Did you spot a co-worker or cashier this week with what looked like a smudge of dirt on their forehead? If you didn’t grow up in a Christian home, you might not recognize the symbolism. A friend of mine once saw a woman at work coming out of the copier room with a smudge on…
Read moreTimes I got it…
We’re invited to believe in, and to do the work commanded by Christ. By doing so, we’ll enjoy reunion with the Creator and live with Him forever and ever. This is what I share as my understanding of the good news in Sunday school, Bible studies, and the all too rare conversations that stray from…
Read moreChristmas Clutter
Here are some of my favorite misconceptions about Christmas. Do you have some? Share them in the comments below! People wanting to return to the good old days of Christmas before consumerism / commercialism might not want to travel too far back in time. Celebrating Christmas was banned in Boston from 1659-1681. Celebrations of Christmas…
Read moreThe Three Wise Men Weren’t (Three)
Each Christmas I get a little more scrooge-like as I drive past nativity scenes depicting three kings waiting in line to present the baby Jesus with their gifts. Some early church traditions even have names for the robed worshipers, Gaspar, Melchior, and Balthazar, but we have no way of knowing if this was accurate. So,…
Read moreMisquoting the Bible
If there is one word of advice, I’d give to new readers of the Holy Scripture it is “context.” With over 727,000 words in the NIV version of the Old and New Testaments, like fortune cookies, people can easily make up anything using out of context bible statements. Anytime you hear a bible phrase quoted,…
Read moreEven infants are sinners
Nothing seems more innocent than a cooing newborn baby. All the promise of life with none of the baggage. Yet the foundation of “original sin” infects even these precious ones. Genesis 8:21 says: “every inclination of the human heart is evil from childhood.” Likewise Romans 5:12 says “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered…
Read moreEveryone will be Resurrected
If you are like me, you may have conflated the terms and concepts “resurrection” and “salvation.” As children we are taught good people who die go to heaven. Bad people either remain dead, exist in a state of nothingness (eternally separated from God?), or go to “h-e-double-toothpicks.” (Like I said, when we were kids…) The…
Read moreThere are only two destinations, Heaven, and Hell
Despite some religions which espouse reincarnation or a ‘state of nothingness’ as the end game, the Lord Jesus himself clarified there is no middle ground, and he spoke a lot about hell. He told us more about hell than any other prophet. It seems like we needed to hear this from someone we could not…
Read moreCan there be salvation without God taking the Initiative?
After the encounter with the rich young ruler in Matt 19:25, Jesus’ disciples ask “Who then can be saved?” Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” John 6:44 says it is completely out of our hands as Jesus says “No one can come to…
Read moreJesus was not the first nor the only person raised from the Dead
The New Testament story of Lazarus falling ill, dying, and laying in the tomb for four days is fairly well known. This story contains the verse we all volunteered to memorize in Sunday school since it was the shortest verse in the Bible; “Jesus wept”. John recounts the action in Chapter 11. Scoffers doubt Jesus’…
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