People often get upset when you teach them what is in the Bible rather than what they presume is in the Bible.
01379 – Interpreting “God’s Word”
The issue should not be oversimplified into whether people will live by God's word or mere human teaching. Given this choice, all religious people will choose "God's word." But for all sides of the debate, God's word is not available directly, only through human...
01366 – God is Personal, but Infinite
Today, vast stress is laid on the thought that God is personal, but this truth is so stated as to leave the impression that God is a person of the same sort as we are--weak, inadequate, ineffective, a little pathetic. But this is not the God of the Bible! Our personal...
01309 – Salvation is Both Personal and Social
Salvation is personal, but this hardly needs emphasis... What does need emphasis is that Salvation in the Bible is also social. Ancient Israel's story is a story of the creation of a new people, a nation, a community. Salvation is about life together. Salvation is...
01297 – The Fundamental Wickedness of Evil
For evil to appear disguised as light, charity, historical necessity, or social justice is quite bewildering to anyone brought up on our traditional ethical concepts, while for the Christian who bases his life on the Bible it merely confirms the fundamental wickedness...
01290 – Creation: Scripture vs. Science
I don't think that there's any conflict at all between science today and the Scriptures. I think that we have misinterpreted the Scriptures many times and we've tried to make the Scriptures say things they weren't meant to say. I think that we have made a mistake by...
01174 – Our Fear of the Steps to Change
Spiritual life is an ongoing experience of spiritual gestation, of giving birth to deeper dimensions of wholeness. We enter the spiritual womb many times. As the Bible says, "We...are being changed into his likeness from one degree of glory to another" (2 Cor. 3:18),...
00306 – Laborers are Few
Next to the calling of the disciples, I expect that Matthew’s story about their sending forth is one of the most confrontational stories in all the Bible. Can you imagine? There you are, perfectly content to be a follower, when Jesus comes home all worn out one day...
00281 – I’ll Be with You!
Moses said to God, “Who am I to go to Pharoah and bring the people of Israel out of Egypt? (Exodus 3:11). The Lord answers, “I shall be with you.” That’s all. Simply, I’ll be with you! He wouldn’t tell Moses how to do it. He doesn’t give him a timetable, any...