Sundays of Praise

Our Words and God's Light

As I have noted on a few occasions, Christian education is a careful balancing act. Everyone is going to have an emphasis, but lean on it too hard and you are likely to miss important truths of the faith. Or even if you know them yourself, you might not repeat them as often as you should.

Quotables

Facts and Figures

The Function of Fear

 While I continue to build the Quest Forums ministry, I am also currently working for a local Christian bookstore. My commute has a number of churches along the way, most of which of course have marquees by the road. As I’m sure you have noticed, many churches like to use these signs to share a note of encouragement or comedy. They want to quickly grab people’s attention as they drive by, hopefully making a thought stick and compelling them to come in at some point. Done right, it can be an effective way to scatter evangelistic seed.

Sundays of Praise

Storm Watching

The last twelve months have had some especially wild weather. I’m sure we all remember the devastating wildfires in California and the hurricanes that hit the southern United States. But even my little corner of the world has had unusual struggles with the elements since last spring. We had record precipitation in 2018, flooding and landslides throughout the year, extreme temperature fluctuations this January, and a freak windstorm a few weeks ago that downed trees and left hundreds without power for days. Those are just a few examples to illustrate the point that nature has seemingly turned against us. And of course, each event big or small is illustrating how our infrastructure is having trouble keeping up with the damages.

Quotables

Facts and Figures

Revealed in the World and the Word

As you may know, the theological term “revelation” refers to the knowledge that God has given to humanity describing Himself. But that definition can be broken down further into two particular types: general revelation and special revelation. When discussing God’s love and care for us, it is important to have each of them in mind. David apparently agreed, because he wrote Ps. 19 as a testament to both.

Simply Impeccable

 The premise for Quest Forums is that everyone has questions, and I mean that when I say it. I don’t ask people to send me questions because I have all the answers. I do it because we all have different areas of attention. I’ve been able to study theology, but obviously, that study does not mean I have learned everything. I still have questions of my own. Recently, I had the opportunity to ask a few of someone with much more expertise than me.

Defining Indoctrination

When you see the word “indoctrination,” what first comes to mind? The answer is probably a little different for everyone, but I am almost certain it has a negative connotation. It’s an interesting example of how words can take on additional meaning as time passes. It originally just meant “to teach,” drawing on the same root word as “doctrine” and “doctor.” In fact, the first dictionary definition is still “to instruct especially in fundamentals or rudiments.” But we all know now that it means to fill people’s heads with bad ideas, especially children.

Two Types of Atheism

 I read a comment on Ps. 10 recently that struck me as a little odd. The pertinent portion is Ps. 10:2–4, 11, which says,

In arrogance the wicked relentlessly pursue their victims;
let them be caught in the schemes they have devised.
For the wicked one boasts about his own cravings;
the one who is greedy curses and despises the Lord.
In all his scheming,
the wicked person arrogantly thinks,
“There’s no accountability,
since there’s no God.”…
He says to himself, “God has forgotten;
He hides His face and will never see.”

Assessing Assisted Suicide: Addendum

This article could have possibly been a “Part 5,” but I feel like it is more of a postscript than an actual part of my larger discussion on assisted suicide. That series has a solid conclusion, but this is just another way to chew on the issue. Plus, it is also separated by the fact that what I want to talk about here can be widely applied. It has to do with a number of issues, not just end-of-life ones.

Assessing Assisted Suicide: Part 4

With this article, my series on assisted suicide comes to a close. We have seen that it is a Christian responsibility to be mindful of suffering, but that God’s truth must ultimately guide our response to it. We have also seen what happens when life comes to be viewed as a commodity rather than an intrinsic good. The argument for assisted suicide wraps itself in the language of compassion, but as it is logically extended, it ends in heartless tyranny.