In an article entitled “The Happiest Nations on Earth are Strongly Secular”, author Phil Zuckerman makes the case that religion isn’t necessary for happiness. Zuckerman is the author of several books. The titles clearly indicate a life devoted to a particular cause: What It Means to be Moral, The Nonreligious, Living the Secular Life, Faith No More, and Society Without God. Upon examining a list of the happiest countries, the author notes that the majority are thoroughly secular in their mindsets. To his credit, Zuckerman does acknowledge that “to assert that they are happy because they are secular is not statistically warranted; it…

 Not long ago I wrote about how often the Bible uses the term “disciple” to designate a follower of Christ and how we tend to prefer “Christian” or “believer”. Here’s a New Testament word for a believer that is even less popular than “disciple”: Saint. If calling ourselves “disciples” makes us uncomfortable, the word “saint” makes us positively recoil. “Oh, I’m no saint,” we will say.  Really? Why not? The Apostle Paul addresses his letter to the Romans like this: “To all in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints”. (1:7) To be saints is our…

Praise and thanksgiving are quite different. I find that gratitude is a fairly common and natural part of my prayer life.  But pure praise? There’s an imbalance that I should rectify. I want to increase the amount of praise in my prayer time because I have come to the conclusion that praise is even greater than thanksgiving. Gratitude is about our personal experience of God: “Thank you, Lord, for helping me do well in my job interview.” “Thank you, Father, for healing my grandma.” “Thank you, Jesus, for the food in front of us.” Praise is bigger. Because praise is…

The last chapter of Acts begins with Paul and 275 others crawling onto the sands of Malta after enduring weeks of stormy seas and a horrific shipwreck. The local islanders show “unusual kindness” to these battered men and build a fire to dry them off and warm them up. When Paul reaches for an armload of brush to add to the fire and a poisonous snake sinks its fangs into his hand, jaws drop all around. The islanders say to each other, “Can you imagine this guy surviving a shipwreck only to die from a snake bite? Justice is out…

Yesterday I stalked the Facebook profile of a pastor I used to work with.  I had heard he had left his wife to move in with another woman. As one might reasonably expect, in doing so he severed the ties between himself and his wife, his children, and his grandchildren. Apparently he has no contact with any of them. Since Facebook is the version of our lives we put on display for the rest of the world to see, I confess to having a morbid curiosity about what his “wall” would look like. (We weren’t currently friends on Facebook because…

This week I am experimenting with my blog writing.  Instead of only writing late at night, I am quickly typing a rough draft of an idea in the morning and then returning to revise in the evening.  It shows promise for improving my writing here. And it has opened my eyes to the reality that writing a first draft and writing a final draft of anything are two completely different animals.  Both animals are necessary. But it’s best to put some distance between them. I should already know this reality – I have taught it many times over the years. But…

There are some striking similarities between the Apostle Paul and Jesus.  Both were constantly on the move, speaking to large crowds. Both regularly angered the establishment. (In fact, the very same people.) Both were frequently threatened with violence and inspired plots against their lives.  Both were ultimately put on trial with trumped up charges. But here’s a similarity that is not as obvious: Although neither would shy away from speaking the truth that would really get under their audience’s skin, they each found certain topics that triggered absolutely murderous reactions.  For Jesus, the touchy phrase was “Your sins are forgiven”. …

Today I dove into my first book about John Wesley. It’s a history book covering the state of England’s culture before and after the revival that Wesley instigated. So far, I am neck deep in the “before”. That would be the early 1700s. I have to say, it’s pretty shocking stuff. My mental image of British culture is “stiff upper lip” types sipping tea, eating crumpets, and speaking proper English.  Here’s what I don’t picture: As I am reading, here is where my mind goes: A) Modern American culture is bad, but maybe not as bad as English culture once…