Posts about my spiritual views and journey as a Christian.
I understand why someone might look at all the pain and suffering and cruelty in the world, and ask that question. If God is love, why would a loving Father allow His children to suffer? …Or, at the very least, why not stop some of the very worst attrocities?
I recently ran across a song I wrote when I found out we would be having twins. It’s an incredibly cheesy poem, wherein I fantasize about all the fun adventures I’ll be having with the twins: running around and rough-housing, the projects we’d work on together, the conversation’s we’d have… the fun experiences I’d introduce them to.
I want my kids to be able to understand what they believe, and why. I want them to ask scary questions, and evaluate the answers. I want them to be able to think of truth as something beautiful, even when some truths are ugly. I want them to be able to accept that some truths can’t be known, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t still search for them.
This is a song I wrote for my sons. If they learn nothing else, I hope they can learn this.
A friend, who has been suffering from a painful illness for the past few years, was recently advised that healing had not yet come because of a lack of faith, and a lack of speaking as though the illness had already been cured. I was asked for my perspective on healing.
It’s a difficult topic, and one I struggle with myself sometimes, but here’s what I’ve concluded:
I absolutely believe in healing, because I absolutely believe in miracles.
As a Christian Libertarian, a question that often gets asked is why I would prefer capitalism (the system of greed) over socialism (the system of giving nice things to everybody). At face value, that question makes sense. It sounds like a direct contradiction to my Christian principles.
Like the perpetual drunkard, at SOME point, we’ll have to realize that you can only escape reality for so long before it catches up to you.
You’ve probably heard someone say it before. In a discussion forum or a debate, or twitter, or really anywhere in the world where vitriolic hate can be expressed with minimal repercussions (AKA the internet):
“Religious Indoctrination is Child Abuse”
I visited a very large church, with a much bigger congregation than I’m normally used to. They had a fog machine. “Why do they need a fog machine?” I started wondering, “Is that necessary? Who is that for?” And of course, the ever-classic, “Where could the money have been spent differently?”
For those not in the know, 29-year-old newlywed Brittany Maynard has brain cancer. In April, she was given six months to live. Rather than drag it out, she has decided to choose the day of her death for herself; namely, Nov 1, 2014. It’s a controversial decision that has a lot of people vocalizing opinions in favor and against her. I decided I might as well join the noise and weigh in with my thoughts, so here they are.
If you want to send a message that reaches more than just the people who already agree with you, do it with a good story. People will put up with a message they don’t agree with if the story and execution is good enough.
When it comes to issues of tolerance, I think the Church needs to stop looking at what the sinners and unbelievers are doing, and start looking at the early Christian church. When it comes to tolerance, the early church sets a great example: They tolerated immense persecution, deserted by their families, murdered by their government,…