An unending exercise in blessed futility
Gandalf the Grey once observed, “There are other forces at work in this world, Frodo, besides the will of evil….And that’s an encouraging thought.” Christians’ attitudes about the spread of the gospel and the progress of the human condition between now and when Jesus returns range from very optimistic to very pessimistic. There are biblical
About 3,400 years ago, a man named Moses climbed a mountain to talk to God on behalf of a very large group of refugees. God, who had saved these people from slavery through a series of awesome and terrifying acts of judgment on their oppressors, covered the mountain with dark clouds and thundered out an
Some of the most startling statements in the Bible appear with little fanfare or in-depth treatment. Sometimes we don’t even notice how puzzling they are upon a first reading. Perhaps that’s part of why they’re so puzzling. When the biblical authors don’t seem to acknowledge the significance, or at least the oddness, of what they’ve
As the Sweet Psalmist of Israel once observed, heathen gonna rage (Psalm 2, paraphrased). If you study any history, you’ll recognize that the story of mankind has been a story of violence, betrayal, division, conquest, and tyranny. Times of peace appear as anomalous, often illusory, respites that only grow tension until the next inevitable outburst
Sarah died in Hebron. In Genesis 23, we’re told that after she died, “Abraham came to mourn.” Where did he come from? He likely came from the field or wherever he happened to be when he heard the news of her passing. The Bible here does not give us a distant statement of the historical
What if you knew, actually for-certain knew, that fire could not harm you? Perhaps you could still feel the heat. It would still be blinding, suffocating, and scary. Maybe you could even feel the pain at times. But no matter how much it hurt, you knew that the fire could not harm you. You would
Once upon a time, or so legend says, a great thinker and writer named Augustine was walking along a seashore, thinking about God. Ever since he had become a Christian while reading Paul’s letter to the Romans in a garden (an excellent choice of both reading material and location, as conversions go), Augustine thought about
