Happiness has been the subject of much scrutiny and debate for centuries. It seems like everyone under the sun has tackled this subject with little or no progress in curing this perennial malady of the human condition. Either it has gone from one extreme to another or the Voice in the balance has been drowned out by the noise of the former. However, it can be found, I tell you, it can! Read the rest of this entry »
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Tags: Christian, Christianity, Ecclesiastes, Ecclesiastes 2:4-9, experiencing God, finding happiness, God, God living, happiness, hearing God, intimacy with God, Jesus Christ, Knowing God, life of God, Matthew 5:17, personal relationship with God, pursuit of happiness, relationship with God, seeking God, Solomon, stoicism, walk with God, walking with God
In the heart wrenching biography, Schulz and Peanuts, David Michaelis offers fans of the beloved comic strip a rare look into the life of the deeply wounded and troubled man, Charles Schulz. He recounts on one occasion when his wife Joyce, upon noticing his unhappiness, suggested that he see a psychiatrist to which he responded, “No, I don’t want to go to a psychiatrist because it will take away my talent.” (p.385) I do not think that anyone would have wanted to take away his talent for drawing cartoons, just the hurting that served as the impetus for the Peanuts. Much of his strips centered on loneliness, depression, sadness, anxiety, worry and a whole host of other maladies. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Charles Schulz, Christian, Christian living, Christianity, church, experiencing God, forgiveness, God, healing, heart, intimacy with God, Jesus Christ, Knowing God, Peanuts, personal relationship with God, relationship with God, Romans 8:7, shame, walk with God, walking with God, will of God, wounds, wounds of the heart
When you woke up on Christmas morning as a child to find a gift that you had longed for intensely, were you more amazed at the sense of wonder of having received such a gift or the gratitude that preceded it? You probably never noticed the gratitude because of the overwhelming effects of the wonder. It is the gratitude that allowed the gushing torrent of flood-filled wonder to occupy such a large place in the heart that nothing could ever seem to penetrate it with the dreary darkness of banality, familiarity or what is common. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Christian, Christian living, Christianity, church, God, God living, gratitude, hearing God, Jesus Christ, John 4:10, life of God, living water, misery, pain, personal relationship with God, relationship with God, Samaritan woman, seeking God, walk with God, walking with God, wonder
The more I peruse the pages of the internet, I am shocked to discover the resurgence of old theological doctrines as well as new ones plastered across the pages of the digital world. I say shocked because not every one of these dogmatically proposed theologies can be right. I have often reflected on the words of Paul in 1 Corinthians 3:1-5, Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: 1 Corinthians 3:1-5, 1 John 4:1-3, 2 Chronicles 26:16-20, Acts 11:1-10, Acts 11:15-18, amillennialism, Antony Flew, Aristotelian logic, Aristotle, Augustine, Benny Hinn, Calvinism, charismatic church, definition of theology, Ephesians 1:17, Exodus 20:13, falsification method, I want to know God, Jehovah Witness, Jesus Christ, Joseph Smith, Kenneth Copeland, law of non contradiction, Leviticus 11, Matthew 12:1-8, mid-tribulation rapture, pentecostal church, pharisees, philosophy, Plato, practical theology, pre-tribulation rapture, quest for the living God, relationship with God, Roman Catholic Church, Romans 13:1, Scofield, theology, Thomas Aquinas, Wesley-Arminian, what is theology
I once was part of a church that taught that the sinful nature could be totally eradicated; that is, gone, wiped out completely. I find this strangely amusing in light of the fact that pastors often chuckle behind closed doors on the difficulty of their congregations. The jokes tell us something different. In fact, pastors in most denominations lament over the high stress nature of their jobs in which they must satisfy everyone, not to mention the damage that is done to their own wives and children. Read the rest of this entry »
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Jesus’ proper interpretation of the law can be found in the charge, “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” (Mt. 5:43-44) It was this righting of the ship that frees us from the bondage of bitterness so that we might spend mercy on the individual who may not be so merciful. I am sure he had Leviticus 19:18 in mind when he said this: “Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against one of your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord.” But what happens when the enemy is not just another person but you? What do you do when you have become your own worst enemy? Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: ad infinitum, condemnation, existentialism, Genesis 1:27, God, Hosea 2:23, Hosea 2:4-15, Hosea 2:4-5, Hosea 2:6-7, Jesus Christ, Knowing God, Leviticus 19:18, Luke 5:31, Matthew 5:43-44, Nietzsche, perfection, perfectionism, redemption, relationship with God, seduction, sickness unto death, sin, stranger to self-hatred, walk with God
In response to Douglas Adam’s statement, “Isn’t it enough to see that a garden is beautiful without having to believe that there are fairies at the bottom of it too”, provoked a heightened sense of curiosity in me that left me thinking about the strange nature of this statement. Why ask the question at all if there were not some semblance of truth? When children tell us make believe stories that have been crafted out of the caverns of a wonder-filled world of imagination, we do not correct them in order to bring them out of the delusion. We laugh, smile, and encourage this world all the more. But why is it that as we get older, this world is perceived with raised eyebrow and cynicism? Perhaps Chesterton was right when he said of W.B. Yeats, that “he is not stupid enough to understand fairyland.” Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: argumentum ad populum, C.S. Lewis, Christian, Douglas Adams, existence of God, existentialism, fairies, fairyland, fairytale, G.K. Chesterton, God, he is not stupid enough to understand fairyland, hedonism, Jesus Christ, logic, might is right, misanthrope, Nietzsche, pessimist, philosophy, reason, relationship with God, scoffer, transvaluation of values, ubermensch, W.B. Yeats, wonder, wonder of a child