As our country has gradually moved away from its Christian roots and the culture those roots produced, the results have been amazing. I can remember distinctly what family life was like 50 years ago, Christian or non-Christian, and the contrast to today’s families is dramatic. For example, I recently visited with a friend, a young single adult, who had just babysat the six-year-old daughter of a young Christian, regular church-going family.  The daughter had no idea what “authority,” “obey” or “respect” even meant, and…

When we “see” the kingdom of God and that all of us, yes, every one of God’s children, have been given the life-long task to actualize in time what is already true in fact—the right-now rule of Jesus Christ over the whole earth—our lives take on new meaning. We recognize a new reason for living; everything we do comes with a new purpose from a brand new foundation. However, that realization doesn’t come easily. We have been misled into believing that “ruling in the…

Immediately after WWI, a group of German Jewish intellectuals were interested in expanding Karl Marx’s view of economic Marxism to include a cultural aspect as well. They realized that Western Civilization (a product of Christianity) was too firmly embedded in Europe and America to be overcome by purely economic arguments; they worked to devise a method of including cultural change in Marx’s ideas of revolution. This was a direct attack on God and the culture that always follows the true Christian gospel. The began…

The ideas that I share with you in these weekly letters have been hashed, rehashed, discussed and argued over every morning over coffee with my wife Jill for at least 30 years. Being together for thirty minutes to an hour before we each go about our separate activities is crucial to us both as we begin our day, The resultant theology (remember, theology = what God is like) is very much a corporate product. We are discovering more and more about Him as we…

As Christians progress in their faith, at some point it will genuinely dawn on them that, “Yes, I have been saved by a God who loves me, thinks I am positively adorable, and has fully forgiven me for all my past, present and even future sins.” The Christian then, very naturally, begins to look up from constantly evaluating himself and begins for the first time to look outside of himself. He has been trapped in the endemic Christian pastime of “navel-gazing,” i.e.,”How’m I doin’…

Over the the past weeks we have discussed the four pillars of truth that support the Christian faith. Those pillars form the answers from the Bible to four, comprehensive questions which provide the basis of human existence: 1.) “What is God like?” 2.) “What am I like?” 3.) “How does God relate to me?” 4.) “Why am I here?” As we have worked our way through what I believe are biblical answers to these simple questions (which I have collectively called, “Theology for Dummies”),…

Christians are consumed with one overriding question: “How’m I doin’?” I am constantly taught, both directly and indirectly, that my sanctification (growing in my faith) is an ongoing process in which I am vitally involved, and it demands my constant attention. Church attendance, Bible reading, obedience to God’s law and various other disciplines I can do are presented as absolutely essential to my continued growth in the faith in order for me to become a mature Christian, i.e., become more and more righteous and…

Calls to “live by faith” are everywhere in Paul’s letters in the New Testament. To “walk by faith,” “walk in the Spirit,” or to “trust the Lord,” are all synonymous terms for the same thing. We have read those ubiquitous phrases so many times they have become meaningless to most of us, yet it seems that it would be important to clearly understand phrases so frequently used in the Bible. What is the idea they are all meant to convey? Does it mean dressing…

Until relatively recently, I think I always thought that the job of grandparenting included being a loving babysitter, emergency taxi-driver, and proud observer at ball games, recitals and all other extra-curricular activities. Unlike parents, I am completely free from any messy, unpleasant responsibilities such as discipline, so I can just enjoy them. Right? Growing up, I was an only child with only one grandfather. He was a businessman, very involved in his work, with little time for his only grandchild, so I had no…

This is the famous line from the 1967 hit movie that older readers will remember, “Cool Hand Luke.” Luke was a convict in a Florida prison camp, played by Paul Newman, who refused to let “The Man” break him and mold his thinking to conform to acceptable thought compliance in the camp. He was made to do meaningless tasks, such as digging a huge hole and then filling it back up in an attempt to make him yield to prison-camp group-think. I was reminded…