There's Beauty in the Bellow

Stop trying . You really should. What freedom can your own forgiveness really grant you? What meaning does it have anyway? Are you God? You make up your own moral code, you violate it, and now you find your own remission inadequate. Funny, isn't it? That you are enough to determine your own truth but not enough to keep it or clean up your failures? Psychopaths, for the record, are chillingly good at forgiving themselves My college pastor had this to say: when you confess your sins to God and you still carry guilt -- confess your unbelief. You might not like the sound of that, but I'll tell you: it sure gets you off that merry-go-round of confession and guilt. When you pray the words of that desperate father: I believe; help my unbelief! You remember how gracious Jesus was to that poor man and how He went and healed the child. Confessing your sins, even in private to all-knowing infinite God, is frightening. It's frightening to see yourself. Maybe your sins are small, bu...

I recently came across an article warning that The Bible Project has an insufficiently robust explanation of the Atonement. ( The Bible Project: Brilliant but Flawed ) I love  the Bible Project. The visuals are nice but I really love the depth and clarity of their content. Really, I prefer the podcasts. I appreciated the criticism because heretofore I've not seen any. And for all its perfections, it must  have some flaws. The author of the article ended by saying that he would not recommend TBP at all. I wouldn't go so far as that. But this instance was a good reminder as the Church deals with a new series of scandals: do not follow any one leader or thinker slavishly. Tim Keller believes in Old Earth Creationism. C.S. Lewis was an open theist. Greg Bausen had rather too large an ego. Martin Luther had some unsavory sentiments (antiSemitic if I remember correctly). Charles Spurgeon had some exegetical problems. Wayne Grudem might have some problems explaining the Trinity. ...

We've just marked Easter -- or rather, we've just entered Easter season which culminates in Ascension Day on May 10th. Apologetics on the necessity of Christ's gruesome death and the certainty and reasonableness of His Resurrection are a regular this time of year. And so I would like to remark on the elegance and vigor of Christian apologetics. Randy Newman spoke about evangelism and apologetics to our church a little while ago and my husband speedily bought his book, "Questioning Evangelism." Newman makes the case for a more Socratic approach to evangelism rather than the traditional Grab Them by the Collar and Give Them Hell, Buy Now! sales pitch. I'm very adverse to the latter. For one thing, it's generally too wrote. For another, it would require a personality change and I think those are harder to come by than sex changes, even in this age of redefinition. One hears over and over of atheists growing up in religious households where asking Why? ...