Salvation

“Heaven and hell are important, but they’re not the end of the world.” So says Bishop N.T. Wright, partially tongue-in-cheek, in several lectures I’ve listened to. Wright is addressing the misplaced emphasis many Christians (and consequently most non-Christians) place on “going to heaven / avoiding hell” as the central point to the concept of salvation. […]

The Power of Darkness

***Note: it’s likely important for me to emphasize the limits of my anger to adult interpersonal relationships and the limits of my actions to verbal comments therein. That is the full extent of my thoughts and actions, and everything written here is only understood within this context, and nothing more*** I’ve been airing some of […]

Acceptance

I’m an idolator at the foot of the Altar to My Idealized Vision of Myself. I’m a Pharisee and this is my Law. Wrapped up in mostly-truths and mostly-pure motivations for sanctification. I surely know my identity, but I’ve confused that with knowing who the man I’m supposed to be is. But I don’t, and […]

Just You and me

Well, God. Here we are. One of those times when I feel completely alone, so You’re all I have. Ironic of course because You’re ever all I have deep down beneath and through all else, but I’m easily distracted. Spiritual ADD, I guess. You know I love You. You know we have so much to […]

Suffering, reconsidered

Two posts ago we discussed evil, pain and suffering. I suggested that evil may be most properly understood not as a “thing” in itself but as the absence of good; the absence of God. As such God would not have technically created evil, as it is a thing that exists as a consequence of His […]

Open letter to God

God, I never cease to dumbfound myself. So many people complain about You (guilty) being too mysterious, too paradoxical, too hard to understand. Well, I don’t have a clue how to understand myself, so I’m not sure why anyone would expect to comprehend You, but we do. I have a paradox for everyone: me. Come […]

Evil and pain

I’ve shared how I’ve been wrestling with God for a while, because I’ve realized that deep within me (below my conscious self) I have blamed Him for all that is wrong in the world and specifically all that is wrong with me. Of course that’s so common as to be laughable: swing a stick in […]