30 May 2023

A Down Payment on a Good Home

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It is that time of year here in Michigan when you begin to see yard sales cropping up around your neighborhood. When I decide to sell something, I have become more fond of the online methods that eliminate the unpleasant experience of moving things from your yard where they did not sell back into your...
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22 May 2023

Christianity: It’s a Religion (Not Just a Relationship)

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You’ve heard the mantra a dozen times: “Christianity is not a religion; it’s a relationship.” This statement is quite wrong. Firstly, because it’s a false dichotomy (can’t it be both?), but secondly because if we have to choose, Christianity is more fundamentally a religion than it is a relationship.  The trouble here is our definition of a religion....
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26 Apr 2023

The Future of Pro-Abortion Arguments

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A recent Wired article fascinated me. It began with the line, “One day, human wombs will no longer be necessary for bearing children.” It continued, highlighting the scientific advances that make it quite probable that there will be artificial wombs in factories within the foreseeable future. Of course, this is a fascinating topic on its...
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29 Mar 2023

Love Covers Sins

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As Peter considers the coming eschatological end of all things, he appeals to his readers to “above all have constant love for one another” (1 Pet 4:8). The statement, “above all” indicates that this is the most important principle out of those he provides in this context. The centrality of love is not surprising. Of...
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23 Mar 2023

Free and Informed Choices

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Each spring I teach a section in a third-year pastoral course aimed at helping aspiring pastors deal with change and conflict in churches. I have been doing it for years, but the escalating level of tension in our culture that is seeping into churches and ministries has given me an even greater sense of urgency...
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20 Mar 2023

Reviewing Bonhoeffer’s Seminary Vision

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I have not engaged substantially in the study of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Most of the celebrity that Bonhoeffer has earned is in the spheres of ethics, piety, and courage (and he rightly merits our admiration on those counts); still, I have been concerned that unqualified celebration of these traits might unwittingly commend as well his theology,...
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8 Mar 2023

Assumptions Affect Interactions

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Please allow me to share three anecdotes before making some comments about how our assumptions can affect our interactions. All come from the early 1990s when I was working on a DMin at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (TEDS). How Long Did It Take…? One day, during the lunch break of a day-long class, another student...
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1 Mar 2023

Learning from History, not Reacting to It

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It’s commonly said that hindsight is 20/20, but that simply isn’t the case. In fairness, most people use it not to claim that their interpretation of past events is perfect, but only that it is easier to see things more clearly after the fact. I agree with that. We should, though, be reflective in our...
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