Faith Blog

Jesus did not start any denominations, yet today there are thousands. How should we view that? Why so many Christian Denominations? In the 2000 years since Pentecost, the church has grown from hundreds to billions. Jesus encouraged us to have faith. He did not give any guidance on seminaries, church buildings, church size, or a plethora of other topics. Jesus was looking to lead all who would follow. In the Bible, the church started in Jerusalem, but Jerusalem was destroyed …

Some stories in the Bible encompass a whole chapter or more and have one main lesson for us. Sometimes the Bible is overwhelming. For example, let’s be overwhelmed with these 59 words.  We can spend a lifetime in 59 words like this. 9 Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. 10 Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves. 11 Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. 12 Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful …

The term good news gets thrown around a lot. What about that? What is good news? The term appears 44 times in the New Testament. In old English, good news was said gospel. So, it still appears in the Bible due to tradition.  Guess we should pay some attention to Gospel and Good news. The Gospel of Mark begins. 1 The beginning of the good news about Jesus the Messiah,[a] the Son of God,[b] Therefore, Mark’s whole book is about the gospel. …

Plato shared an illustration that Socrates shared. In it, people are all pinned to a wall in a cave and cannot look to right or left. Shadows of real things can be seen on the wall they look at but nothing real. One person gets out of the cave and the light hurts his eyes and after a long time of struggle, he can experience life outside the cave, and it is amazing. The limits of education can be seen …

In the 1675, Philip Jacob Spener published Pious Desires (Pia Desideria). He was a Lutheran German pastor who saw that going to church was not changing people’s lives.  He saw that correct doctrine alone leads to dead faith.  I see nothing has changed. So how do we face the Correct Doctrine Dead Faith problem? Philip had some ideas and we can think as well. At West Point I became best friends with Erin who came from an Orthodox Presbyterian Church …

Jesus told us to love one another.  He even gave some direction: A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. Jesus came to this earth because he was mad at us. Imagine that.  Yes, and He loved us too. But consider that the problem was that we rebelled against God and then really did understand him despite his best efforts.   Jesus Died for His Enemies Jesus was mad at …

Fear is an enemy for all of us whether we know it or not. We all are like Gandolf in this great painting. God’s goal in Christ is to free us from fear, but it is hard for us to get there. First, let’s look at God and see what he says in two passages in 1 John. “My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an …

Jesus instituted Communion on the night before he died. He is talking about the main thing as His death is the fulcrum point of all history. Let us here list what he said beginning with Mark, 22 While they were eating, Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take it; this is my body.” 23 Then he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, and they …

Really? Desire More is the path to life? Doesn’t desire cause our problems? So, I grew up in a family where my parents saw emotion and desire as the enemy. This led me to have a favorite color of gray and really a gray life. I first discovered that God wanted me to feel when I was 25. However, that does not mean I could clear away all the wrong attitudes and habits I had. I married a woman who …

I have a daughter who is a student at Swarthmore College which the Quakers founded. Quakers founded many excellent US schools by the way.  Finally, the Quakers gave up these colleges, but culturally they are all still influenced by this origin. They pay attention to mind the light. For example, they regularly send us parents an email/letter. They call it:  Minding the Light. Now Swarthmore is not Christian and uses this to encourage positive thinking and good thoughts. However, where …