Christian Living

Broken is the promise, betrayal / The healing hand held back by the deepened nail / Follow the god that failed  -Metallica (I strongly recommend that you listen to all the music that I link to here, it will make it far easier to grasp the points I’m making.) I suspect that most people who are not rock fans have no idea that Metallica wrote a song about the Exodus. The story is that their original bassist saw the death of the firstborn in The 10 Commandments , said something l

The Changing Religious Landscape In the past couple of years, we have seen a new interest in Christianity from the younger generations. This is an exciting turn of events for the Church which has lost the interest of many young people. However, though this may seem like a turn in the tides, the overall trend in the past 20 years has seen a steep decline in US adults who identify as Christians and those who attend church. This has been due to the extreme secularization of our

As I sat down to write a review of Brandan Robertson’s book Queer and Christian (see review here: Queer and Christian Review ) I quickly came to the realization that I would need to choose between reviewing the book and refuting the arguments. While I addressed some of the arguments in the review I left much on the cutting room floor. However, given that Robertson declares that the arguments he offers in this book are, “…the best arguments to disarm the anti-queer interpreta

“Hey, stop judging me! You can’t judge me and my beliefs!” How many times have we heard something like this? The implication of such exclamations are clear: someone’s personal beliefs about religion or morality are off limits—they cannot be discerned to be right or wrong. Beliefs are subjective and thus true for some and not others. Such a sentiment fences off one’s beliefs from being analyzed and weighed for validity. But is it true that we should not judge others' beliefs?

A raised eyebrow. A scratching of the head. A looking down the nose. A stare. That is what I often get from Christians in the American church. Sure, I know it’s weird to have five degrees (especially a PhD in philosophy) and serve as a pastor, but I evidently underestimated the respect and honor that such weirdness required. “Why do you need those degrees? The apostles didn’t have any, and in fact, they never went to school. They were dumb fishermen.” So goes the lullaby as

The Book of Job has challenged generations of Christians with one of the most difficult questions in life. Why is there suffering in the world? Why do good people go through hardship? The Book of Job is unique for its approach to these questions, as compared to the rest of the Wisdom books—Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Songs. Unlike the rest of the wisdom literature, which mostly present a black and white view of good and evil, the Book of Job presents an often

Introduction             Romans 3:23 is one of the Bible’s most memorized—and most sobering—verses, displaying the depth of sin in humanity. But is that all there is to Romans 3:23—just bad news? Or is there a glimpse of hope buried deep in it? Romans 3:23 encapsulates Paul’s discourse from 1:18-3:20 <1> ; Paul writes in Romans 3:23, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”. Paul uses this verse to capture the point that all people, both Jews and Gentiles, are

This weekend, the community I call home in Central Nebraska was rocked by an unspeakable tragedy. Though I currently live in Kearney, Holdrege is my hometown. It’s where I was raised. It’s where my parents, my sister and her family, my sister-in-law and her family, my aunt and uncle, my cousins, and many of my closest lifelong friends still live. I was just at church in Holdrege yesterday. This is more than news to me—it’s personal. Over the weekend, in nearby Johnson Lake, J

“I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen—not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.” — C.S. Lewis “I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen—not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.” — C.S. Lewis Similarly, I believe in perfect being theology as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see the maximal greatness of God, but because by it I see everything else. That lens ha

Why I Traded a Beautiful Sig for a Glock—and What It Taught Me About Faith, Evidence, and Epistemic Integrity “I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen—not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.” “I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen—not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.” — C.S. Lewis Ever since I first saw Han Solo draw his blaster with confident swagger, I’ve been hooked. No

There was a time, back in my “cage-stage Calvinist” days, when I didn’t think Catholics were really Christians at all. In fact, I was quick to label the Catholic Church as little more than a cult. I had been told (and believed) that Catholics worship Mary and the saints, that they pray to human beings rather than to the Creator of the universe. From where I stood at the time, it seemed obvious: this was idolatry. This was not Christianity. But the more I studied—especially a

“No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.” — 1 Corinthians 10:13 (ESV) One of the clearest affirmations of human freedom in Scripture is found in Paul’s first letter to the Corinthian church. Here, the apostle addresses a body of already saved believers—not unbelievers in need of regenerat

Suffering is a universal part of life—and no one escapes it, though we may try. But despite our best efforts, we all experience suffering in some capacity. Knowing this does not make it easy, however. Whether it comes through disease, death, injury, disaster, or persecution, we all struggle to endure it, which is why we need the support of not only God but also our brothers and sisters in Christ. We need the Church. Yet despite the Church’s long history of persecution and pai

Introduction In previous articles, I have written about Paul’s view on suffering and how the Church is to handle times of pain and trials. What we can understand from what Paul tells us, and from our own experience, is no one escapes suffering in this life. We all have had pain or opposition in our lives and that is unavoidable, especially for Christians. At times it can seem odd that the servants of a loving God experience pain and troubles. Even the greatest of Christ’s ser

Paul's Theology of Suffering We have thus far studied the two parts of Paul’s theology of suffering: Paul on suffering , and imitating Christ and Paul . Imitating Christ is a vital part of our lives as Christians. Christians are not to merely assent to the truth of Christianity and that Christ is Lord; we are to take part in our faith through imitating Christ. <1> As believers, we imitate Christ through the shape of our lives; we imitate him through life, death, and resurrect

Introduction We live in a world full of suffering, of which the Church is not excluded. For that reason, the Church must understand the role suffering takes in our lives and how it should shape our understanding of Christianity and participation in our faith. Examples and lessons on suffering permeate the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, which the major biblical characters also experience. Among these examples, and by no means the least of them, is the apostle Paul. Through

Introduction As we near the end of Advent season and move steadily closer to the joyful celebration of our Lord's birth, it seems appropriate to think about a particular work of one of the greatest authors in the modern era, Charles Dickens. The work that is so pertinent, one of the most popular Christmas stories being retold in countless movies, plays, and musicals, is A Christmas Carol . The wonderfully moving, redemptive story of Ebeneezer Scrooge. Though it may seem odd t

It astonishes me that so many Christians are turning a blind eye to the evil threatening their neighbors today. Many are presenting a poor witness to the watching world by refusing to use their God-given power to protect both their neighbors and the least of these. As I recently explained in Voting and the Parable of the Good Samaritan : "By refusing to use their God-given power to oppose the profound and objective evil threatening their neighbors — whom Jesus commanded them

We live in a troubled world, a world that is plagued by sin which leads to pain and suffering. This state of the world is nothing new, it has gone on since the fall of man. The entirety of humankind from Adam to us have dealt with a variety of suffering as a result of this fall. However, though we do not live in a more sinful time, for every age has overflowed with sinfulness, we seem to be facing a different struggle. Our society is fighting a battle of the mind, and losing

As Christians we are used to being told that we need to be leading godly lives. We know we should be following in Christ’s example. But what does that look like? Is it praying, studying scripture, attending and serving at church? These are all good things that we should do and they should be a response from our faith in Christ, but they are themselves not the core qualities a Christian should have. In 2 Peter 1:5-7 , we are given eight qualities that a Christian should have a