When you are reading someone else’s mail, it’s really easy to get confused. You don’t know the players, the history of the arguments, the attitudes, or the story behind the punch lines. When we read …
Christian Origins #42 - Romans
Is there any English-speaking person in the world who hasn’t heard of the Garden of Eden? That’s the garden that God planted, and the presumption is that the garden was fabulously beautiful and rich in …
Christian Origins #43 - Romans
There’s a lot of fatuous nonsense out there today masquerading as serious theology. It happens because of the doctrinal and theological disputes going on between sects and churches. In the discussion of proof texts and …
Christian Origins #44 - Romans
I would have to conclude that there was a lot of tension between some of the Jews and Gentiles in the early Christian church. Paul is at such pains to chastise both Jew and Gentile …
Christian Origins #45 - Romans
The Christian faith is constantly at war with itself over questions of grace versus obedience. There is nothing new in this, because the discussion was going on right from the start. I think the problem …
Christian Origins #46 - Romans
Why on earth would anyone be happy about being in trouble? Why would you take satisfaction, even pride, in severe affliction? You read people in the Bible who talk this way a lot, but does …
Christian Origins #47 - Romans
Do you think you would ever be willing to die in someone else’s place? Can you imagine a really good person whose life and lifestyle was so worthy, that you would say “No, let them …
Christian Origins #48 - Romans
I am surprised at how often Christian people are conflicted on ethical and moral principles. I am not surprised that we struggle over some of the choices we have to make, but that people don’t …
Christian Origins #49 - Romans
Imagine for a moment that you are a highly successful cat burglar. Then one rainy night, you discover that you are not as good a driver as you are a cat burglar, and you are …
Christian Origins #50 - Romans
I don’t know what it is, but preachers of every stripe, myself included, are prone to lay a guilt trip on people from time to time. It is almost as though we were your mother. …
Christian Origins #51 - Romans
Do you believe in predestination? And if you do, what sort of predestination? Does a man really have a choice in all this, or has God long ago decided who should be saved and who …
Christian Origins #52 - Romans
I don’t know what Paul expected when he set out on his first missionary journey, but I don’t think it was what he got. He does not seem to be prepared for the rejection he …
Christian Origins #53 - Romans
As you read through the book of Acts, one thing is abundantly clear. Paul was persistent in taking the gospel to the Jews first, everywhere he went, and the Jews were nearly as persistent in …
Christian Origins #54 - Romans
What is the state of the billions of people who have lived and died who have never heard the name of Jesus? The apostle Paul was wrestling with this question in chapter 10 of his …
Christian Origins #55 - Romans
Since Religion and Faith are the very core and purpose of life. Since there is nothing that is more important, nothing else that is eternal, why are they so mysterious? Why doesn’t God just come …
Christian Origins #56 - Romans
What is it about us that we have so much trouble minding our own business? Isn’t managing your own life a full time job? How is it then that you can give so much time …
Christian Origins #57 - Acts
Being a Christian evangelist in the early years was a real adventure. By the early years, I mean, the first 100 years of Christianity. It was a dangerous and violent time in many ways, and …
Christian Origins #58 - Acts
Most Christian churches at least make a stab at imitating the churches of the New Testament, but no one really makes it. That’s not very surprising, given the change in culture and technology—especially in the …
Christian Origins #59 - Acts
It is easy, when you read the New Testament, to lose track of what the argument is about. (And there was an argument going on.) It was an argument for the heart and soul of …
Christian Origins #60 - Acts
Religious wars are the strangest wars of all. You can halfway understand nations going to war over boundaries, oil, or economics. At least when you are fighting over money, there is something on the table …