-
SICK DAYS
By the time I arrived home last Wednesday night after teaching English, my stomach had grown sour. It was the beginning of several days battling one of the ugliest stomach bugs I have ever encountered. I have spent my nights in the guest bedroom, hoping to spare Melissa and Sarah. (But I’m afraid I was not successful.) Thursday and Friday passed without a single accomplishment beyond binge-watching a critically acclaimed Apple TV show called Severance. (Samuel was home sick on Thursday, too, and shared the recommendation along with his trial subscription to the platform. It’s an engaging dystopian sci-fi tale…
-
TEACHER SATISFACTION
As a former high school teacher and a present ESL teacher, I was reflecting on what makes teaching such a rewarding experience. Here’s what I have come up with so far: Levels of Teacher Satisfaction What all these have in common is the teacher’s love for the subject and great desire to see others know, understand, and love the subject as well. I think the local pastor should be striving to reach each of these levels of satisfaction with the congregation seated before the pulpit.
-
GOOD NEWS: WE ARE NOT REPAID
As I suspected, when I googled “The Shack” and “heresy”, I found the sharpest criticism of the movie reserved for its rejection of Penal Substitutionary Atonement. PSA is the gospel as far as most believers are concerned. So many are convinced that God simply cannot forgive sins without inflicting punishment on someone. They make a case for Jesus taking our punishment at the hand of the Father while on the cross, but they never consider this simple truth: sin which is punished has not been, by definition, forgiven. Any particular wrongdoing is either punished or forgiven. It’s one or the other. …
-
REACTION TO THE SHACK
I watched The Shack on Netflix tonight, based on the recommendation of a young friend. It was not what I was expecting. When the movie came out in 2017, I only recall hearing largely negative reviews from various Christians critical of its theology. The word “heresy” was thrown at the movie from every direction. I never saw it. I never even investigated the story line or the theological positions of the movie’s producers. This was before I understood that cries of “heresy!” in theological circles are the equivalent of “racism!” in politics. In other words, sometimes based in reality but…
-
BIBLICAL ADMONISHMENT
Colossians 1:28 – Him [Jesus] we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. This word translated as “warning” or “admonishing” in most English versions is νουθετέω (noutheteō) in the Greek. According to Dr. David Pao, a professor of New Testament, this word “may imply that an error needs to be corrected” (p.132 in his commentary on Colossians). N.T. Wright confirms: noutheteo, “though sometimes understood as meaning simply ‘putting into the mind’, most likely includes the idea of the setting of someone’s mind into proper order, with the implication that it…
-
ALI SPOKE TRUTH
“The man who views the world at 50 the same as he did at 20 has wasted 30 years of his life.” ― Muhammad Ali I would venture to say the same thing is true of a person who views faith the same at 50. I have no doubt many believers would disagree. I think most implicitly take utter consistency over the long haul as the height of holiness and piety. I suppose it could be – assuming you lucked out and grew up in the perfect church with the perfect doctrine and pitch-perfect balance in all things. And not…
-
MOUNTAINS OF IGNORANCE
Have you heard the one about the scientist climbing the mountain? The image comes from Robert Jastrow – astronomer and planetary physicist – who was on the founding team at NASA. Over the course of his career in science, he also established the Goddard Institute for Space Studies, pioneered the use of satellite technology, and had a hand in planning the Voyager & Galileo space probes. When he died in 2008, the New York Times hailed him as the man “Who Made Space Understandable” for others. In a world where many people imagine science and faith to be pitted against…
-
FOOLING OURSELVES
“It takes inordinate courage to introspect, to confront oneself, to accept one’s limitations—scientists are seeing more and more evidence that we are specifically designed by mother nature to fool ourselves.” -Nassim Taleb What some blame on mother nature or evolution, seems reasonably explained as the result of fallen human nature as well. Nearly indetectable from the inside, the human ability to fool oneself is nearly unlimited in its scope. This makes for another prime argument in favor of cultivating a true humility in the face of holy Scripture. A “beginner’s mindset” that has no problem with admitting, “I may well…
-
MAKING THINGS WORSE!
I was listening to a YouTube debate about Calvinism the other day and the guy arguing against Reformed ideology, a gentleman named Jed Smock, said something like the following: “Under Calvinism, the punishment for sin is more sin.” That hits the nail on the head! He was referencing the concept of “original sin”. All of Adam and Eve’s descendants have been born carrying the guilt of Adam’s sin. This is the so-called “sin nature”. As a result of the fall, the thinking goes, God cursed humanity with an inability to do anything but sin. Plus, now all humans would be…
-
HUMILITY AND LEARNING
Wise observations from psychiatrist Thomas Szasz on the connection between humility and learning: “Every act of conscious learning requires the willingness to suffer an injury to one’s self-esteem. That is why young children, before they are aware of their own self-importance, learn so easily; and why older persons, especially if vain or important, cannot learn at all.” Is this part of what Jesus means when he says we must become as little children? Because education is so important for the believer, a humble “beginner’s mindset” is a powerful tool for growth. But what a bear – first to establish and…