Paul advises his young protégé, Timothy, “Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses.”  That’s quite the phrase when you stop to think about it: the good fight of the faith. This is not the Faith of “your best life now”. The Greek word for fight here is agona. It’s where we get our English word “agony”.   It puts me in mind of this quote from C.S. Lewis: “I didn’t go to religion to make me happy. I…

A few years ago while ordering a meal at a fast food restaurant, an acquaintance asked me, “Why do you drink Diet Coke? You’re not overweight.” The answer was simple: I am not overweight BECAUSE I watch what I eat and make sacrifices – like choosing the diet soda over one loaded with sugar.  (These days I don’t even drink the diet stuff. It can’t be good for your body.) We don’t see other people’s sacrifices or hard work, so we think their successes came easy.  And so we have a tendency to assume that those who are thin have…

His heart seems right, but it is clear his theological understanding is faulty at best. As Peter approaches his house, “Cornelius met [Peter] and fell at his feet to worship him”! (v.25)

January is named after the Roman god of doorways, Janus. He represented new beginnings and was often pictured as having two faces – one looking backward, the other looking forward.  As an optimist, for me January 1st is always a day filled with newness and promise. A day of looking forward. It’s good to catch your breath and get a fresh start now and then.   I hope 2023 proves to be a great year for you and your loved ones. Bring it on!

Last night I posted about a study on American attitudes toward the Bible. Here’s more poll data to consider along the same lines – and it’s just as concerning: Ligonier Ministries and LifeWay Research ask the same questions of the American public every two years in order to discern trends in opinions regarding theology. The 2022 results are shocking. The poll asks a series of theological questions of a sampling of American adults and then teases out stats for Evangelicals to look at in isolation. For the purposes of this poll, Evangelicals are defined as respondents who “strongly agree” with…

Like me, you have probably heard atheists scold Christian parents for “brainwashing” their own children.  They say parents “force” their religious views on their kids.  Atheists talk as if this delegitimizes the resulting beliefs. In reality, every belief we hold comes to us from outside us. Why single out religious beliefs? We are surrounded by forces working to shape our opinions and beliefs: celebrities, movies, news media, music, preachers, and the culture at large in thousands of subtle and not-so-subtle ways.  Brainwashing is everywhere. Some of the beliefs being pushed are true and good. Some are false and harmful.  Which…

For years I worked alongside a pastor who made this claim about his own preaching: “I have only two sermons – maybe three – that I preach.” He did not say this as a confession.  It was a boast. I wanted to tell him that I had noticed this.  That everyone noticed this.  I loved the guy. His heart was in the right place. But preaching the same two sermons over and over? What a missed opportunity. (I hesitate to say “dereliction of duty” only out of friendship.)  It is not as though a preacher ever lacks material.  God’s word…

For me 2022 is ending with me neck deep in homework I have two papers due at the start of January. It’s annoying, but also kind of fun, because, as I wrote the other day, learning IS fun.  I have two advantages as I face these papers, and they are tied together: 1) I am interested.      I find both topics fascinating. (One is on the question of whether Jews, Christians, and Muslims can be said to worship the “same” God. The other is on the roots of woke ideology.     I realize that makes me sound like a complete…