Results tagged “sin”
The Reaction & Revulsion of a Holy Nature (08/24/09 - 29 Comments)
What makes you angry? We all have our triggers, don't we? We all have certain things, certain situations, certain affronts to our dignity or pride that stir anger within. I know I've got mine. And actually, I know quite a lot about anger, as Aileen could attest (and probably will if you think to ask her!). When she and I talk about God's grace in our lives, and evidence of it, she will often point...
The Religious Hell Hole (08/05/09 - 103 Comments)
Several months ago I received an email from a person who had happened by this blog. As you will see in the excerpt of that email, she had been searching for information about original sin and its application to babies who die in infancy (or who die because of abortion). Google led her here. This is what she wrote: I volunteer at a pregnancy resource center here in Southern California. I teach a post abortion...
Little Evils, Little Sins (06/02/09 - 20 Comments)
The Pacific Campaign of the Second World War has always fascinated me. In many ways, it seemed like a nonsensical series of battles between the United States and Japan. As the Americans sought to curtail Japanese aggression in the East, they fought their way across the Pacific Ocean, moving slowly and deliberately from island to island. Tiny, seemingly insignificant pieces of rock, jutting from the midst of a boundless ocean, hundreds of miles, thousands...
Freedom in Christ (01/21/09 - 26 Comments)
(Continued from yesterday) My friend and I had taken hours out of our weekend to clean Barb's squalid, rundown house. But then, when she got home, she was angry--very angry. Now there was one thing I neglected to say about Barb. Beside her couch/bed was one of those Rubbermaid containers, the kind with several drawers. Each of these drawers contained an assortment of silk Hermes scarves. Each of these scarves, we later learned, had been...
A Slave to Sin (01/20/09 - 20 Comments)
Barb claimed to be a psychiatrist, but my guess is that she was not a very good one. One day she had asked our friends, her next door neighbors, to help clean up her house a little bit. She was having trouble with her finances and wanted to sell off a few valuable possessions. But first she needed to tidy up some. I volunteered to pitch in. Our friends regarded Barb as more of a...
A Word about Free Will (01/05/09 - 83 Comments)
Today I want to step into dangerous territory and discuss free will. This is a massive topic with implications that stretch to almost every part of the Christian faith. I want to look at just one small part of it. I want to deal with a statement I've heard and read time and again. I came across this most recently when reading C.S. Lewis' Mere Christianity. "Free will," he says, "though it makes evil possible,...
The Dark Guest (11/22/08 - 9 Comments)
Here is another prayer from The Valley of Vision. I think this one has somehow struck me deeper than any other in the book. This confession both shames and encourages me: "I am not yet weaned from all created glory, honour, wisdom, and esteem of others, for I have a secret motive to eye my name in all I do." Here it is, a prayer that God would remove the dark guest who haunts me....
The Filth of Human Hands (07/30/08 - 10 Comments)
This morning I read with joy an account of God’s abundant grace in the life of my friend Stacey. On her blog she wrote about God’s grace despite her long-lingering doubts about His goodness. “For the past couple of years, until not long ago actually, I was constantly plagued by doubts and uncertainty in the goodness of my God. I was confused and always questioning God, unable to read my Bible without doubting and virtually...
Resolved (07/13/08 - 14 Comments)
This is just about my favorite time of day. The house is quiet and no one else awake. It allows me a few minutes to myself—time I use every day to read the Bible and pray. I know that in a few minutes the family will begin to stir. Nick and Abby will wake up and Michaela will not be far behind. It won’t be long before the quiet is punctuated by their childish squabbles...
The Shape of Temptation (07/08/08 - 27 Comments)
As I continue reading through Waltke’s Old Testament Theology I continue to dig up pure gold. Today I’ll share yet another example. In one of the earliest chapters Waltke writes about man’s fall into sin and discusses “the shape of temptation.” Here he shows how Satan’s original act of temptation is an archetype or sorts. All of the temptation that would follow through the long line of human experience would mimic this one. Satan tempted...
