Category Archives: Writing
Volunteering at Hope Ministries
This past Saturday I had the opportunity to volunteer at Hope Ministries here in Des Moines. Hope is a parachurch organization that brings the gospel to the homeless and poverty-stricken in practical ways. They have a number of different ministries, including a homeless shelter for men, a year-long recovery program for alcoholics and drug addicts, [...]
List: Two Errors
Two errors: to praise the failures of the prodigal son (James 1:27, NIV), and to praise the upright life of the older brother (Philippians 3:7, 8, 9).
Two errors: to believe that you are accepted by God because of your good works (Ephesians 2:8-9), and to believe that, because you are justified by faith, God does [...]
The Sanctity of Marriage, pt. 2: Christian Marriage
A few months ago, Iowa conducted its first same-sex marriage in accordance with the recent court decision passed. When seeing people’s mixed reactions, the thought occurred to me that Christians are often quick to point out what marriage is not. But what is it? What does the Bible say about it?
Many people have written entire [...]
Hope and Belief
Hope is different from belief. I can believe something to be true about God and yet hope something else is true. This is not contradictory.
Here’s an example: I believe that the actions taken in life will determine a person’s eternal state (Hebrews 9:27). Most people will reject Jesus, and as a result they will experience [...]
Forgiven: Forgive
I am not a bad driver. I’m not perfect, but I only do something stupid maybe 1 in every 10 trips. I’ll wave my hand and smile apologetically at the person I offfended, and then continue on my way like nothing happened.
But something did happen: I just reinforced that person’s idea that the city is [...]
The First Drink
Luther said, “How is it that the first drink from a tankard tastes best? Perhaps it’s on account of sin, because our flesh and our lips are sinful.” He wondered if it was because sin has so deeply permeated our bodies that even our taste buds will gravitate toward what is wrong at every chance [...]
Green Theology
We must be careful not to let our convictions or our opinions affect our theology. By this I mean crossing the line between “Because I feel like it’s a good thing to do” and “Because God wants me to.”
Some have incorporated “greenness” and environmental consciousness into their beliefs about God. But these people invariably live [...]
The Essence of Humanity
Do you struggle with materialism? Do you spend much of your time thinking about the next thing you want to buy? Resist the urge, we are told. Ask God to take away your sinful desires, we are told. But this is all wrong. Wanting is good. Don’t wish it away! Just pray that God will [...]
George Sodini
Last Tuesday evening, a 48-year-old man named George Sodini walked into a fitness club in Pittsburgh and opened fire on an aerobics class, killing three women and injuring nine more before turning the gun on himself. He didn’t have any connection to any of the victims, but his motives were clear: Since November, he had [...]
On Giving
Inherited wisdom tells us that the tithe is what we put in the offering on Sunday. Most Christians assume this and do not give it a second thought. But is that all there is to it? How are we to properly view tithing in respect to the local church, the universal church, and those outside [...]
