“Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” (NIV). This is another challenging statement which Jesus makes in the “sermon on the mount”. However I think there are a few things which shed light on this statement. Often, words in other languages have different shades of meaning which can’t be exactly translated. As I
Shane Claiborne on Singleness, Marriage, and Community
…our deepest longing is not for sex but for love and that what we really long for is community. You can live without sex, but you can’t live without love… I still believe there is tons of work to do in the Church—and the world in general—to support celibate singles. So many champions of our
Understanding Matthew 5:31-32: Divorce
One passage of scripture that people struggle to understand is Matthew 5:31-32 where Jesus states: “It has been said, ‘Anyone who divorces his wife must give her a certificate of divorce.’ But I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, makes her the victim of adultery, and anyone who marries
Expressing Love Outside of Romance
This post is part of the February Synchroblog “Cross Gender Friendships”. Those of you who have followed me for a while will remember that I did some writing about friendship between men and women. I reviewing those posts, I realized that I had not as of yet done a good job of explaining the subject
Music Review: The Choir – De-plumed
For those unfamiliar with The Choir, they are a rock band which has been together for approximately 30 years. Over the last several years they have been actively recording and performing their music. In between two album releases of new material, they put out a CD called De-plumed in 2011 (Yes, I’m a bit behind).
Faith is a Journey
(I was asked to write out my reasons for believing in God. I imagine that the person asking the question was thinking more in terms of a rational, intellectual argument. But the following is what came out. I think I agree with a friend of mine who holds that belief in God is more contingent
Book Review: Walking in the Dust of Rabbi Jesus
“Walking in the Dust of Rabbi Jesus” is the best book I’ve read this year. Author Lois Tverberg does an excellent job of taking her years of study of Judaism and applying it to Jesus. In this book she unveils layers of meaning behind many of Jesus’ words. Passages that were once opaque in meaning
I’m Not Sure Evangelism Is The Point
An recent event reminded me of an outreach ministry I was involved in a number of years ago. This ministry was an attempt to reach out to the people who go out to one of our city’s main bar districts, Broad Ripple. (I definitely see this as a forerunner to Pub Theology, for those who
Needs vs. Idolatry vs. God’s General Provision
An interesting thought: It may be true that “man cannot live on bread alone”, however it is also certainly true that he cannot live very long without it. People like to say that Jesus provides for all our needs, but surely they can’t mean that this always happens directly. For example, it doesn’t seem reasonable
Inside the Mind of Men
This article was interesting. Since I’m not married, I don’t have a perspective on many of the points he mentions (since they’re mostly framed into a husband-wife relationship). But I offer feedback on a few. People say that men have all the power in society, but it doesn’t feel that way to most men. True.