In all fairness, I need to report that Tom Harpur’s website seems to have removed the page delineating what he felt was a “reasonable response” to his book, The Pagan Christ. In one of yesterday’s posts, I expressed that I thought his four criteria were unfair. In its place is a page solely dedicated to responding to James Patrick Holding’s website, www.tektonics.org, a site on which Holding, as Harpur believes, “bitterly assails any and all scholars who dare to go... Read more

I’ve just written a short essay on why I can’t, according to his own criteria found on his website , critique Harpur’s book, The Pagan Christ. (more…) Read more

“A most obstinate misconception associated with the gospel of Jesus Christ is that the gospel is welcome in this world. The conviction— endemic among churchfolk—persists that, if problems of misapprehension and misrepresentation are overcome and the gospel can be heard in its own integrity, the gospel will be found attractive by people, become popular, and, even, be a success of some sort… This idea is both curious and ironical because it is bluntly contradicted in Scripture and in the experience... Read more

Here’s a thought: “It was the inscrutable way of God to win his victories more often by the death of martyrs than by the agency of champions who lived out their span” (Edith Simon, Luther Alive, p. 8 ). I agree with this. It throws into question all of our plans, strategies, and predictions, doesn’t it? Our estimation of the worth of someone or something is challenged by such proclamations as these. Even Chambers’ devotional today contained this statement: “Jesus... Read more

So I come home today after Lisa and I were sitting on the river in front of our house, and there on our steps is a book. I pick it up, wondering who in the world would have left it there. I have a vague memory of this book. I remember the author, Eknath Easwaran. Where did I read him before? Ah! Yes! I read his book, Gandhi the Man. I also read this book on my doorstep, Meditation, years... Read more

What kind of comfort am I looking for? I remember reading one spiritual teacher being asked, “Why are you so cruel? Why do you say things that seem so rude and so hard to accept?” His response was something like this: “What do you want me to say? Do you want me to stroke you with lies? It is like you go to a surgeon with a serious illness. Do you want him to just stroke your brow and tell... Read more

Being a pastor in the Vineyard Association of Churches, I’m heading to the Setting Your Sails Conference in Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia, Canada. I’m taking my computer, hoping to take some time each day to blog and keep some posts going. If I am not successful, then you’ll hear from me Wednesday night or early Thursday morning. I hope you’ll hear from me soon! Read more