All Men Are Equal Down at the Cross (05/07/08 - 18 Comments)
Yesterday I wrote about sin, asking if sin is primarily something we do or something we are. Some questions arose in light of that article and I wanted to carry on a bit of discussion by looking further at the doctrine of human depravity. I have shared most of this in the past but felt it was well worth covering again. It is easy to see this doctrine as one that is terribly depressing and...
Sin: What We Do or What We Are? (05/06/08 - 33 Comments)
As anyone knows who has studied the life of Jonathan Edwards, he dedicated a large portion of his ministry to thinking, writing and teaching about the freedom of the will. And, of course, he eventually published a classic work dealing with the subject. In writing the book he thought back to the days when revival had swept his church, his community and the area around it. And as he reflected on the individuals who had...
Hearing and Heeding God's Word (04/21/08 - 21 Comments)
Raising children isn’t nearly as easy as my parents made it look. Somehow, when I was a kid, I never really considered that my parents had a tough job to do. Though they had five children, and though we kept them pretty active, I guess it never occurred to me that it was a difficult and demanding task to raise us—not only to keep us fed and clothed, but to train us to be productive...
Just Stop It! (03/27/08 - 56 Comments)
You’ve probably seen this video. If not, you’ll want to take six minutes of your life and give it a look. It’s Bob Newhart at his best, really. If you’ve heard his old bits about the discovery of tobacco or the invention of baseball you’ll see that not much has changed over the years. He’s as funny as ever. His stuttering, his naivete—it’s the same as it ever was. It’s brilliant. In the case of...
Overcoming Sin and Temptation (Chapter 14) (02/21/08 - 22 Comments)
This morning we come to the end of the second classic we’ve been reading together. Chapter 14 marks the end of John Owen’s Of the Mortification of Sin in Believers. If you are interested in knowing what we’re doing, you can read about it here: Reading Classics Together. Summary Today we are at the fourth and final part of the book: directions for the work of mortification. Set faith at work on Christ for the...
Overcoming Sin and Temptation (Chapter 13) (02/14/08 - 8 Comments)
We are nearing the end of our project to read through John Owen’s classic book Overcoming Sin and Temptation. After this morning we will have just one chapter remaining. If you’d like to know more about this reading project, you can read about it right here: Reading Classics Together. If you are interested in participating in reading the next classic together, stay tuned to this site and we’ll choose a new book in just a...
Overcoming Sin and Temptation (Chapter 12) (02/07/08 - 6 Comments)
This morning we continue with our reading of John Owen’s classic Overcoming Sin and Temptation. If you’d like to know more about this reading project, you can read about it right here: Reading Classics Together. We’re in the heart of the book now and are looking at specific instructions on how to put sin to death. In the past few chapters we have been in the book’s second section—a section that focuses on “the nature...
Overcoming Sin and Temptation (Chapter 11) (01/31/08 - 10 Comments)
This morning we continue with our reading of John Owen’s classic Overcoming Sin and Temptation. If you’d like to know more about this reading project, you can read about it right here: Reading Classics Together. We’re into the real heart of the book now and are looking at specific instructions on how to put sin to death. In the past few chapters we have been in the book’s second section—a section that focuses on “the...
Overcoming Sin and Temptation (Chapter 10) (01/24/08 - 25 Comments)
This morning we continue with our reading of John Owen’s classic Overcoming Sin and Temptation. If you’d like to know more about this reading project, you can read about it right here: Reading Classics Together. We’re into the real heart of the book now and are looking at specific instructions on how to put sin to death. In the past few chapters we have been in the book’s second section—a section that focuses on “the...
Overcoming Sin and Temptation (Chapter 9) (01/17/08 - 14 Comments)
This morning we continue with our fourteen week journey through John Owen’s classic Overcoming Sin and Temptation. If you’d like to know more about this reading project, you can read about it right here: Reading Classics Together. We’re into the real heart of the book now and are looking at specific instructions on how to put sin to death. By way of reminder, for the past few chapters we have been in the book’s second...