There is a growing trend among some fundamentalist Christians to boycott Christmas. These folks contend that Christmas symbols like trees, mistletoe, Santa Claus, gift-giving and, most notably, the date we use for Christmas, are nothing but pagan practices. They believe that no real Christian should have anything to do with these things. I’m not going …
Anyone who was alive 60 years ago this past week probably remembers where they were and what they were doing on the morning of November 22, 1963. It’s a day that is emblazoned in our minds because it was the day that one of the greatest and most influential men in modern history died. Sadly, …
Craig Venter led the first privately funded effort to sequence the human genome. Some might think that would be enough to keep a guy busy for a while. Not so. Venter was also trying to be the first researcher to create life in a lab. If you’re interested, here is his own short description of …
I’m going to admit something that you may find shocking. I hate Candyland. When my kids were little, I cheated at the game. I hated it because it requires no skill, no memorization, no strategy. The path to victory depends only on the random drawing of the right-colored card. That’s why I would pre-stack the cards. …
“You can’t put God in a box!” It’s a popular saying within the Christian community. And it seems reasonable to say. After all, God can do anything He wants to do. Who would question that? I submit that every thinking Christian should question that … because it’s not true. God’s character does put him in …
A few years ago, a friend of mine told me about his own personal tradition of fasting during Lent — the season leading up to the celebration of Easter. He said that the impact the experience had on him the first year he attempted it was powerful. It led him to continue the practice every …
There is, and probably always will be, a debate going on between sincere Christians about the age of the Universe. I think I’ve made my position on that issue very clear. But at the core of the disagreement between the so-called “Old Earth” (OE) and “Young Earth” (YE) Creationists is their respective views of “Death …
“What is God’s will for my life?” This is a common question to hear from someone who is pondering a difficult life decision. Making big decisions can be confusing. But using “God’s will” as the benchmark for success adds a whole new element of agony to it all. The key to less stressful decision making …
February 12th is Charles Darwin’s birthday. There aren’t many individuals who have had as much influence on the world as this one man. He is the godfather of Theory of Evolution and the Materialistic worldview that embraces it. And, for that reason, he is the target of a lot of ire from religious believers. I …
Even people who don't celebrate Christmas seem to know what it's about -- the birth of a Savior who comes to rescue us from the consequences of our rebellion against Him. Ultimately, that means it's part of God's rescue plan and where we go when we die. But there's another aspect to Christmas that I think is important too. It's also about showing us how to live. And right-living depends on how we think. Unfortunately, our thinking is infused with lies that we've accepted as being part of "the human condition." And believing those lies results in dissension, oppression, racism, political wrangling, class struggle, economic strife, and war. Sadly, it's all part of the gravest story ever told. Christmas offers an antidote to the effects of that story too.
The story started in The Garden. And we've been repeating it to each other ever since. It thrives on divided minds. But we are designed to be united. God and man. Husband and wife. Body and soul. Physical and spiritual. The division we experience is a symptom of wrong thinking about the nature of reality. But there is a way to fix it. Christmas shows us how. It's the cure for our two-storied world.