How to Know that you Really Know Something

It’s maddening when a person answers a question with another question. A time or two is all right, but it’s frustrating when they do it all the time. Add this to the reasons that Jesus can be quite frustrating. I read somewhere that in the gospels Jesus was asked 183 questions and only gave 3 answers while...

Pursuing an Impossible Future

Walter Brueggeman, in The Prophetic Imagination, points out that the defining characteristic of the biblical prophets was not the ability to predict the future, especially not in the Nostradamus-type way that we tend to think of it in modern times. Neither was their role primarily that of acting as the...

Cheapening the Gospel

We’ve made the Gospel all about life after death, and in doing so we’ve cheapened the Gospel. The Gospel is cheapened when we make the stakes very low. Think about it: if the Gospel is right, believing in Jesus means we avoid Hell and get to live in Heaven for the rest of our lives. If the Gospel is wrong,...

Strength for Whatever

“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” –Philippians 4:13. This is one of those Bible verses you find on those little daily flip calendars with pretty pictures and a different Scripture each day to inspire us to face our day with courage, optimism, and a go-get-‘em attitude. I doubt...

Brooding Spirit of Creation

Theologians like to use sophisticated words like “transcendence” and “immanence” when talking about the fact that God is outside of the world yet continually active in it. The ancient Jewish writers of Scripture, however, talked about the same things by painting word pictures. Word pictures are much cooler...