Writer and Teacher
Posts tagged Theology
How Can I Know God?
Aug 27th
A father asked what his daughter was drawing. She answered, “God.”
The father said, “Honey, nobody knows what God looks like.”
Without batting an eye, she responded, “They will when I get through.”
Can we know God? Is it possible to know about him without knowing him personally? Knowing God is the most important knowledge because ignorance of God leads to evil behavior (Romans 1:21-31; John 16:2, 3; 1 John 4:8) and bears eternal consequences (John 17:3). Knowing God personally is what really matters.
How we view life depends on how we view God. For those who do not know God, life is a confusing maze. More >
America’s Religion
Jul 18th
Some have predicted that humanism and naturalism would produce a completely secular America. These forecasts have not proven true. While our culture has not embraced a robust belief in orthodox Christianity. Americans are interested in spiritual things.
Sociologist Christian Smith identified the religion of American teenagers as “moralistic therapeutic deism.” He lists its beliefs as follows.
- God created the world.
- God wants people to be good, nice, and fair to each other.
- The goal of life is to be happy and to feel good about oneself.
- God is uninvolved in one’s life except when he is needed to resolve a problem.
- Good people go to heaven when they die.
(Christian Smith and Melissa Denton, Soul Searching: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers, Oxford University Press, 2005).
This set of beliefs describes many adults as well as teenagers. Many I have known do not have a personal relationship with Christ or participation in a church. They use God’s name to forcefully punctuate a sentence but expect him to help them when they need him and confidently expect to go to heaven when they die.
An interest in spirituality does not make one a Christian. We must teach people to know Christ who has revealed God to us. Generic religion does not produce godly lives and does not save. In our lives and church we must help people know the God of the Bible and Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.
Three Images of the Human Body
Apr 9th
From The LOOKOUT: http://www.lookoutmag.com/articles/articledisplay.asp?id=332
Ashamed of your body? Dislike your body? Preoccupied with your body? Is your body the most important part of you? Who influences what you think of your body? What is the Christian view of the body? We may view our bodies as a prison, as a god, or as a temple of God.
The Human Body as a Prison
Some pagans viewed the material world, including the human body, as evil. Plato thought the body hindered the soul from gaining truth, contaminating and imprisoning the soul. Epictetus saw himself as a “poor soul shackled to a corpse.” Seneca called the body a “detestable habitation” imprisoning the soul. Virgil spoke of the body as “blind darkness of this prison house.” More >
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