Doubt | TLG Christian News

7 Ways to Do Political Punditry Wrong in a Polarized World

01/02/2017 0 Comment

We have to be honest with ourselves and ask some hard questions: Is my passion to see the kingdom come and the church grow or is it mainly to see my side win elections? Do I think revival and spiritual renewal come mainly through political victories? Am I blinded by disgust for the bad guys (whether that’s Fox News, MSNBC, The New York Times, National Review, Hollywood, flyover country, or whatever) that I’ll defend to the death whatever they seem to be against?

It’s all political. All the time..

A Few Observations From My Recent Time in the Pit

01/02/2017 0 Comment

The Spirit used these words to draw me to Zephaniah 3:17 and Psalm 103. Places that have been a life line for me time and time again. And again I noticed in Psalm 103 how God’s love for me, His dealings with me, is not fundamentally determined by my performance but by His settled decision to cast unremitting and eternal love upon me. That’ll blew me away. And the clouds started to lift.

After a few weeks of pretty deep depression I’m beginning to see the light again. I’m still not totally sure ..

Sex Trafficking: How One Click Led an NYC Church to Action

01/02/2017 0 Comment

It all started in a Facebook community group. It could’ve ended there but something happened that changed everything.

“The Facebook group was a place where people in our part of town share things,” Nathan Creitz, pastor of City Life Church in Ridgewood, Queens, New York, recounted, “and somebody on there shared a link and said something like, ‘I can’t believe this is happening in our neighborhood.'”
Creitz clicked on it — and immediately wished he hadn’t.

“It was a picture of scantily cla..

What Does It Mean to Be a Judge? The Answer of Supreme Court Nominee Neil Gorsuch

31/01/2017 0 Comment

President Donald Trump announced tonight that he will nominate Honorable Neil M. Gorsuch (a 49-year-old judge in the Tenth Circuit of the United States Court of Appeals) as a Justice on the Supreme Court, replacing the recently deceased Justice Antonin Scalia (1936-2016).

On April 7, 2016, Gorsuch delivered the 2016 Sumner Carnary Memorial Lecture at Case Western Reserve University School of Law, entitled “Of Lions and Bears, Judges and Legislators, and the Legacy of Justice Scalia.” It was lat..

When God Feels Far Away

31/01/2017 0 Comment

It’s one of the most common experiences of the Christian life. Godfeels far away, like he’s hiding himself, or at least withholding his reviving presence. You feel destitute, dry, and desperate for a sense that he is still there, still listening, still caring. But you can’t seem to eke out a prayer since even your prayers feel empty, and they seem to return with an echo of defeat.

Where are you, Lord? Why are you hiding yourself from me? I am your child, so why, Father, does it feel like you ar..

Science is Incidental (RJS)

31/01/2017 0 Comment

Chapter 5 of Denis Lamoureux’s new book Evolution: Scripture and Nature Say Yes looks at the way that “science” is presented in Scripture. Science is a modern concept, but Scripture certainly speaks about the nature of the cosmos and uses language that assumes a view of astronomy, geography, and biology. But the Bible is not a science book. It doesn’t teach new science, rather it reflects the typical views concerning astronomy, geography, and biology commonly held in the ancient Near East. These..

Doubting Your Doubts (Jonathan Storment)

31/01/2017 0 Comment

Doubting Your Doubts
So last week I wrote a post responding to the New York Times article from December where the columnist Nicholas Kristof interviewed Pastor Tim Keller about Christianity.
The article was great, and I appreciated both Keller’s answers and Kristof’s questions.
I wrote last week, that one of the things that I appreciated the most, was Keller’s pastoral yet counter-cultural way of answering Kristof’s question of “Am I a Christian?”
Kristof is an admirer of Jesus and appreciates m..

Henri Nouwen’s Weakness Was His Strength

31/01/2017 0 Comment

How a gifted, high-achieving spiritual guide learned to share his wounds with others.

Over 30 years ago, a Catholic priest and sought-after spiritual guide wrote the following in a letter to an inquirer: “I have been increasingly aware that true healing mostly takes place through the sharing of weakness.” Pressing beyond generalities, he made his reply personal: “[I]n the sharing of my weakness with others, the real depths of my human brokenness and weakness and sinfulness started to reveal its..

God’s Plan is Never Trumped

31/01/2017 0 Comment

Hodge continues, “The interpretation of Divine providence is indeed often a matter of great difficulty and responsibility. It requires humility and caution. Some of His dispensations are, as to their design, perfectly clear, others are doubtful, and others to us and for the present inscrutable.” Then Hodge comes out with evidence that he is willing to “go there” and try to bring some meaning out of the recently concluded great civil war.

Many Reformed and Evangelical Christians had to struggle ..

What Do We Mean When We Speak of the “Sanctity of Human Life”?

31/01/2017 0 Comment

“The words of Jesus have vital significance for our understanding of the sanctity of life. Here Jesus broadened the implications of the Old Testament law. He was speaking to religious leaders who had a narrow and simplistic grasp of the Ten Commandments.”

In biblical terms, the sanctity of human life is rooted and grounded in creation. Mankind is not viewed as a cosmic accident but as the product of a carefully executed creation by an eternal God. Human dignity is derived from God. Man as a fin..