If you were like me, a kid growing up in the 70’s, you couldn’t wait for the latest Charlie Brown special to appear on the television. I can remember waiting in eager anticipation for it as though it were the highlight of the day. Now, I am watching it with my own kids. For some strange reason (God?), during a recent special, I had some suspicions about the nature of what I was watching. Charlie Brown as the perennial loser in life, rejected amongst friends, can never do anything right, can’t get the little red-haired girl, can’t kick the football, etc. I was beginning to wonder if Charlie Brown were merely a disguise behind which Schulz was hiding. I was aware of his most recent biography, Schulz and Peanuts, by David Michaelis and checked it out at the local library. Good grief, was that ever a kick to the heart! Read the rest of this entry »
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Tags: Billy Graham, Charles Schulz, Charlie Brown, Christ, Christianity Today, For Better or For Worse, God, Great Pumpkin, pain, wounds
Why is it that the church has not become a source of life for a hurting world that desperately needs it to doctor up its infirmities? Why, instead, does a world turn to philanthropist organizations, pop psychology or government to solve its deepest problems when the church claims to be the answer for everything? Genesis 3 provides a summary of the human condition and a synthesis by which to understand the rest of the Scriptures: man revolted against God and the shameful effects have been devastating. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Christian living, church, disguise, Garden of Eden, Genesis 3, God, humility, pain, relationship with God, shame, virtue
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
When I was a child, I never concluded that my parents did not exist because pain was part of my life. Now, the unbeliever might say that I could verify their existence through the lens of the five senses whereas with God I cannot. This leads me to ask which came first, the denial of God’s existence after a painful experience or a “simple” deduction of empirical evidence before? I ask this because it is largely unnoticed that we are always met with the emotional content of a conversation long before any formal logic is ever applied, as if to say this could precede any emotional basis from without. For instance, nobody travels to their local Barnes & Noble, finds one book advocating theism, another in support of atheism, reads through the argumentation of each and reaches a conclusion independent of any experience that muddies the waters through which a conclusion is apprehended. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: academics, blame, Christ, evidence of God, God proof, hearing the voice of God, love, man after God's own heart, Matthew 16:4, Miracle at St. Anna, pain, proof for the existence of God, proof of God, prove the existence of God, scientific proof of God, suffering, what is the purpose of life, why does God allow suffering
So often in life we search for programs such as instant weight loss, get-rich-quick schemes or any other formula that promises instant success while throwing hard work and discipline out the window. If you have come seeking a formula that does not involve a desire for the heart to change then I can tell you that it will not work. It is fascinating to see the programs that have been implemented for changing the nature of homosexuals. I have read reports by individuals who brought their jaded expectations to find their cure while counselors swing to unbiblical and unsatisfactory extremes in diagnosing their problems. Always remember when dealing with lust, if your desire is change, there is always hope. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: 2 Samuel 11:1, 2 Samuel 11:11, C.S. Lewis, Christ, concupiscence, conquering sin, David, Exodus 20:12, Exodus 20:3, Exodus 20:5, Gadarene demoniac, God, gratitude, Hebrews 10:25, how to overcome lust, intimacy with God, love of God, Luke 5:16, lust, pain, Pavlov's dog, pornography, psychology, reasons for lust, relationship with God, Romans 8, Romans 8:35-39, seven deadly sins, sins of the fathers, spiritual growth, spiritual help, struggling with lust, Uriah
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 »
Tags: Abraham, Christian living, condemnation, condemno, David, Death Angel, find God, freedom, God knowing, hearing God, hearing the voice of God, high places, intimacy with God, Jacob, Jesus Christ, Josiah, know God, Knowing God, Laban, Leah, love of God, pain, passover, personal relationship with God, Rachel, relationship with God, Roman Catholic Church, Romans 2:4, Romans 6, Romans 7, sanctification, Solomon, theology, walk with God, walking with God, where is God, will of God