Vatican Insider: “It’s true, Jesus has saved us all, but not in generically. Everyone, but each individual, first and last name,” the Pope said. “And this is personal salvation. Really I am saved, the Lord looked at me, He gave His life for me, opened this door, this new path for me, and each of us can say ‘for me’. But there is a danger of forgetting that He saved us individually, but as part of a people. A people.... Read more
Source, Christian Today, where you can read the whole of Krish’s response: 2. You might be closer to Christian faith than you realise. Why does Fry, and indeed most human beings, feel a sense of outrage at the suffering and injustice in the world? In Mere Christianity CS Lewis describes his own conversion from atheism to Christianity and it bears some uncanny similarities with Fry’s outburst. “My argument against God was that the universe seemed so cruel and unjust. But... Read more
Iain Provan, in his book Seriously Dangerous Religion: What the Old Testament Really Says and Why It Matters (Ch. 10) makes the claim that God is a gradualist. This has significant implications for biblical society, the lessons we should draw from biblical society, and the attitude we should take toward our society today. From all of this it is clear that, in the biblical way of thinking, God does not deal with the world in an all-or-nothing way. He works... Read more
One of the gifts of the Bible to the lot of every human being who has ever lived, who is living and who will ever live is that each is made in God’s image. The gift is on the table but unwrapping the gift to understand what it means is the challenge. John F. Kilner, Dignity and Destiny: Humanity in the Image of God, unwraps the gift into two primary terms. To be made in God’s image meant to be in connection... Read more
Dan Keating and Darla Cameron: Go to the link to see the good graphics. A lawsuit claims that Oklahoma’s great increase in earthquake activity has been caused by pumping waste from drilling operations back underground. The suit involves the largest measured quake in the history of the state, a 5.6 tremor that happened in Prague, east of Oklahoma City in November 2011. The pace of quakes with magnitude 3 or higher has increased since then, with 567 in 2014, and... Read more
Biblical scholarship has exploded when it comes to commentaries. When I was a seminary student in the late 70s finding the top commentaries on NT books was a challenge because many were out of print — e.g., A.H. McNeile on Matthew or J.A.T. Robinson on Ephesians. Then came the avalanche of one series after another of commentaries both on the OT and the NT. Then, and it seems to me we should point our finger at R.E. Brown, commentaries got... Read more
AP: With California gripped by a measles outbreak, Dr. Charles Goodman posted a clear notice in his waiting room and on Facebook: His practice will no longer see children whose parents won’t get them vaccinated. “Parents who choose not to give measles shots, they’re not just putting their kids at risk, but they’re also putting other kids at risk — especially kids in my waiting room,” the Los Angeles pediatrician said. It’s a sentiment echoed by a small number of... Read more
“What other people think of you is none of your business.” –a saying in 12 step programs A few months ago, before the now infamous cyber attack which released Sony executive emails filled with snarky comments about what they really thought about Angelina Jolie, the NY Times ran an op-ed piece called “I know what you think of Me.” The author, Tim Krieder wrote a paragraph that looking back seems oddly prophetic: I’ve often thought that the single most devastating... Read more
Witness, Winsomeness and Winter (by Andrew Wilson, used with permission) In Tim Keller’s Center Church, he identifies four “seasons” in the cycle of the church’s relation to the culture. In winter, the church faces hostility from the culture, is weak or even underground, and sees very limited evangelistic fruit (as in much of the Islamic world today). In spring, the church is embattled but growing, and signs of life are beginning to break through (as in China). In summer, the... Read more
Source: Dartmouth College will prohibit all students, regardless of age, from drinking or possessing hard alcohol [30 proof or higher] on campus and will create a new network of residential communities for student social life in a effort to rid the school of what its president calls “extreme behaviors.” The plan — a major cultural transformation of the campus, announced in a speech Thursday by Dartmouth President Philip J. Hanlon — culminates several months of soul-searching at the private Ivy... Read more
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