Jonathan Edwards has been described as “America’s greatest theologian.” But as I understand it, he wasn’t a terrific orator. As a matter of fact, it’s said when he preached his most famous sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,” he actually read the manuscript in monotone, by candlelight. While I confess I haven’t […]
Faith & Theology
Seek to Show Hospitality
“Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality.” (Romans 12:13, ESV) When Paul wrote his famous letter to the church at Rome, his thesis was that the gospel was the power of God unto salvation (Romans 1:16-17). His letter had two main parts. He first told what the gospel was (1-11), […]
10 Rock-solid Reasons I’m Considering Atheism
I’m one who likes to look at both sides of an issue. Sometimes this causes me great indecision because I usually see the virtues and deficiencies of opposing perspectives and have a hard time completely settling on one side or the other. And sometimes it frustrates my friends, because I don’t usually stand within the […]
No Man is an Island
In 1624 John Donne published the famous poem, “No Man is an Island,” in his book Devotions upon Emergent Occasions. It reads, No man is an island entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main; if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the […]
The Community Utopians Dream Of
When Sir Thomas More’s Utopia hit the shelves in the early 16th century, Erasmus suggested to a friend that if he “wished to see the true source of all political evils,” he should read it. A work clearly inspired by Plato’s Republic and likely Plutarch’s account of Spartan life under Lycurgus, More was, I believe, […]
The Roots of Community
According to the acclaimed psychologist, Abraham Maslow, our most basic human needs can be boiled down to security, satisfaction, and significance (my paraphrase). A reflection on these human needs reveals relationships are at the heart of our identity. But as we’ll see, Scripture affirms this as well. Imago Dei When God made mankind, male and female, […]
The Felt Need for Community
One sunny weekend, a pastor who had been faithful to preach nearly every Sunday of his 30-plus years of ministry found himself out of town and without a place to preach on Sunday. He had attended a conference that ended Saturday, and since his flight home wasn’t scheduled until Monday, he had a notion to […]
The Destiny of the Unevangelized
College papers are usually boring (unless you are a geek–like me) and few care to read them. But a recent Facebook Post from a ministry colleague got me thinking about a college paper I wrote a couple of years ago on the controversial topic of the destiny of the unevangelized. In the post, my friend wrote, “God is not bound […]
10 Steps to a Better Sermon this Sunday
The first sermon I ever preached was on a muggy Sunday night in a Baptist Church. My legs shook as much as my voice while I tried to thunder out the horrors of Hell and wax eloquent on the urgency of evangelism. I had spent about two weeks studying and filled up three pages of notes on […]
The Gospel According to Flannery O’Connor
Bring up the doctrines of grace and you’ll get Christians stirred up faster than a fox in a hen house. You’ll have them flapping around cackling Scripture back and forth at each other until hurt feelings fly like feathers. Possibly, arguments over these doctrines have split more churches than Colonel Sanders has split chickens. For people […]