Quite a number of famous people, including Abraham Maslow, thus the law is often called “Maslow’s Hammer,” have observed that when the only tool you have is a hammer, you treat everything as if it were a nail. Fifty years ago yesterday, the peaceful but rowdy protesters in the city of Derry were the nail. …
This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light and in him there is no darkness at all. 6 If we say that we have fellowship with him while we are walking in darkness, we lie and do not do what is true; 7 but if we …
Continue reading God Is Light and in Him there Is no Darkness at All
One of the more sordid tales of the church in the apostolic era (that we would barely think about twice today) comes out of Corinth. A man (presumably widowed or divorced) shacked up with his mother-in-law and the church was okay with this arrangement. Paul, on the other hand, was not, and in 1 Corinthians …
Sep 10 Gospel – Matthew 18:15-20; Sep 17 Gospel – Matthew 18:21-35I was the Associate Pastor at a congregation that had previously had a pastor who was both a crook (literally – he dared not go to Florida because of pending fraud charges connected with skimming church funds) and a sexual predator. Not surprisingly he …
After posting my previous essay, I listened to this installment of Praying in the Rain (also available in essay form here) with Fr Michael Gillis. He is able to explain certain aspects of how the ancient church and contemporary Christian East understand heaven and hell better than I can. If you are interested in further …
I am currently listening to a SciFi audio book (Abaddon’s Gate, by James S. A. Corey) that features a very bad young woman (Clarissa) who was pushed over the edge by the arrest of her father and her denial of just how evil her father’s actions were. She kills lots (lots!) of people in her …
Continue reading A Science Fiction Author Meditates on Judgment and Repentance
How true it is that in heart and mind the forgiver must set out on voyages of anguish! It is an experience of sacrificial pain, of vicarious suffering. H. R. Mackintosh, The Christian Experience of Forgiveness
Just Another Jim 