The Bible is literally filled with verses and passages and theological principles that directly contradict one another … Quite a few of them are reconcilable (e.g. the apparent contradictions in the first two chapters of Genesis are easily explained by the “fact” that Genesis describes not one Creation Event in two very different ways, but […]
This holiday season, I am thankful for the actual Way, the actual Truth, & the actual Life of Jesus Christ … Indeed, despite what many Christians might say to the contrary, The Way of Christ actually has nothing to do with Jesus at all — nothing to do with worshiping him as if he were […]
“There is no fear in Love, but perfect Love casts out fear; for fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not reached perfection in Love.” ~ 1 John 4:18 This is one of the most wise and most important verses in the entire Bible, for it relays a Truth that everyone — […]
Forgiveness is a funny thing … We desire it deeply when we wrong another, and yet often give it unwillingly (or sometimes not at all) when we ourselves are wronged. And to make matters even more challenging, we have been taught by our parents & our teachers & our preachers & our friends to water […]
“Give to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” ~ Jesus Christ (Mark 12:17) What folks seem to so easily forget about this verse is that absolutely nothing of worth belongs to any emperor, and that everything of true value belongs to “God” (a.k.a. Allah, Chi, […]
Right Action (what some call “morality” or “Goodness”) is not about what your friends say or what you learned from your parents … It’s not about what you were taught in school or what your preacher told from the pulpit … It’s not about being religiously devout or following acceptable social norms, and it sure […]
If more Christians were a lot more like more Buddhists, then they would also be a lot more like Jesus Christ. “I truly understand that God shows no partiality, but that in every nation anyone who honors Him and does what is right is acceptable to Him.” ~ Acts 10:34-35
If you want to understand — and then emulate — what Jesus meant by “perfect LOVE”, just observe the behavior of the average dog … wink emoticon “Just as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a sacrifice for many.” ~ Jesus Christ (Matthew […]
“Traditionally”, marriage has been recently (and quite vociferously) defined as the legal &/or spiritual union of one man with one woman — looking something like this: Well, guess what, folks? Marriages that are truly “traditional” have nothing at all to do with this particular vision OR the law OR the church … That’s right, true […]
There is a rather intriguing passage in the New Testament where Jesus says “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Whoever becomes humble like this child is the greatest in the Kingdom” (Matthew 18:3-4) … Of course, as with every other passage in […]
“Imagine a world hundreds of years hence when humans come to believe that certain films from their past were made by God. Imagine that future, where millions of our own descendants persecute, imprison & murder each other over rival interpretations of the Star Wars trilogy, for example. It seems ridiculous, I must admit — and […]
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