In Unpacking Forgiveness my central goal is to show how the Cross (and how God forgives us) is foundational to understanding interpersonal forgiveness (forgiving one another). Today on Route 5:9 (Peacemakers’ blog), Fred Barthel emphasizes this point in a succinct…
Stretch Your Mind Regarding the Problem of Evil
Concisely stated, the problem of evil is the question of how it can be simultaneously true that (1) God is all-powerful, (2) God is good, (3) Evil exists. Here John Frame responds to preliminary questions in an interview with Andy…
Cancer’s Unexpected Blessings
If you would, pray for my friend Kurt. Maybe send a link to Tony Snow’s article, “Cancer’s Unexpected Blessings”, to someone you know who is facing cancer. And, may we remind as many as possible of the necessity of believing…
Rick Warren On Obama’s, "Above My Pay Grade," Comment
Read this post on Rick Warren’s assessment of Senator Obama’s response to, “When does life begin?” I still haven’t seen the interview. It’s been a busy week. But, I hear it is worth watching.
Why is my blog title: "A Brick in the Valley"?
While it is true that our church is made out of bricks, the title for my blog points to the New Testament metaphor that Christians are “living stones” or bricks. If you are a Christian, then you are a “brick.”…
First Day of School 2008
First day of school today. The person willing to exegete the photograph will learn much about our family. (1) Pretty in Pink: Allison opposes pink and all its implications on principle. Pretty much everything Mary Beth wore is pink, from…
Who in Hell . . .?
To forgive in the right way, you must believe rightly about hell. If I was asked to layout the areas of systematic theology/doctrine which most immediately come to bear on unpacking forgiveness I would begin with these. Doctrine of Salvation…
Reach Out to Those Who Unplug from Church
You can probably think of someone who has stepped away from involvement in a local church. There are many reasons people decide to pull away. They find a sport or some other form of entertainment that takes the place of…
The Personal God
“‘Person’ is the word in our vocabulary that applies to beings who speak, act intentionally, and so on. . . Only in biblical religions is there an absolute principle that is personal. Other religions have personal gods, but those gods…
The Right U.S. Approach to Georgia
John Mark Reynolds outlines how the United States should relate to unfolding events in Georgia. Read it here.