Category: The Christian Spirit

Reflections on living as a disciple of Christ.

Speaking Boldly About Ultimate Truth

  

I read through the book of Isaiah recently. It’s poignant in so many ways. It has provided encouragement to speak boldly about ultimate truth. Most blogs that focus on politics and government don’t delve into ultimate truth, but merely comment on events from a distinct political perspective. My mission from God [that’s not boasting, by the way; all Christians have a mission, and all nonchristians have one waiting for them if they submit their lives to Him] is to place… Read more »

Christians & Politics: Cynicism or Faithfulness?

  

For years I have been trying to encourage political participation—or at least political awareness—among Christians. While there are many who have seen the light on this, some still remain on the sidelines, allowing what once was a drift in the wrong direction to turn into a tsunami. Sometimes, I hear the refrain that it makes no difference, all politicians are the same, so there’s no point in trying. I must admit, when one surveys the political field, it can be… Read more »

Oregon’s Christian Martyrs

  

While there are so many angles one can take when writing about the horrific murders on that Oregon community college campus yesterday, only one came to the forefront of my mind: the Christian witness of those who were murdered. According to multiple eyewitness accounts, we know the murderer demanded to know the religious beliefs of his potential victims. If they stated they were Christians, he then shot them in the head. After hearing of this, it was as if God… Read more »

The Christian Witness to the World

  

The arrival of Pope Francis in America takes me back in my thoughts to an earlier era when a pope who grew up under communism and understood the horrors of socialist practices worked with an American president who was a Protestant (with a Catholic father) and a British prime minister who was tutored all her early years by her Methodist shopkeeper father (and who later said that C. S. Lewis was one of her spiritual mentors) to overthrow the Soviet… Read more »

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 »