Think On These Things

How does one remain moral in a hyper-sexual culture? This is the question that many people face every day. It seems particularly concerning for young men as they are the ones who most often turn up at a pastor’s office desiring prayer because of the pressures they experience. A young man recently asked me about…

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Love and Reward

In Theology of the Body for Beginners: A Basic Introduction to Pope John Paul II’s Sexual Revolution, Christopher West says, “In the moment we reject our receptivity before God and grasp at our own ‘happiness’ we turn our backs on God’s love.”1 He is making a significant point about the nature of love and sexual…

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Everybody Wants To Rule The World

Let me put it out there for all to read: I want to change the world! But then, everybody wants to change the world. In fact, in the words of “Tears For Fears,” “everybody wants to rule the world.” In my natural self, I want a world that works for me. In this perspective, world…

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Instincts

There is a common argument that goes something like this: “If we look at the animals of our world we see that many behaviors are normal and natural. Therefore they must be normal and natural for humans as well.” This argument has been used for many years but so has an alternative argument that sees…

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I Can’t Get No – Satisfaction

I find Solomon to be one of the most tragic figures in all of the Old Testament. Read about him in First Kings and particularly 1 Kings 10:1-11:13. He becomes king of the greatest kingdom in the world and is humble enough to ask God for wisdom in ruling over the kingdom. God granted him…

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Our Grandfather in Heaven

In his book, The Problem of Pain, C.S. Lewis has this to say about our concept of love. By the goodness of God we mean nowadays almost exclusively His lovingness; and in this we may be right. And by Love, in this context, most of us mean kindness- the desire to see others than the self…

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Human History

In his book, Reason For God, Timothy Keller juxtaposes two quotes from H.G. Wells. Can we doubt that presently our race will more than realize our boldest imaginations, that it will achieve unity and peace, and that our children will live in a world made more splendid and lovely than any palace or garden that…

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Living For Others

I was looking for a specific C.S. Lewis quote when I came upon these brilliant, but lesser known quotes. “She’s the sort of woman who lives for others—you can always tell the others by their hunted expression.” – C.S. Lewis in The Screwtape Letters (p. 145). He expands upon this concept in his book, The…

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Follow-up to A Parable

On December 9th John Stackhouse had a blog post which contained these quotes from Walter Hilton. Hilton offered a way for us to determine if we truly love our enemies. Here is the quote. What it really comes to is this: if you are not stirred up against such a person in anger while faking an outward…

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Ancient Wisdom

If you believe what you like in the gospels, and reject what you don’t like, it is not the gospel you believe, but yourself. Augustine of Hippo (354-430). Lord, inspire us to read your Scriptures and meditate on them day and night. We beg you to give us real understanding of what we need, that…

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