There is a terrible evil loose in the world today. Militant Muslims who call themselves an Islamic State are claiming absolutism and committing heinous crimes in the name of Allah. It’s a simple proposition: convert or die. Where do they get the authority for these actions? Are these atrocities actually condoned in their holy scriptures? Continue reading
There’s a blaze of light
In every word
It doesn’t matter which you heard
The holy or the broken Hallelujah
– Leonard Cohen
I am fascinated by the broken Hallelujah. I’m fascinated by a lot of what Leonard Cohen has written, but especially the broken Hallelujah.
I’m not certain what Mr. Cohen meant when he wrote these lyrics. He is a gifted and enigmatic writer who I’m not sure always knows what he writes. Like any great artist, he’s reaching for something and he doesn’t always know what. This is when the most profound and prophetic things get written; when someone’s reach goes beyond their grasp. Continue reading
Meet hate with love. Return good for evil. Leave the anger to the Lord; He will repay.
These are the hardest lessons. We often think we have a right to be angry. We call it righteous anger or righteous indignation. We think we can justify our anger. And understandably so, especially when we see such evil being done all around us. You see innocent people being led to slaughter like animals just for what they believe, and you can feel the holy bile of hatred rising within you. If you could blow those people away you would. But does God ask you to do that? Does God think you can fix this? Is He counting on you to set the record straight? If the Judge of the whole earth is withholding His right hand of justice, what makes us think we can use ours? Continue reading
Love your enemies
Pray for those who persecute you
If someone forces you to go one mile, go two
If someone takes your shirt, give him your coat, too
If someone slaps you on the right cheek, offer the other cheek also
Give to those who ask
Don’t turn away from those who want to borrow
Return good for evil
Do not judge others
Forgive those who sin against you
Get rid of the log in your own eye so you can help with the speck in another’s
Treat people the way you want to be treated
Don’t make any vows you can’t keep
Don’t worry about tomorrow
Show mercy if you want your heavenly Father to be merciful to you Continue reading
Os Guinness pointed out that we were living at the end of 500 years of Western dominance. You don’t have to look far to see signs of this. Three blocks from where I grew up, I can drive for a mile without being able to read a sign or the name of a business because everything is in Chinese. It was not that way even thirty years ago. Continue reading
According to Os Guinness, we are living in an Augustinian moment.
Saint Augustine of Hippo had the privilege and responsibility of living during the end of Rome’s 800 years of dominance. During his life, while Rome was sacked, he laid down a vision in books like The City of God and Confessions which became a bridge that went into and across the Dark Ages until the rise of Christendom, twelve hundred years later. That’s a long bridge, but it’s true that all the great thinkers of the Reformation trace the beginnings of their new understanding back to Augustine.
We have the same privilege and responsibility of living at the end of 500 years of Western dominance. The world that our grandfathers knew is gone. We’ve got to live with such faith in the Lord and such vision and courage that we lay down a roadway in which the next generation can go into whatever lies ahead with courage and hope. Continue reading
We live in a society that is obsessed with rights. I went online and found the following as a list of groups who have sought to identify and gain rights to which they feel entitled:
Animal Rights
Authors’ Rights
Citizens’ Rights
Children’s Rights
Consumers’ Rights
Creditors’ Rights
Fathers’ Rights
Human Rights
Native Rights
LGBT Rights
Men’s Rights
Minorities’ Rights
Mothers’ Rights
Plants’ Rights
Prisoners’ Rights
Students’ Rights
Victims’ Rights
Womens’ Rights
Workers’ Rights
Youth Rights
Disabled persons’ Rights
Continue reading
I’m sure some of you noticed a shocking sentence at the end of the Wikipedia quote about Francis Bellamy, Baptist minister, and the originator of the Pledge of Allegiance. After quoting the original pledge — “…with liberty and justice for all” — there was this sentence: “As a socialist, he [Bellamy] had initially also considered using the words equality and fraternity but decided against it – knowing that the state superintendents of education on his committee were against equality for women and African Americans.”
Continue reading
This lack of diversity no longer exists.
The pledge that we now use as the official Pledge of Allegiance of the United States of America was originally written by a Baptist minister who chose to leave God out of it. Not only that, the original pledge he wrote didn’t even have America in it. It was a generic pledge written to be used by any nation that wishes to uphold the ideals of freedom and justice.
The following paragraph was lifted from the Wikipedia article on the Pledge of Allegiance: Continue reading
From l. to r.: Diane, John, Elaine, David, Marti.
I am currently reading through the Old Testament book of Numbers in my daily Bible reading program. Numbers is one of those stimulating Old Testament books that reports the results of a census taken of the children of Israel under the leadership of Moses after escaping their bondage in Egypt. It’s as exciting as its title: Numbers. Accountants love this book. If you love math, you’ll love Numbers. Continue reading
John Fischer The Catch 