A Christmas poem A wordspokenlays down its lifeby taking onflesh of black texton white pageto await the attentivereaderin whose mindthe letter, springingto new life,may become spirit. The Word became fleshand laid down his lifein birthgiving lifein giving life upredefining love. May that love lead you to the beauty on the far side of pain. Merry …
Category archives: Christianity
I’m Christian and I don’t believe mental illness is “spiritual”
(Except we can agree malaria and measles are, too.) On October 30, 2016, a prominent and otherwise widely respected Nigerian pastor tweeted: “The root cause of mental illness is Sin (Rom 6:23) and the foundational solution to mental health is Salvation.” Let’s just say the tweet ended up deleted. Amid the subsequent furore on Nigerian Twitter …
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What if supernatural miracles matter less than natural means?
The title isn’t just clickbait, just so you know. I’m totally serious. And if you’ll just hear me out, I’m fully prepared to explain myself. I’ve always been fascinated by the intersection between faith and science, because in a sense I’ve always lived on that intersection: I’ve been captivated by both the Christian faith and …
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The danger of asking if there’s a God
In some ways, a reality without God would be easier to deal with. If matter is all there is, we at least know what we’re dealing with, even if it might sometimes seem bleak to think that all our loving and wanting are just the cumulative effect of otherwise random activity. And if one allows …
Why religious faith is not comforting
At least not for me, upfront. Here’s my story. Faith in God is often described as a source of great comfort by we who hold it. Some would even say, a crutch. In my experience, though, it didn’t begin that way We speak of turning to it in times of difficulty and despair, yes, but for me, …
Facts aren’t final and doubt isn’t disbelief
I often see people use “doubt” and “disbelief” interchangeably. The two could hardly be more different. Where a doubt asks a question, disbelief has already reached a conclusion. The voice of doubt whispers, “Is it true?” The voice of disbelief declares, “It’s not true!” Sometimes, of course, disbelief masks as doubt and pretends to ask …
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How I doubted my way to faith
(Warning: this post is not for everyone.)¹ In the early days of my faith, my understanding of growth in it meant getting to where I had no more doubts. So, with that understanding, I embarked on a mission to put an end to all my doubts. Man, I struggled. And too real was the struggle …
What it’s like on the inside looking out
How do we feel about those different from us? And he said to his people, “Behold, the people of Israel are too many and too mighty for us. Come, let us deal shrewdly with them, lest they multiply, and, if war breaks out, they join our enemies and fight against us and escape from the land.” …
If God existed, would we know?
(Photo: Jordi Zamora) If God exists, why isn’t the fact more obvious? It’s a common question, one I’ve asked and heard many ask. And with good reason, right? If there were a God, it only seems reasonable to expect that we should have no reason to doubt it. But maybe the matter is not as simple …
If you weren’t feeling church today
Some encouragement for we the easily distracted Photo: Daniel Tseng This one is for all the people who can’t seem to focus during worship in church. We know ourselves. It’s not everyday, but there are those days. You want to pay attention, but there’s just too much going on in your head. You want to join …