God

  • "Pastor, am I a Christian?"

    Nicholas Kristof interviews Tim Keller.  http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/23/opinion/sunday/pastor-am-i-a-christian.html
    Interesting questions and answers!

  • "A survivor of Bible-belt America..."

    Here is a fascinating article about Russell Moore, and why people are criticizing him, but why his Christ-before-politics approach is so powerful, right, and needed.
    He calls himself “a survivor of Bible Belt America”... I know exactly what he means, being a “survivor” also myself. May God raise up many more survivors like him.

  • Do Muslims and Christians worship the same God?

    Here is a thought-provoking article discussing the latest on this question, including the 2016 "Marrakesh Declaration" and the 2007 "Common Word". As the author suggests, a better statement of the question would be: "Is the God presented in the Qur’an the same as the God presented in the Bible?"

  • Where is God?

    Facebook spans a huge, heartbreaking, soulstretching, range of emotions. Tonight, I read posts from some friends about their babies, engagement, children’s birthdays, recipies, and funny videos. I also read posts from other friends about their chemotherapy, relationship breakup, death of a father, and about the bombings killing civilians in Aleppo and Cairo. Perhaps no other generation has had such a daily deluge of emotional range... how can one handle this (without becoming desensitized in one direction or the other)?
    More importantly, where is God, and what is He doing? (if He exists, which I have reason to believe)
    I came across these two powerful and helpful articles tonight:
    http://www.desiringgod.org/articles/why-do-we-envy-the-wicked  - an examination of Psalm 73’s approach to the same wrenching questions we face today. Excerpt: “The psalmist looks around and sees the faithless living opulent lives of comfort and blessing and long life. He looks around and sees that these same people are wicked oppressors of others. He thinks that they’re getting away with it. The simplicity of the psalmist’s challenge fuels our search for clarity and answers. Where is our sovereign, righteous God when the sex trafficker naps on his yacht?”
    http://www.desiringgod.org/articles/trust-me-or-i-will-hurt-you  - Does God actually convey this choice to the world (as an ‘abusive husband’) - “Trust Me or I will hurt you”? Or, when we look at the details of what He actually said and did, rather the opposite?

  • Waiting and trusting

    Wow, this is a powerful short story (only about 1 page long).

    https://world.wng.org/2016/11/the_gift_of_some_medics

    We will miss seeing the great things God will do, if we stop waiting and trusting Him.

    Compare the good example of Joseph who waited (Genesis 37-50, https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=gen+37-41) with the bad example of Saul who stopped waiting (1 Samuel 15, https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+sam+15 ).  See also the good example of George Mueller, as he waited on God to provide for his orphans and others. http://www.desiringgod.org/articles/george-muller-did-not-have-the-gift-of-faith-thankfully

     

  • "White Privilege"

    I’ve wondered about so-called “white privilege” for a while, and recently came to a realization:
    White privilege and black privilege are both equally real.
    What do I mean by this? In certain situations, people of lighter skin color have social advantages and have less risk of being harmed or discriminated against. On the other hand, in other situations, people of darker skin color have social advantages and have less risk of being harmed or discriminated against.
    A bad, incorrect response to this situation would be to deny the experiences that other people tell us about... We shouldn’t say “No, I don’t believe that happened to you”... instead, we should listen carefully.
    Good responses to this situation would seem to include:
    • Listening and learning from other people’s experience.
    • Affirming people’s equal value and worth (as image bearers of the Creator God, ‘all men (men and women) are created equal (worth), and are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights’, etc), regardless of the color of their skin or their age (including those who have not yet been born).
    • Upholding justice, even if it means contradicting someone in a position of power (regardless of that person’s ethnicity or skin color).
    • Becoming aware of our privileges, for the purpose of using our privileges to help other people... welcoming the underprivileged into our circles, seeking to establish them, encourage them, show kindness to them, show ‘agape’-love to them... for the ultimate purpose of pointing them to Jesus so they be truly, eternally, satisfied and happy. Our ethnicity is a tool, a gift, given to us to help other people.
    Your thoughts are welcome!.....

  • Perspective

    Two good recent quotes:
    "Sometimes the glory God gets from our lack far exceeds what he gets from our fullness." -- http://www.desiringgod.org/articles/what-is-your-body-saying
    "Christians hold fast to the conviction that 85 years of protection, shelter, food, clothing, health, peace, prosperity, social justice, comfort, and happiness, followed by an eternity of misery, is not a good life." -- http://www.desiringgod.org/articles/do-you-pray-like-a-nonbeliever

  • "Uncle Sam has been a horrible father."

    Thought-provoking comments from an African American official about the Milwaukee riots.

    https://world.wng.org/2016/08/milwaukee_sheriff_speaks_the_truth

  • honesty

    "Christianity put too tight a moral rein on my life. I am a naturally selfish and sometimes devious person, and quite frankly I didn't want to be bound by a world-view which insisted that I should be altruistic and honest."

    -- fascinating quote by a very honest, anonymous, atheist...

    http://www.christianthinktank.com/tqdecide.html

  • Truth

    John Piper’s article responding to recent events is thought-provoking and worth reading.

    http://www.desiringgod.org/articles/this-american-moment

tim223

(I use 'tags' and 'categories' almost interchangeably... see below)

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