty years ago, when I was twelve years old, I did not know any child my age who had not had the same father and a mother from the time they were born. One neighbour boy was being raised by his grandmother; there was a highly publicized fund raisng effort every year for the orphange in … Continue reading Broken paradigms
Anabaptist
The great and terrible God
In order to reduce Christianity to moralistic, therapeutic deism, we must reduce God to a warm fuzzy, namby-pamby therapist whose only desire is to help us find relief from the emotional and existential complexes that befuddle our lives. That is not the way that the Bible describes Him. Nehemiah twice speaks of God as being … Continue reading The great and terrible God
Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?
There are two ways of reading the Bible. One way is to see it as a repository of morally edifying stories. One can label that the pietistic approach or the moralistic, therapeutic deism approach. The other approach is to see the Bible as a history of how God revealed, step by step, the redemption story. … Continue reading Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?
Giving an answer
But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear (1 Peter 3:15). The three highlighted words: “give an answer” are a translation of a single Greek word: apologia. The … Continue reading Giving an answer
The transformed mind
And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. Romans 12:2 The first phrase of this verse is often quoted by Mennonites; many words have been spoken over the pulpit and written … Continue reading The transformed mind
The path to Christian unity
Believers today are troubled – perhaps frustrated would be a better word – by the divisions among Christians. It was certainly never God’s plan for there to be these kinds of divisions (“there should be no schism in the body” 1 Corinthians 12:25). Yet schisms have been part of Christian history since shortly after the beginning. … Continue reading The path to Christian unity
How fast can you run?
In my last post, I spoke of living where the deer and the antelope roam. The antelope part was referring to the animal below, which I have always called a pronghorn antelope. Now it is reported that it is not a true antelope at all and should simply be called a pronghorn. Small herds of … Continue reading How fast can you run?
Two years later
I began this blog on June 8, 2012, not really knowing where I wanted to go with it, nor what to expect in the way of readership and reader reaction. Over a period of two years I have made 480 posts and the blog has received 13,047 views. Having started out with only a nebulous … Continue reading Two years later
Full of joy
[An excerpt from The True Knowledge of God by Dirk Philips, a co-worker of Menno Simons, written in 1558.] Where this love exists, there all that is good is found. Yea, there God is, who himself is love (1 John 4:8); there Christ dwells, there the Holy Spirit abides, there is the lovely gathering of … Continue reading Full of joy
I owe the Lord a morning song
Amos Herr (1816-1897) lived on a Lancaster county, Pennsylvania farm that had been in the Herr family since 1710 when his ancestors fist arrived from Europe. In addition to being a farmer, he was a minister of the local Mennonite congregation. One wintry Sunday morning about 150 years ago, he awoke to a raging blizzard … Continue reading I owe the Lord a morning song
Flatlander Faith 