Category Archives: On Faith

Because the Scripture tells us to love God with all our heart, soul, strength, and mind, it is surprising that anti-intellectualism is so enduring among Christians. This distrust of the mind and reason is expressed in several ways. Sometimes it … Continue reading →

God’s people have always struggled, and often failed, to keep external and internal spirituality in right relationship. The history of the Christian faith has been characterized by pendulum swings between suffocating legalism and defiling license. Jesus again and again confronted … Continue reading →

At the beginning of the 20th century, one false either/or that bedeviled the church was the choice between ministering to the bodies or ministering to the souls of people. In 1917 Walter Rauschenbusch proposed a social gospel that addressed economic … Continue reading →

The church should not have to choose between holy character (the fruit of the Holy Spirit) and powerful ministry (the gifts of the Holy Spirit). The split between charismatic and non-charismatic traditions is silly and hurtful. Charismatics and Pentecostals need … Continue reading →

The other day I watched this TV show where the chef and star of “Hell’s Kitchen,” Gordon Ramsay, rescues failing restaurants. The owners are often deep in debt and losing money and customers. In many cases the restaurant was a … Continue reading →

[Note: I apologize for the length. If I thought more clearly, I’d use fewer words. But my intention is to follow this introduction with a series of more blog length postings about areas Christians should pursue both/and.] I love the Church—the Bride of … Continue reading →

The exhortation to love ourselves, one heard in many churches today, would have surprised early believers. For centuries Christians have assumed that self-love is an enemy of holiness: the opposite of generosity and humility. But western Christianity has been infected with a religious … Continue reading →

Out of the 19th century have come three major challenges of Christianity: Marxism, Freudianism, and Darwinism. Each of these claimed to have done away with the possibility of Christian faith. Karl Marx declared religion the opiate of the people—a false … Continue reading →

This reason takes some explaining because the push of desire toward God developed slowly like a strong tide moving up a bay. My earliest years as a boy were characterized by a longing for high adventure.  Tales from Robin Hood, … Continue reading →

As a high school student, I had gone through the pattern of a lot church kids: spiritual highs followed quickly by spiritual lows: repentance, compromise, guilt, and then another trip to the altar. I hated it. But to be honest, … Continue reading →