Articles
Joshua
Shalom couldn’t remember a time when she wasn’t comforted by the sound of her mother’s singing. Hearing her mother sing was reassuring yet stimulating; uplifting yet contemplative. It made her feel like everything was going to be all right. In fact, when Naomi sang, it made Shalom feel like she was in the presence of God Himself. It only took a breath of imagination to feel that even God’s holy angels were drawing near to hear the soft, light tones that ascended to the gates of heaven. When Shalom was eight years old, everything changed. Reverend Smith, the powerful and authoritative pastor of the First Congregational Church, decided that because of Naomi’s...
Read More“The Father” or “Our Father?” Does it matter how we refer to God?
Most men will admit that the very last thing they should call their beloved wife (along with shrew, nag, and the-old-ball-and-chain) is the wife. This description is impersonal and feels downright disrespectful to many women. It makes us feel invisible and taken for granted. As a result, most of our husbands wouldn’t dream of calling us by this description, except possibly in jest. Keeping this point in mind, I find it curious and a bit disturbing that we as Christians think nothing of using this same type of description when talking about our loving heavenly Father. We rationalize, Jesus referred to God as “the Father” over and over in the gospels....
Read MoreJesus’ Gospel of Good News
Who is eligible to receive the blessings that Jesus referenced in Matthew 5? Are these blessings conditionally offered only to those who believe a certain way? To those who say a certain prayer? To those who subscribe to the Nicene Creed? Let’s look at what Jesus DIDN’T say. Jesus didn’t say, “The meek PROTESTANTS shall inherit the earth.” He didn’t say, “Blessed are the CATHOLICS who are pure in heart: for they shall see God.” He didn’t say, “Blessed are the EVANGELICAL poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” And he didn’t say, “Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great...
Read MoreMy Cause
More and more I am seeing how toxic religious hatred, disdain, and exclusivity is. My heart breaks when I see all the hate; even though this hatred is generally cloaked in ”we hate the false beliefs but love the believers” rhetoric. Seeing this anger and intolerance day in and day out brings to mind the following questions for specific groups of Christian believers. Former Adventists: If Ellen G. White or your former SDA pastor ends up having a bigger mansion than you in heaven, will you be angry? Adventists: If a Catholic priest or a “Pentecostal holy roller” has more ”stars in their crown” than you, will you feel...
Read MoreIs the Presence of God’s Spirit in your life?
Is the Presence of God’s Spirit in your life verification that all of your beliefs are right? “God looks down from heaven on all mankind to see if there are any who understand, any who seek God.” —Psalm 53:2 Have you ever wondered how it is that so many people with so many different beliefs about God have “felt” God’s Spirit in their lives? We think to ourselves something like: “I thought this way about God, I praised God in this manner, I read this Bible text, and God’s Spirit drew near! That is how I know that what I believe about God is true!” Generally this experiential feeling is what we use to validate...
Read MoreWhy I Wrote the Book
An article discussing the reasons why Donna wrote the book. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Nulla id tellus et dolor rutrum placerat. Cras lobortis pulvinar elit vel porta. Curabitur auctor molestie orci, a facilisis justo tempor in. Cras elit purus, facilisis sed tempus a, interdum in diam. Aenean vestibulum sapien at ligula sagittis accumsan. In lacus massa, tristique sit amet egestas vehicula, elementum vitae justo. Phasellus faucibus tincidunt eleifend. Cras condimentum, orci at bibendum porttitor, elit ante dapibus ante, sed pharetra purus turpis eu mi. Maecenas sem tellus, convallis quis dignissim in, eleifend rutrum tellus. Nunc...
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