Reflections on God … Man … Life
As a Christian I believe that salvation is offered to all who will acknowledge the sin in their lives, sincerely repent of it, and put their faith in the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ on the cross. I believe, as Jesus told the woman caught in adultery, that we are then obliged to “go and sin no more.” Further, I believe that no sin is outside the circle of God’s forgiveness. The sin of homosexuality is no exception. And the… Read more »
I have taught Biblical principles in my courses for the past twenty-seven years. I’ve wanted my students to understand that we must look deeper than outward appearances when we scrutinize historical events. A principle is a source or origin of anything; it is a general truth, that is, a truth that is so broad and sweeping that many other truths can be considered off-shoots of it. The idea of general truths that apply to all of society formerly had wide… Read more »
Another C. S. Lewis book that I read recently—for the first time—is Letters to Malcolm: Chiefly on Prayer. One section speaks directly to me with respect to a hard time I’m going through at the moment. We would like the world to be predictable, something we can manage according to our expectations. Lewis says we have to lay that expectation aside: But is it not plain that this predictable world . . . is not the world we live in?… Read more »
Did you ever have one of those days? You know the one I mean, when you wonder why you even try? When the best of intentions and the desire to make a difference doesn’t seem to make a difference at all? I had one of those days yesterday, and it might continue today. Evil abounds. What about God’s grace, which means the strength to withstand the evil? I don’t want to give in to the temptation not to care anymore…. Read more »
It’s a dangerous things for some politicians to talk about the Bible in public. In the book of Exodus, we’re told, “But if there is serious injury, you are to take life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise.” The impetus behind this command is to ensure that whenever someone has committed a wrong, the penalty will not be greater than the wrong that… Read more »
I love learning. I’d better love it, seeing as how I live in an academic environment. Reading, studying, going deeper into a knowledge of history and government naturally draws me. Yet that plunge into knowledge can never be divorced from the proper heart motive—love of God and His ways. The temptation for people like me is to think that we have become experts, which can then border on arrogance, which is decidedly opposed to God’s will for our lives. It’s… Read more »
As avid a reader of C. S. Lewis as I have been throughout my life, some of his lesser-known works escaped me until recently. For instance, after seeing the video Planet Narnia, I was fascinated by the way Lewis incorporated the medieval worldview into the series. I also discovered that he had explained it in The Discarded Image, so I readily obtained that book and burrowed through it (not one to recommend to a new reader since it is one… Read more »