Stories organize our lives, and the stories that won’t or can’t do that are false stories. The stories that orient us, that place us back where we should have been, the stories that bring redemption, are called true stories. They go by other names if you listen to the tellers of false stories — legends, …
Looking Over a Fence
God is light and in Him is no darkness at all (1 John 1:5). We bow before the One who dwells in unapproachable light (1 Tim. 6:16). He is the perfection of all light. But, in keeping with our theme in this series, we have skewed views of what perfection is really like. We want, …
Marduk and the Trinity
The issue is not whether God is perfect, but rather whether we have a firm grasp of what perfection actually means. We have a tendency to measure everything by our own blinkered experience and, once persuaded that something in the divine life is different from what we now know and experience, we are morally certain …
State of the Church 2009
INTRODUCTION: As we consider God’s ongoing kindnesses to us as a congregation, we need to be sure to grasp more than just the “facts.” We need also to have a biblical paradigm for processing those facts—otherwise we will radically misinterpret what is happening to us. THE TEXT: “But this I confess unto thee, that after …
Are You Crazy?
One of our most difficult intellectual problems is that of letting the Bible define perfection. Instead of this, we persist in bringing along our own notions of perfection in order to impose them on the Bible, and particularly on the Garden of Eden. And this seems okay, just so long as we don’t push it …
Best Christmas in 28 Years
Once a traveler from a far land came to visit our country, and he arrived here about a week before Christmas. He was not a tourist, or a businessman, and he was not visiting family. He could best be described as an amateur anthropologist. He simply wanted to come to America in the midst of …
The First Violence
The first act of violence in our world’s history was done to Adam by God. God placed Adam into a deep coma-like sleep, opened up his side, and removed a rib, from which He fashioned Eve (Gen. 2:21-22). This happened before the Fall, and the bloodshed involved was therefore not a consequence of sin. Having …
Accountability in Church Government
“I wrote to the church, but Diotrephes, who love to have the preeminence among them, does not receive us” (John the Apostle) Because the world is a fallen place, it is not surprising that what we call “accountability” is necessary. Because of the scriptural teaching about the fallen nature of man, even when such a …
And a Merry Christmas to You Too, Christopher
Christopher Hitchens is over at Slate, bah humbugging away like crazy. I know, that’s what he always does, but here he is more focused, and the subject is Christmas, which is where bah humbugs are more appropriately out of place. If you know what I mean. And the issue, of course, is not tinsel, or …
The Four-Office View
The local church is where most Christians come into contact with the government of the church, and, not surprisingly, there is considerable debate about the government of the local church. The purpose here is to sketch some the various positions that have been taken, and give a few scriptural indications of what I believe to …