Of all the pastoral issues a church can face, I think one of the trickiest may be addiction. In theory, churches are eager to provide a safe and welcoming environment for current or recovering addicts. Yet in reality, churches often feel ignorant and poorly equipped to deal with the reality of addicts and addictions and…
Compulsive [kəm-ˈpəl-siv] adjective: “resulting from or relating to an irresistible urge, especially one that is against one’s conscious wishes.” I’ve recently been thinking about compulsion, especially as it relates to one of the most incredible devices ever made: the smartphone. A little bit of self-analysis shows that the way I use my smartphone borders on…
(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.…
I recently read David Kupelian’s The Marketing of Evil, a book which disusses how so many of the social ills we see in our society have not merely happened, but have been actively marketed and promoted by men and women with specific, unbiblical agendas (you can read my review of this book here). One pearl…