Religious

Archive for Religious

The Freedom of Contentment

A commenter here (sorry I forget who posted it) brought my attention to this wonderful sermon, by Tim Keller in 2003. I strongly encourage you to listen to it, even if you are a non-believer; there is a lot of secular wisdom here. For example, a little before the halfway point he says that the […]

Christians and Warfare

Today in church the pastor asked veterans to stand, then people with a veteran in the family, and then asked us to applaud them. It was pretty awkward but I sat there doing nothing; I wasn’t “making a point” but I also could not in good conscience applaud for people carrying out what I thought […]

Libertarian Christians

(The more typical phrase is “Christian libertarians” but I think we would all agree that our faith is more important than our [anti-]political views.) I am still in Chile and do not have a long time to blog, so let me just say this: There is a perception that most libertarians are atheists. There even […]

God the Father

What are the attributes of a good father? ==> He loves you unconditionally. ==> He has the power to take care of you. ==> He is fair and just. ==> He makes plans for your future prosperity. ==> He teaches you to help you avoid error. ==> He disciplines you when you are in the […]

Malcolm Gladwell on the Power of Faith

An interesting interview. He apparently was renewed in his (Christian) faith while writing his latest book, David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants. Some excerpts: Q: You use the biblical story of David and Goliath in the title and the setup to your book. Do you think we’ve been retelling the […]

Free Will and Jonah

We’re going through the book of Jonah at my church, and last week (I think?) the pastor said something that blew me away. He pointed out that in the story, there are times when God commands the wind and the sea, the fish, and a worm to do various things. Not only do they obey […]

Feel the Vibration!

This apparently was from January 2012:

The Most Important Failure to Communicate Ever

I was reading the story of Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus, which leads to the famous John 3:16 verse (which you’ll see cited at baseball games etc.). But on this reading I was struck by how Jesus and Nicodemus barely seem to be talking to each other; each response seems to have little do with what […]