Someone has said, “Wise are those who look at others with the same generosity they offer themselves, and, at themselves, with the same critical eye they have for others.” Such advice is difficult to disagree with because it amounts to treating others the way we’d want to be treated. But just because the “golden rule” […]
Most of us remember where we were when we first heard that a commercial airliner had crashed into one of the twin towers of New York’s World Trade Center. Today we reflect, as best we can, on the immeasurable pain of those who lost one of the 2751 victims from 90 countries. We remember the […]
Yesterday I mentioned that we are working on some video and web-based programs that tell the stories of some courageous men who have been willing to talk about their escape from pornography. The men told their stories in an empty warehouse that provides a visual backdrop for the lonely, secret obsession that had been consuming […]
Went with my son and daughter-in-law to a practice round of the PGA Championship that finishes up this weekend in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. I think what impressed me the most was seeing how far these players hit the ball. While watching them on television give a sense of the amazing touch they show from sand […]
Manifestos declare revolutionary ideas. The Communist Manifesto of 1848 called for the redistribution of wealth. Martin Luther’s 95 Theses in 1517 affirmed salvation by faith alone, and the 13 colonies’ Declaration of Independence in 1776 made a case for citizens’ right of revolt. The most revolutionary declaration of all, however, was the first-century preamble to […]
Overnight we got a tongue-in-cheek comment/question from a friend in the UK. It came in the form of a fairly long note, but raises an important question. So I’m going to copy the comment here, break it after a few lines, and then let you read and respond to the rest of the comment. The […]
Earlier this morning I bumped into a friend at the coffee shop. Asked me if I had a couple of minutes. Told me that his wife was diagnosed last week with brain cancer. Said they were praying for a miracle. As I replay the brief conversation in my mind and try to imagine what he […]
As the last two US Democratic primaries are held today in South Dakota and Montana, I’ve been thinking again about the different ways followers of Christ enter a voting booth. During the course of this lengthy election process, with far more to come, it’s been clear that some of us believe we have an obligation […]
Like Jesus, the Apostle Paul sets high standards for entering the kingdom of God. In his first letter to the Corinthians he writes: “Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites…will inherit the kingdom of […]
No one could rightly accuse Jesus of having low standards. But he was accused in his day of being “a friend of sinners.” Religious leaders of the lakeshore community of Capernaum, for instance, would have criticized Jesus if he had befriended the kind of people who once lived on the shores of the Dead Sea, […]
