Category: Christian Life
Fact and Theory
Why does the Bible simply proclaim, rather than argue and defend, difficult Christian doctrines like the Trinity or the Incarnation? This question has been staring at me all afternoon from the little pocket notebook I carry with me to church....
Canonical Communities: Ash Wednesday and Christian Communities
Today is Ash Wednesday, and though this is going up late, I think it appropriate. The Lenten season is one of the most difficult periods of the Christian year. It is a time of reflection and repentance for our sins....
How good is “as good as possible”?
“But one ought to try to become as good as possible oneself, but not to think that only oneself can become perfectly good — for if one thinks this is one is not yet perfectly good.” -Plotinus Ennead II.9, Chap....
The Key to the Gospel of John: An Addendum
I was planning on being finished with these reflections on John, but these excellent questions from Andrew have inspired me to write one more post. If anything is clear in the Gospel of John, the thought that Jesus is both...
The Key to the Gospel of John: Final Installment
In my previous post on the Gospel of John, I suggested that John speaks to us through his Gospel as Jesus does to the people in the Gospel. “Greater works than these,” Jesus says. John’s Gospel is surely one of...
Character, Skepticism, and Prayer
In the context of a discussion about the method in which God develops a conversation relationship with us – by forming our character – and our appropriate response, Dallas Willard writes of the serious barrier our culture’s skepticism poses to...
As Below, So Above: Cleaning Up After Haggard
We blogged about it a lot at Mere O when it happened. Offered some pretty strong opinions, too, especially about the response by the people at New Life. Ted Olsen at Christianity Today posted this recap of the followup by...
Peter Kreeft at Biola
Christian apologist Peter Kreeft visited Biola University this weekend as a guest of the Torrey Honors Institute. Kreeft has written numerous books in various styles on numerous subjects including apologetics, heaven, prayer, Catholicism and Aquinas. His next work (and the...
Parable of the Talents
Okay, this story from the AP wire is just flat out cool. GROVE, Okla. (AP) — Usually, parishioners offer money to their churches. This time, the church handed out money. Pastor Steve Dyer of the Newsong Church gave $14,000 to...
Transposition and introspection
Lewis in Weight of Glory makes the point that for any higher thing (like a three-dimensional cube) to be transposed onto a lower medium (like a two-dimensional piece of paper) two things must be true: a) the thing must lose...