A Text for Today: The 23rd Psalm
In this time between war and peace, between birth and death, between the people we are and those we’d like to become, I can think of no better map for navigating the difficult passages of life than the 23rd Psalm. It marks a passage through time, not just for each of us personally, but for entire communities and nations. The Lord Is My Shepherd: The 23rd Psalm for Today
The Golden Door
Will Trump Replace It With a Wall?
“Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. …
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed, to me:
I lift my lamp beside the golden door.”
― Emma Lazarus
The Bible and Science
Behind many topics debated in our current culture wars lies the larger question of the relationship between the Bible and modern science. In my view, wisdom comes not in choosing the Scriptures over Science, but rather in taking the insights of both with equal seriousness. The Bible and Modern Science
Is Militant Islam the actual Cause of Terrorism?
Muslim Extremism Not The Cause of Suicide Terrorism
Recently, our television screens have been filled with images of bloodshed, destruction and death in places like London, Orlando, London, Paris and now Istanbul. In these news reports, the very image of the “suicide bomber” has been wedded to phrases like “Muslim extremism,” or “Islamic Holy War.” In a remarkable book, Robert Pape of the University of Chicago has argued that there is little connection between suicide terrorism and Islamic fundamentalism or extremism. This is a must read.
A Strange Freedom
A Strange Freedom
What is it that Americans are fighting for in conflicts around the world, celebrating on the 4th of July, and holding up as the “light of the world?” And what is the relationship between freedom and faith?.
What the New Testament Says About Freedom
Caution: you might be surprised.
Independence Day Prayer
Prayers, poetry, thoughts, readings and famous quotations for the 4th of July
Good Things to Eat and Why
You’ve heard about adding more fruits and vegetables, along with fish and whole grains to your diet; sometimes it’s not exactly clear why. This chart spells in all out, connecting each item with its benefits. Whether such definitive connections can be drawn between eating specific foods and a corresponding health benefit is questionable from the point of view of hard science. For example, eating more avocados would not be a sufficient method of controlling your blood pressure. And I would not count upon eating grapefruit as a total solution to prostate cancer. A good diet is only one dimension of a comprehensive approach to health. Do include more of these foods in your diet; don’t assume that diet alone can prevent disease and guarantee immortality. Good things to eat and why.
Christian Weight Loss? Fact or Fantasy?
Can A Spiritual or Christian Weight Loss Program Come to the Rescue?
The Christian weight loss movement is booming, but can spiritually oriented weight loss programs actually help? We survey the field, recommend the the best book on the topic, and offer our own weight loss plan. Cut to the chase: The Spirit Diet
Best selling self-help books on Christian weight loss
Should Christians Target Jews for Conversion?
There is a unique relationship between Christianity and Judaism. Jesus was a Jew who never rejected Judaism though he had some strong criticisms of the leaders of organized Judaism in his day. The same can be said of the Apostle Paul. Indeed, for several decades after the crucifixion, the Jesus movement can be seen as a reform movement within Judaism.
It is not at all clear that Jesus saw his mission as involving the establishment of a new religion. Rather, like the prophets before him, his task was to encourage others in following the way and the will of God, repairing the world, and relating with love, mercy and justice to one’s fellow human beings. Read more ….
Religious Conversion
Religious Conversion
This article, published in The Economist (one of the great magazines out in the world, by the way) discusses the fraught issue of religious conversion and how it sometimes creates complications the convert (and his/her community) did not anticipate.