It is at least 50 years since C.S. Lewis wrote: “The greatest barrier I have met is the almost total absence from the minds of my audience of any sense of sin . . . We have to convince our hearers of the unwelcome diagnosis before we can expect then to welcome the news of … Continue reading Have we misdiagnosed the problem?
sin
Saved through childbearing
And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression. Notwithstanding she shall be saved in childbearing, if they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety (1 Timothy 2:14-15). These are Christmas verses. Here is why. In verse 14 and the first part of verse 15, the Apostle Paul … Continue reading Saved through childbearing
Follow on to know the Lord
A teenage girl is convinced that she is pregnant and about to become the mother of baby Jesus, even though her mother, her doctor and an ultrasound all assure her that she is not pregnant at all. Why is this news? I suppose the media think this is one more way of poking fun at … Continue reading Follow on to know the Lord
Raised eyebrow Christians
I was going to write supercilious, but that's just a fancy latin word meaning raised eyebrows. So I decided to speak plain English. There was a time in my mid-twenties when I was quite sure that everyone who claimed to be born again thought they were better than anyone else. Then there came a time … Continue reading Raised eyebrow Christians
A Christian’s greatest enemy is inside of him
The apostle Paul knew it: "For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not." John Newton knew it: "In defiance of my best judgment and best wishes, I find something within … Continue reading A Christian’s greatest enemy is inside of him
Useful idiots
Russian Communism always had a throng of loyal and vocal supporters in the Western World. These were progressively minded people who endorsed the social experiment being carried out in Russia and who were blind to the brutality of the regime and the fact that conditions were not improving for the common man. They wanted so … Continue reading Useful idiots
Nature: red of tooth and claw
Welcome guests: Unwelcome guests: The welcome mat is out in our yard for goldfinches, swallows and all of our beautiful native songbirds. We wish that there was some way to convince the murderous English sparrows that they are not welcome here. For several years we have had swallows nesting in … Continue reading Nature: red of tooth and claw
The love of God
[The following words were written 19 centuries ago, not long after the time of the apostles. It is part of what is known as The Letter to Diognetus. Neither the author of the letter, nor Diognetus, have ever been satisfactorily identified, but the letter breathes an authentic and dynamic faith. Shouldn't those two qualities still … Continue reading The love of God
We Bleed, All The Way Up
"We live in a disordered, chaotic, fractured, fallen world where the current of sin devours everything." I love that phrase and it pretty much sums up the thoughts that were going through my mind today. I was sitting with my wife as the chemotherapy drugs were dripping into her bloodstream and meditating on the twisted … Continue reading We Bleed, All The Way Up
The healing power of forgiveness
There is a great peace that comes over us when God forgives our sins, a release from the load of guilt that we have been carrying and a soothing of the pangs of conscience. Yet we tend to soon forget the caveat that comes with this peace: " But if ye forgive not men their … Continue reading The healing power of forgiveness
Flatlander Faith 