The issue is this, and many of us perhaps first learned it in CS Lewis: without God there is no foundation for a true morality or ethic. Without God morals crumble into assertions of power or desire or into a social contract, and into the absence of foundations and boundaries. Peter Singer, an atheist, responds in A Place for Truth: Leading Thinkers Explore Life’s Hardest Questions. Big questions: Is there any justification for morality if there is no God? What... Read more
We bumped into this prayer the other day, which brings up angels. Here’s the prayer, and then a question: O God, who in a wonderful order has established the ministry of Angels and of men, mercifully grant that even as Your holy Angels ever do You service in heaven, so at all times they may defend us on earth. Through our Lord. Amen. Do you believe in angels? Why or why not? Any experiences to tell? Read more
Is the President a Christian? So many are asking this, so many won’t trust his words, but this is what he told someone the other day… But the religion question was perhaps the most revealing for the president – and also perhaps the most welcome, given that polls show that the public appears confused about his religion, with some 18 percent of Americans believing, erroneously, that he is Muslim. “I’m a Christian by choice,” the president said. “My family, frankly,... Read more
Sharon Baker is attempting to construct a Christian belief in the afterlife, particularly hell, that squares somehow with the unconditional love of God and the fundamental verse she continually mentions: 2:3 Such prayer for all is good and welcomed before God our Savior, 2:4 since he wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth (1 Timothy). In some ways her study puts onto the table the necessity of explaining hell once one admits that God... Read more
One of the more persistent criticisms I have heard of traditional atonement theology is that we are asked to do something God does not do. Namely, we are asked to forgive in grace but God, who forgives only after the punishment of sin in Christ, does not simply forgive in grace. I contend the idea misunderstands atonement and how we forgive. We do not have the resources to forgive. "The only way we can forgive is by letting God renarrate our lives in the context of the metanarrative of Jesus, who forgave his enemies and even died for them" (110). Read more
What do you do with dust jackets on books? There seem to be three theories: First, remove and trash. Second, keep and preserve. Third, keep but first remove and then cover in preserving synthetic material so the cover will endure through the tribulation and beyond. Here's what I do, in three steps: Read more
The person who sent me the note that I posted as “I am that girl in the cage” writes this: “To all my dear brothers and sisters, all I can say is thank you. Your words have been a salve to me. Your prayers and kindness have been evident. Your words of comfort and support (your presence) give me hope that when I do share “out loud” it will be received to bring God glory. Words may not reach into... Read more
I am slowly working through a series looking at the impact that the evidence for evolution has on our theology. This series is based on a book of essays, Theology After Darwin (available from amazon UK or, as pointed out by a commenter, a search of Abebooks.com on author = Berry and title = Theology After Darwin will yield a USA-based source for a new copy of the book at a reasonable price (HT PB)). The question posed to the authors is quite simple, What are the implications for Christian theology if Darwin was right? Nowhere do we find the question more central to our faith than in the subject of the essay by Francisco J. Ayala: Being Human After Darwin. David Fergusson, at the end of the chapter we discussed in the last Tuesday, suggested that a biblical understanding of human significance is challenged, perhaps, by the theory of evolution and common descent. If mankind is not the pinnacle and purpose of all creation, what are we? If we evolved in continuity with the animals what makes humans distinctive creatures? He commented briefly on the issue, but Dr. Ayala's essay centers in on this question. Read more
Dallas Willard gets it when he makes this claim: If you say 'truth' in most places on the campuses I'm familiar with, people will immediately say "Whose truth?". Behind that who's-in-power question lurks the one philosopher who pressed the connection of truth-claim to power-assertion, Friedrich Nietzsche. Many today would say his legacy is the most important one in contemporary postmodernity. "Nietzsche won the first round and truth is lost" (162). Example from my own life: Read more
This note comes from a reader who wrote me about David Opderbeck’s post last Friday, and let it be said that lurking often in the shadows behind comments are readers who have suffered nightmares. This post can be read as a prayer from the Jesus Creed community that we care and we want to be with you in your healing. Words don’t reach into these spaces effectively, but words and presence is what we offer. I relate to the girl... Read more
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