Why “Christianity,” “Judaism,” and “Islam” are Misnomers

I was sitting in my office the other day gazing rather absent-mindedly at my library when my eye caught a book I hadn’t looked at in a while: Handbook of Denominations in the United States. I had to get this book in seminary for a church history class. Back then it was 320 pages long and described 225...

Living Together: Racial Reconciliation is a Christian Imperative

In my last post I wanted to point out that either elation or despair by Christians over the election of Donald Trump indicated that a person had probably put their hope for the future of our country—and perhaps the world—in someone other than Jesus. That is not to say that the election doesn’t have...

Why God Hates Sameness

“Nature abhors a vacuum.” Or so we’ve been told. I read somewhere recently—I honestly can’t remember where—that some physicists or astronomists or quantum theorists or some other kind of -ists are questioning the foundation of that very firm law of the universe. But I don’t understand much of what I read by...

Five Things I Think I Think About Politicians “Wooing” Evangelicals

Presidential candidate Donald Trump invited 1,000 evangelical leaders to meet with him last week, and the media coverage—both traditional and social media—had all kinds of takes on it. I’ve watched this happen my entire life as an evangelical pastor—the wooing of evangelicals by politicians and the wooing...

Why Different Doesn’t Matter

What distinction was Paul trying to make between the Law and faith in Romans? For years it was assumed that the Law was about earning your salvation while faith was about receiving it by grace. But Israelite religion was never about earning God’s favor—that favor was given to them through God’s choosing of...

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