We left out friends in Alberta just after 4:00 PM to return home to Saskatchewan. We stopped for supper at Provost and when we got back out on the highway this great white moon was straight in front of us and just above the horizon. There was a little bite out of the left size … Continue reading Driving home beneath the lunar eclipse
Christianity
The Logos
Why do we have four gospels? Wouldn't it be enough to tell the story once? Evidently Matthew, Mark, Luke and John didn't think so and the early church agreed that they all merited a place in the Holy Scriptures. Some skeptics have claimed to find discrepancies and disagreements in the accounts, but these all disappear … Continue reading The Logos
Intellectualism, reason and faith
Intellectualism is the idea that all truth can be discovered by reasoning. René Descartes started with "I think, therefore I am," and proceeded down this line of reasoning to discover all that was worth knowing, to his own satisfaction at least. The fatal flaw in this is that God is considered as irrelevant and thus … Continue reading Intellectualism, reason and faith
Is Christian humilty the same thing as stoicism or zen buddhism?
Consider the following: "Humility is perfect quietness of heart. It is for me to feel no trouble, never be fretted, or vexed, or irritated, or sore, or disappointed. It is to expect nothing, to wonder at nothing that is done to me, to feel nothing done against me. It is to be at rest when … Continue reading Is Christian humilty the same thing as stoicism or zen buddhism?
Jesus is not my enforcer
"My Dad could beat up on your Dad any day!" "Oh yeah? My Dad would just clobber your old man!" Are conversations like that still heard on schoolyards? They were common when I was a boy, little boys trying to establish superiority over others, based on their fathers' credentials. I never joined in those taunts, … Continue reading Jesus is not my enforcer
What is wrong with the world?
"Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him"(1 John 2:15). The Bible has a lot to say about the world and the danger there is if Christians become worldly. Why? What is there about the world … Continue reading What is wrong with the world?
The sad condition of man
Man is neither angel nor beast, and it is unfortunately the case that anyone trying to act the angel acts the beast. -Blaise Pascal
Inhumanity in the name of God
Anyone who pays attention to the news these days cannot help but be appalled by the brazen, boastful brutality of ISIS, skilfully orchestrated for the maximum in publicity value. If a belief in progress and the advance of civilization had led us to think that such things could never happen again, this should be a … Continue reading Inhumanity in the name of God
The pursuit of happiness
Times are tough for writers today. Every writers' group and every writers' conference tells us that no publisher will even look at a book manuscript unless the author has an impressive "writer's platform." That would consist of a blog with at least 10,000 followers and a similar presence on Facebook and Twitter. And then there … Continue reading The pursuit of happiness
John Wycliffe, as seen by Geoffrey Chaucer
In 1367, when John Wycliffe taught at Canterbury Hall, Oxford, one of his students was Geoffrey Chaucer. These two men had a great influence on the development of the English language. In later years, John Wycliffe produced the first translation of the Bible into the English language, and Chaucer produced the first literary work … Continue reading John Wycliffe, as seen by Geoffrey Chaucer