Rejecting Jesus for All the Wrong Reasons

I’m tired of people rejecting Jesus for all the wrong reasons. Whatever else you may say about the Romans and the temple leaders in 1st century Israel, at least they rejected Jesus for the right reasons. Pilate and Caiaphas may have been power-hungry, exploitative, greedy, fearful, violent and...

Joseph and the Egyptian Slaves

In most ancient literature, the heroes tend to be very good, with few flaws, while the villains tend to be very bad with few redeeming qualities. Not so in the Bible. Jesus’ disciples are good guys with major flaws—Judas’s betrayal, Peter’s denial, Thomas’s doubting. Paul is a former murderer. David, a man...

Getting Rich on Human Suffering

Years ago there was a guy I knew who owned and operated a small finance company. He loaned money to individuals, generally people who couldn’t get a loan from a bank because of various reasons—inconsistent employment, insufficient annual income, bad credit history, etc. Of course, he charged them a higher...

Individualism and the Curse of Isolation

One of the hallmarks of Western civilization and the Enlightenment worldview is individualism, the recognition that each individual is a person of value and worth and “has certain inalienable rights.” Individualism actually has its roots in Christianity; that God numbers the hairs on our heads, that he...

The Full Tithe and Caring for the Poor

Listen to any sermon series on stewardship and invariably Malachi 3:8-10 will be invoked. It makes for a powerful message: it has an accusation—if you don’t give at least 10% to the church, you are robbing God (vs. 8-9); it has clear instructions—“Bring the full tithe into the storehouse” (vs. 10a); and it...

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