Source: Most scientists believe Darwin got it right: Single-celled creatures evolved into complex ones, a process of natural selection and genetic adaptation that over eons turned a primordial swamp into shape-shifting cells, into ape-like primates, into people. His theory is taught in virtually every science classroom in the world. It is used to demystify the complexity of life, translate the language of DNA, and make sense of geology, biology and paleontology. Scientists call evolution a unifying theory, a weight-bearing wall... Read more

This post is by Jonathan Storment. You can follow him @Stormented. “I’m sorry I’ve got to take this call, it’s Kent Brantly.” This is what my friend Randy Harris said, right before excusing himself from our living room, to step outside, leaving my wife and me stunned that the person that everyone in the world was trying to get a hold of was calling my friend from his Ebola quarantined room in Emory Hospital. If you’ve been living under a... Read more

Source: On 7 August 2014, at the heart of a Middle East soaked in blood, the Patriarchs of the East published a press release condemning conflicts and violence which overwhelm the entire region, and most particularly the persecution of innocents and Christians. The religious fundamentalism, and those who feed it through financing its armed movements, affecting the balance and stability in the region, is unequivocally denounced. The Patriarchs therefore send forth an urgency plea to the international community. Here is... Read more

From our friend Allan Bevere: With the tragic suicide of actor and comedian, Robin Williams, depression is once again in the headlines and before us in conversation. This morning Forbes has posted on the five common myths about depression. I will list those myths and encourage you to go to the site to read the commentary on each myth. After the list, I will end this post with a few thoughts of my own. Myth 1: Depression is synonymous with... Read more

The post last Thursday (Pre-adamism and Hermeneutics) focused on the methods of biblical interpretation brought to bear in considerations of Adam and pre-adamic populations, particularly on the role concordism played and the effect of the harmonizing strategies on interpretation. The discussion of concordism and harmonizing strategies developed to keep faith with both science and scripture leads quite naturally into a broader discussion of biblical inspiration, inerrancy and the authority of scripture as the Word of God. After all, the purpose... Read more

This post is by T. This is the second post in our series looking at what churches could learn from 12-step groups. Our first discussion talked about how the 12 steps are arguably a tailor-made response to a King-Jesus gospel.  Today I’d like to look at AA and support groups from a different, but related angle: discipleship and spiritual (trans)formation. For me as with many others, Dallas Willard has been a wonderful and challenging influence. Whether the topic was the... Read more

Source: How can this be? Imagine walking into a hospital and being charged more than $10,000 for a blood test to check your cholesterol level. And going to another hospital in the same state and being charged $10 for the exact same blood test. That’s what a team led by a University of California San Francisco researcher found when it looked at the prices California hospitals charge for 10 common blood tests. Researchers studied charges for a variety of tests... Read more

Source: The Chinese government is planning to introduce its own brand of Christian theology, the state-backed China Daily website reported last week. “The construction of Chinese Christian theology should adapt to China’s national condition and integrate with Chinese culture,” Wang Zuoan, director of the State Administration for Religious Affairs. The comments were made at a seminar on the sinicization of Christianity in Shanghai, part of an event to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the founding of the National Committee of the Three-Self... Read more