You’ve probably heard it as often as I have. “You just need more faith!” “Just believe!” “Just let go, and let God!” The subject is faith, and the common theme is the modifier “just,” making it sound really, really simple. Like flip a switch, and suddenly I’ll have strong life-changing faith. But where is that […]
Need a Tour Guide to the Bible? Heidelberg Catechism, Q. 21-22
How do you make sense of the Bible? It comes in two testaments written in multiple languages and cultures across a vast span of centuries. The list of its literary genres includes poetry, law, letters, micro-fiction, history — and it tends to include multiple versions of key stories. A whole lot of us could use […]
And Who Is Your God? Heidelberg and the Trinity
Someone knocks at your door. They want to convert you to their faith. What is the crucial issue? What about someone who doesn’t knock, on the premise that all kinds of beliefs are okay. What is at stake? They might want to talk about Jesus. They probably claim the name Christian. One crucial underlying question […]
Need Hope in Dark Places? Look at Jesus’ Descent into Hell
It is possible in a theological statement to get something quite wrong, and yet, at the same time, to say something good and true and helpful. In a way, that may be the only kind of theological statement we can make. I think that is what happens in Question 44 of the Heidelberg Catechism. (I’ve […]
Resurrection of the Body: This Is Not Your Culture’s Afterlife
Our culture goes two opposite directions on life after death. Both are a long way from Christian faith and hope. On the one hand we have sentimental universalism. It can be the soft-focus flowers and clouds of greeting card theology, trying to comfort the grieving. It can be stories of near death experiences in the […]
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