Heaven Is for Real? A few years ago, a six year old child, son of an evangelical pastor, reported seeing heaven during a coma. His report of heaven was extremely detailed and matched almost perfectly what his church taught about heaven. His report resulted in a best-selling book and then a movie. I read the book and saw the movie, mostly due to pressure from people who kept asking me about them. Many of you will know the case I’m... Read more

God and Time I know I’ve addressed this issue before, but it still interests me. Why can I NOT think of God without thinking of time? And I mean God in time and time in God. Oh, perhaps not time as we experience it, but temporality in the sense of passage of moments: past passing into present passing into future, present passing into past, etc. I simply can’t. Is that something wrong with me or…? I well remember the first... Read more

C. S. Lewis: Saint or Sinner? As usual, I will first let you know why I am able competently to speak/write about this subject (viz., C. S. Lewis). Of course, I never met him. He died on November 22, 1963 when I was 11 years old and in the sixth grade. Why do I remember that so well? Because he died on the same day that President John Kennedy was assassinated. It’s an essay date to remember. (Do I remember... Read more

The Church as Christ? Recently I have preached three sermons about the church in three different churches. My underlying reason can be expressed like this: I believe contemporary American Christianity has, by and large, trivialized the church. What do I mean by “church?” The whole body of Christ composed of all true believers in and followers of Jesus Christ who gather in some manner or other to worship God in the name of Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit. Everyone... Read more

Christian Higher Education a Two Edged Sword Is higher education always beneficial for everyone? Here I want to focus my thoughts solely on Christian higher education—college, university, seminary. I have quite a bit of experience in this area, not only because I taught for almost forty years in three Christian universities but also because I served as chief editor of a scholarly journal supported by fifty Christian institutions of higher education and participated in many annual meetings of the board... Read more

Cults Again! This is to announce my forthcoming book Unsafe Sects: Understanding Religious Cults (Cascade Books [Wipf and Stock]). I will announce here when it is published and available to order. The book is the result of years and years of studying especially, but not only, American religious cults, sects, alternative religions. I taught a course on cults, sects, alternative religions at Rice University during my PhD studies there. I invited representatives from many American cults, sects and alternative religions... Read more

What I Think About the War in Ukraine No pun is intended when I say I know I am stepping into a mine field here. But, here goes anyway. I think Ukraine’s defense of itself as a sovereign nation is a just war. And I hope it/they win over Russia. However, I am not confident that our (the USA’s) involvement with Ukraine is based on pure motives. I support sending Ukraine necessary defensive military equipment, but I am absolutely opposed... Read more

What I Believe about America as a “Christian Nation” Is America a Christian nation? Was it ever one? What does the question even mean? A heated debate has swirled around this question (or these questions) for many years—especially since the Supreme Court’s ruling against organized  or teacher-led prayer in public schools. Is America even a theistic nation? If not, why is “In God We Trust” printed on our coins? (Don’t comment on the history of that; it’s just a fact... Read more

“Why?” Chapters 21: “Prayer and Argument” ”Why? On Suffering, Guilt and God” by Abram van de Beek (Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1990) is the book some of us have been discussing here. I am now going to comment on Chapter 21 which, I believe, is one of the most crucial chapters. Chapter 21 is titled “Prayer and Argument.” Here vdB argues that “man” is not merely passive in the outworking of God’s plan. “The relationship between God and man is not... Read more

I am a Proud Christian Nationalist (Guest Post by Richard Cantrell, evangelical pastor of a rural Southern church) [ Dr. Olson’s July 4th post on the critical difference between patriotism and nationalism inspired me to submit a post that complements his thesis with an attempt to find common ground between American nationalism and Christian faith. ] I was no more than 12 years-old when (in a civics class) I was first formally instructed in the civic religion whose creed is... Read more