The Eagle & Child

Linda once again asks a question that has dogged me for some years: The crucial question is “What about making a decision?” This is the manner in which I have always heard the gospel presented. But what does it mean? That by OUR decision something is accomplished? She then refers to Ephesians 2:4-8, in which [...]

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Wow.  I’m not sure how this woman (Linda at Kingdom Grace) got into my head and then took what she found there and made it so beautiful and succint: This might be kind of quirky, but I really am enamored with this topic.  For over a year now,  it has been like a shiny object [...]

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From NakedPastor:

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Today this question came to mind: “Why do we believe in Christ?”* My childhood answer would have been, “So that I can go to heaven.”  I think that continues to be the answer of many mature Christians as well.  Maybe the answer would be more nuanced–something like, “Because he died for me/my sins.”  Or perhaps [...]

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David Bentley Hart has written a rather searingly critical essay on “The New Atheists” (e.g. Dawkins, Hitchens, Harris). He laments the loss of the true skeptic of yesteryear (such as Hume, Neitzche, et al) and the shallowness of the New Atheists. It’s a very long essay.  But from what I can tell, Hart is a [...]

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(My December 2008 Bob Ross post has consistently been the most active and most visited post since then.  Bizarre.  It’s the Dark Side of the Moon of my posts.) I nearly skipped community chapel today, but I noticed that it was to be an Eastern Orthodox service of thanksgiving. It was led by a man [...]

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I handed in a paper today, one which has been looming over my semester, bogging me down, for several weeks now. Contrary to what I had expected, the “loominosity” hasn’t lifted.  This might be because the paper was fairly open-ended, so I had to set boundaries to it which seemed somewhat arbitrary to me.  It [...]

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I just ran across a great post on Donald Miller’s blog about being a slave to public opinion and always pandering to this jury of one’s peers and superiors.  It spoke to me directly.  His punchline is great: It really is a waste of your time to defend yourself to anybody but God Himself. And [...]

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Another classic by Bruce Cockburn: “World of Wonders”, and somewhat relevant to my last post, I think. Lyrics: Stand on a bridge before the cavern of night Darkness alive with possibility Nose to this wind full of twinkling lights Trying to catch the scent of what’s coming to be (in this…) World of wonders… Somewhere [...]

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how faint the whisper we hear of him! (Job 26:14, TNIV) * * * Here is bigger than you can imagine Now is forever (Bruce Cockburn) I’ve been thinking quite a bit lately about pain and suffering and genocide and natural disasters and…God.  Without diminishing the pain and horror, and without denying the legitimacy of [...]

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