My First Parachute Jump … and My Last
As a young boy, my weekends were filled with imaginary World War II battles. Nearby parks fielded the Battle of the Bulge, and the skeleton of a local …
Cultural Creep
Can a Light Switch Disprove Supernatural Activity?
I liked science in high school. I really liked biology, so I took microbiology and physiology. But when I took my first physics class, I fell in love. …
Dregs of Culture
I was in a college ministry that targeted its evangelism for one purpose: to select future leaders. I’m ashamed to admit we called this process, …
Counterfeit gods: Mental Bridges Falling Down
God forbids all idolatry. This prohibition is the single most repeated rule in all of Scripture; it’s the First Commandment (You shall have no other …
Exposing the Cataracts of Nonsense
I lived on a communal farm in Israel the summer of 1978. It was my first extended visit to another country. From May through August, I lived among a …
Broken Answers
I broke my leg skiing during my senior year in high school. It was the last run of the day (apparently, when you break a leg skiing, it’s always the …
CEO Jesus
Last week a friend forwarded to me a podcast in which a megachurch pastor was interviewed about his handling of COVID. The well-known pastor had made …
Insidious Creep
When I was in ninth grade, I attended a weekly prayer group. After a meeting one Friday evening, a young woman asked for prayer to address her extreme …
Practicing Godless Faith
I once met an elder who was in deep distress because of his faith. Six years ago, his small but growing church received tithes that exceeded two …
I Refuse to Believe in a God Who …
Years ago I had lunch with a client distraught over his wife’s recent death from cancer. He sighed, “I just can’t believe God would allow such …
Pretty Ugly Moralism
I went to school with a young woman who scratched little marks inside her Bible to keep score of how many people she had converted. She showed me her …
Dishonest Faith
Last September I shared about being diagnosed with kidney cancer. I waited more than a month before posting, mostly to avoid anyone’s pity. (Come on, …