Life is a mess. And theology must be lived out in the midst of that mess.
Today’s widespread relegation of religion to merely something people do only in the privacy of their homes or churches would have been unimaginable to the founders of the republic – even those who personally repudiated orthodox Christian faith.
True tolerance is not a total lack of judgment. It’s knowing what should be tolerated, and refusing to tolerate that which shouldn’t.
The first 20 stories written about a public figure set the tone for the next 2,000 and it is almost impossible to reverse it.
Let’s acknowledge that America’s increasing decadence is giving aid and comfort to the enemy. When we tolerate trash on television, permit pornography to invade our homes via the Internet, and allow babies to be killed at the point of birth, we are inflaming radical Islam.
Who speaks for God? He does quite nicely for Himself. Through His holy and infallible Word – and the quiet obedience of His servants.
The church is the only institution supernaturally endowed by God. It is the one institution of which Jesus promised that the gates of hell will not prevail against it.
God is truth and is to be worshiped, not because it’s convenient, makes us feel good, or is therapeutic.
Seventy-six percent of the American people say we have a spiritual problem in our country. That’s great, because now they understand the root of the problem is not that we haven’t passed enough laws; rather, the root of the problem is in terms of our social value system.
The church’s job is to equip the saints for works of service in the world.
I do not believe one can experience conversion or the fullness of the Christian life apart from the church.
God uses prisons to train people for future roles of leadership or martyrdom.
If Christians today understood this distinction between the role of the private Christian citizen and the Christian in government, they might sound less like medieval crusaders. If secularists understood correctly the nature of Christian public duty they would not fear, but welcome responsible Christian political involvement.
Powerful people were about to make Nien Cheng their favorite sacrificial lamb – or to die trying. They thought she could be used to discredit their opponents. The ransacking of her house had been only a first step.
I’d always follow Nixon’s orders, but you can’t order somebody to be happy.
S. Lewis, coined the phrase “The.
How magnificently has God honored the covenant of our forefathers. How richly has he blessed our nation. So deep are our religious roots, but so far have we strayed.
For most of us, life is messy and confusing, filled with paradoxes. We wake up in the night, worrying about our jobs, our kids, or the best laid plans, which suddenly unravel due to the pressures of living in our high-tech, fast-moving world. One day we seem to have things under control; the next day we get steamrollered by events. If you haven’t experienced this, please write me; you would be the first person I know to have life all together.
Suffering is rightly called “the school of faith,” for it is only through trouble, difficulties, and setbacks that we are brought to the end of ourselves. The normal human tendency, particularly for strong-willed people, is to rely on our own strength and resources. But when those are not available to us, when everything has failed, when we have to abandon every other hope, we are forced to trust God alone.
We must show the world that Christianity is more than a private belief, more than personal salvation. We must show that it is a comprehensive life system that answers all of humanity’s age old questions: Where did I come from? Why am I here? Where am I going? Does life have any meaning and purpose?
As agents of God’s common grace, we are called to help sustain and renew his creation, to uphold the created institutions of family and society, to pursue science and scholarship, to create works of art and beauty, and to heal and help those suffering from the results of the Fall.