Theology
Participating in the Resurrection
Participating in the Resurrection
We have the privilege of being part of the story too.

High in the Wasatch Mountains of Utah stands a magnificent aspen forest. If you could visit that place today, you would be amazed by the beauty and abundance of life beneath that golden canopy. What would be less obvious is that what appears to the eye ...

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The Theological Turn in Youth Ministry
Young people are not bored by theology. They are bored by theology that doesn't matter.

The questions that young people have are often the same ones that perplexed the great theologians, driving them to search for God in the places God didn't appear to be—places of brokenness, suffering, and confusion. So it's not surprising that ...

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Sci-fi Spirituality
Underneath the technology and weird costumes often lies something deeper.

Aliens. Lasers. Warp drives. Spaceships. Battles with lots of people named "commander" or "ensign."

These are just a few of the things that probably come to your mind when someone mentions "science fiction." And you wouldn't be wrong—in most examples ...

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Why Do Bad Things Happen to Good People?
Why Do Bad Things Happen to Good People?
This oft-repeated question says nothing about God, but everything about human beings.

We've all heard it numerous times: "Why would a God who is all-good, all-knowing, and all-powerful allow bad things to happen to good people?" We can also turn the question around: "Why would an all-good, all-knowing, and all-powerful ...

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Domesticating the Lord of the Universe
Domesticating the Lord of the Universe
I'm terrified that if my eyes are opened to see everything in the light of truth, I will also see that the way I see the Jesus, whom I claim as Lord, is but a dim reflection of reality.

"DJ." I might as well call him this, because effectively I've reduced the Creator and Master of the universe into a concept so small I've nicknamed him. Domesticated Jesus. It's a horrible name really, and my use of it hardly reflects ...

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Prosperity Theology
Jesus' gospel is a far cry from health and wealth.

Christians who have a strong belief in a divine Jesus may feel reasonably safe from the distortions, caricatures, and demeaning of him that we see among entertainers and postmodern scholars. But there are more subtle traps within the Church itself that ...

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Is God Angry or Loving?
Most people erroneously see God as angry in the Old Testament and loving in the New Testament.

"Whenever you read from the Old Testament, God is always crabby and snarky to everyone, but the New Testament isn't about anger at all—it's about love."

This observation is made by Sam to her mother (Boopsie) in a 2009 Doonesbury comic strip (May ...

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Can You Imagine?
Why imagination is crucial to the Christian life

Faith is an act of the imagination. And a healthy, vibrant imagination is crucial to the Christian life.

You will likely disagree with these statements if you associate the imagination with delusion, fancy, and/or make believe. Christian belief is quite ...

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The Dangerous Act of Worship
The Dangerous Act of Worship
Living God's call to justice

What's at stake in Worship? Everything. That's what's at stake in worship. The urgent, indeed troubling, message of Scripture is that everything that matters is at stake in worship.

Worship names what matters most: the way human beings are ...

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A Grateful People
A Grateful People
What does true thankfulness mean?

Gratitude is difficult. Isn't that ironic? It seems so easy and innate. God gives, we accept and are thankful—end of story. But it's rarely so simple or clean. What if we're not in a healthy place to receive God's blessings? What ...

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Hope Amidst the Sorrow
Hope Amidst the Sorrow
God is all-knowing; he comforts; he understands—even when we violently lose someone.

Another home shattered. Almost every night a story airs about domestic violence. But when you know the victim, you become part of the nightmare.

A study conducted in 50 states and the District of Columbia showed that 25 percent of abused women were victims ...

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A Great and Terrible Love
A spiritual journey into the attributes of God

Who then are you, my God? … Most high, utterly good, utterly powerful, most omnipotent, most merciful.—Augustine

We are desperate for a great and terrible love.

We need a great love, one that captures our imagination—and transcends it. ...

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The Secret of Walking with God
From the beginning, God has wanted a walking partner.

God is looking for not only a clinging bride but also a walking partner. From the very beginning, God had a relationship with Adam and Eve that found them "walking in the garden in the cool of the day" (Genesis 3:8). God created man for ...

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Top 5 Resources on Prayer
Top 5 Resources on Prayer
These are the downloadable resources on prayer you were most interested in studying.

Prayer is one of the most important spiritual disciplines. Without it, we can have no relationship with God. In some ways, it's the most basic and simple way to get to know our Master and Creator. But all of us would like to learn to connect with ...

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An Easter Encounter
Embracing Christ's pain helps us appreciate the joy of His resurrection.

"They're hurting him. Make them stop," cried my 4-year-old daughter Caitlin as she watched the Easter cantata. She stared with wide eyes as Jesus was beaten, mocked, and crucified. Earlier in the service she had danced and sang as Christ ...

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Perspectives on Life and Death
Perspectives on Life and Death
For the believer in Jesus Christ, we do not go out into death and into darkness. Instead, we go home to God.

"But man, despite his riches, does not endure; he is like the beasts that perish …. But God will redeem my life from the grave; he will surely take me to himself."—Psalm 49:12, 15

There is a way in which the king is like the lion, ...

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Transformation Starts in the Mind
Live the life that is really life.

Monarch butterflies follow a very specific generational migration. Starting in Mexico, the first generation will fly to the southern United States where they will remain for life. Their offspring will fly to the central states, stopping somewhere around ...

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See God for Who He Is
How do we move from our distorted image of God?

My early family life made me question whether I had a purpose at all. I wondered why I was alive. I thought about killing myself often, and my mood was flat and depressed.

As a teenager, I was headed south. I wanted to believe in God, but I had been ...

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Are You There, God?
An interview with The Folly of Prayer author Matt Woodley

In The Folly of Prayer Pastor Matt Woodley challenges us to reimagine and revitalize our prayer life.

IVP: Why do you describe prayer as folly?

Woodley: Prayer doesn't always operate according to our standards of "wisdom." Nor does it conform to our expectations ...

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Shaking Our Fists
Acknowledging our anger with God

In The Screwtape Letters, C. S. Lewis creates a fictional correspondence between a demon, Screwtape, and his nephew, Wormwood. Screwtape advises Wormwood in his endeavors to derail one man's (the "patient") journey towards God (the "Enemy"). Rather than ...

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