Category: The Christian Spirit

Reflections on living as a disciple of Christ.

America’s Jeremiah Moment

  

From the heart today. Well, everything I write is from the heart, but this one is burning within. I have been doing my best to warn conservatives—and Christian conservatives, in particular—about giving any aid, verbal or otherwise, to the candidacy of Donald Trump. Some of you, I’m sure, are tired of hearing my warnings. No one has responded to my warnings with anger, I don’t believe, yet I’m still astonished by people I certainly love and respect giving room to… Read more »

Lewis: Beyond Mere Moral Duty

  

In the C. S. Lewis course I’m currently teaching, we just completed reading and discussing his autobiography, Surprised By Joy. Although I hoped the students would be impacted by it, I was pleasantly surprised (by joy?) how much it seemed to impress them. Their observations went beyond simple repetition of facts; most felt that God was speaking to them personally through Lewis. We’re now turning our attention to some of the key chapters in Mere Christianity. I’ll be looking forward… Read more »

C. S. Lewis: The Christian & Money

  

C. S. Lewis’s attitude toward money is fascinating. He was no economist, and if he could have lived without having to think about money ever again, he would have been most happy. In his early years, before he became famous, he had to be very careful with his expenses, so one might think that when the money started rolling in after the publication of his quite popular books, he could have relaxed and used all that extra funding as a… Read more »

The Moral Majority?

  

My main reason for writing this blog–its only real purpose–is to bring the Christian message to the forefront as we contemplate the state of our culture and the society in general. Within me resides a hope, which I trust comes from the Giver of All Hope, that what I write can aid, in whatever small way, in restoring a Biblical pattern of thinking that will, in turn, strengthen the foundations upon which our society is built. I believe there are… Read more »

Doing Away with Childish Thinking

  

“All politicians are the same.” “We need to fire all of the bums.” “There’s not a dime’s worth of difference between the parties.” “We need someone outside of politics to lead us.” Those are the refrains I’m hearing constantly. They stem from anger and frustration with the current mess. I agree that we currently have a mess. Yet I don’t use those phrases. Why not? I find them to be emotionally driven, intellectually lazy comments. Christians, in particular, need to… Read more »

Lewis: Loving God, Loving Others–A Matter of Priority

  

What is the proper relationship between one’s love for God and love for others? C. S. Lewis warns us that it’s very easy to want to see someone else as the focus of our love, but that we will always be disappointed. As he puts it in The Great Divorce, Human beings can’t make one another really happy for long. . . . You cannot love a fellow-creature fully till you love God. . . . No natural feelings are… Read more »

Lewis: The Real “Love Wins”

  

The word “love” is being tossed around these days in a loose manner. We’re now informed we have to apply it to same-sex marriage, even while the Scripture is perfectly clear that depravity is not to be equated with love. Love is not a fleeting emotion, nor even a lifelong affection. Yes, you might differentiate between types of love, as C. S. Lewis does in his book The Four Loves, but when we are talking about God’s love—the kind of… Read more »