Posted on

God loves the Naughty List

Here we are at Christmastime, listening to herald angels sing glory to the newborn king. But listen to the angels more closely. In the center of one of the Bible’s most glorious promises of peace, we find an opposite of a promise, too:

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!” (Luke 2:13-14 ESV)

So, wait. Those with whom God is not pleased have no promise of peace from Him? So how do we know with whom God is pleased? Who gets peace, and who doesn’t? Continue reading “God loves the Naughty List”

Posted on

Gungor: The Hipster Pharisees

“Gungor drifts from Biblical orthodoxy,” says the erroneous headline in World magazine. It’s erroneous because the leaders of the Christian worship band called Gungor were never that orthodox to begin with.

To be clear, the members of Gungor are not heretics or apostates. They walk under the banner of Jesus Christ. Instead, and perhaps ironically, the leaders of Gungor are exactly what they accuse the rest of the American church to be. They are Pharisees. Continue reading “Gungor: The Hipster Pharisees”

Posted on

Gender, Christians, and men of straw

This post is intended to address some comments that were made on a recent Facebook post, and hopefully to give some clarity by answering the people who made them.

Gender

In April 2014 I posted an article on Facebook that made reference to a comment made by actress Kirsten Dunst, in which she said, “We all have to get our own jobs and make our own money, but staying at home, nurturing, being the mother cooking – it’s a valuable thing my mum created.” She continued, “And sometimes, you need your knight in shining armor.“

Anticipating some push-back, she said: “I’m sorry. You need a man to be a man and a woman to be a woman.” Continue reading “Gender, Christians, and men of straw”

Posted on

The three marks of the forgiving heart

“Those who refuse to forgive others will not be forgiven by God.”

Hard words from Pastor Nate Harlan this past Sunday as he preached on Matthew 18:21-35. But behind these hard words is a demonstration of God’s great love for his people and God’s great promises of reconciliation.

The passage is Christ’s parable of the unforgiving servant. The servant owed the king 10,000 talents and was readily forgiven the debt. Then minutes later, the servant angrily tossed a fellow servant in prison because he was owed 100 denarii. Continue reading “The three marks of the forgiving heart”

Posted on

Really unbalanced: The Bible as the only source of sanity

I have a confession to make: I absolutely love God’s Word.

When we play the “desert island” game, the first book on my list is the Bible. When I wake up in the morning, the first book I reach for is the Bible. When I am confronted with the irrationality of our modern world, the singular source of sanity that I can totally depend on is the Bible. And when I am looking for knowledge and answers to life’s vexing problems, the first place I get wisdom from is the Bible.

You may say that this makes for an “unbalanced” view of things. I once overheard someone say that “…sure, the Bible is true, but there’s a balance.”

I simply can’t agree with that. Continue reading “Really unbalanced: The Bible as the only source of sanity”