Faith
Thoughts about how Christianity affects our every day lives
"For in paradise, before his sin, man could not, it is true, do everything; but he could do whatever he wished, just because he did not want to do whatever he could not do..."
St. Augustine, City of God, Book XIV, Chapter 15
Peter and I have a running debate. He calls me a pessimist. I respond by saying I'm a realist. Sometimes, he's willing to grant me that title. And it's easy enough for me to respond to the world realistically when it comes to making mundane personal decisions. For instance, someone will ask us if we ...
Why is moralism so annoying? (And of course, there are times when it is far more than annoying and becomes disturbing, mean, unjust, insensitive, etc.) I've found myself cringing when someone states an opinion with which I agree, such as, "High school students shouldn't get drunk," or, "You shouldn't ...
I heard it in a sermon a long time ago. Genesis 12:2, in which God promises Abraham: "I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing." I tend to think of it as a prayer: "Bless me, that I might be a blessing."
This prayer can only be ...
New post on the Park Forum: Are humans unique or is it all evolution?
Life with God, at least here and now, is a state of constant tension. The reality of pain, suffering, separation, death, heartache. The reality of joy, comfort, redemption, grace, love. Both, and. At the same time.
I spin from one to the other far too often, from a spiritual high after an inspirational ...
I recently joined a team of writers who are making connections between the Bible and the news. I will be posting on a regular basis at www.theparkforum.wordpress.com, and I will add a link to this blog whenever a post appears. My first:
http://theparkforum.wordpress.com/2009/09/13/armstrong-intuition-or-revelation/ ...
Every so often, people ask me spiritual questions. One that comes up again and again is, "Who do you think is going to heaven, and who is going to hell?" My short answer is, "I'm an agnostic." I know that "agnostic" is usually a word used to describe whether or not people believe in God. I firmly ...
William is now thirteen months old. We're out of the newborn stage, thank the Lord. If there's one thing I now know for sure about myself, it is that I am not a "baby person." The cuddling is nice, I suppose, but a) William rarely cuddled and b) I like talking with my children more than cuddling with ...
I recently read a story by Wendell Berry, originally published in the Atlantic's Fiction Issues, 2008 (http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200808/berry-stand). I commend the story on the whole, but I wanted to share this paragraph, which comes on the heels of the death of one of the characters:
"...their ...
Peter and I watch TV the way other people go to the movies. We watch about once a week, always together. It is always an event. We pick one show at a time. Years ago, it was Survivor. Then The West Wing. Then Lost, interspersed by summer series to make up the long stretches without any new episodes. ...
A few nights back, I decided it was time to teach Penny the Lord's Prayer. I was kneeling beside her bed, as I always do at bedtime. She sat up and put her hands together. "I'll say a line, and then you repeat it.""Otay.""Our Father," I started, but then interrupted myself. "Penny, did you know that ...
God refuses to work alone. God insists on working through human beings. So often, I wish God would agree to our cartoon image and intervene with dramatic action, lightning bolts, booming voices from the sky... Instead, he wants us to be "the body of Christ," the hands and feet and eyes and ears that ...
I've come across this verse before, but it never ceases to amaze me: "Heal me, Lord, for I have sinned against you." Psalm 41:4. It's as if I punched a doctor in the face and broke her nose and then turned to her and said, "I'm very sorry about your nose. Also, I seem to have damaged my knuckles in ...
I have always thought of myself as "weak" when it came to prayer. I love words so much that reading the Bible and thinking about it comes pretty naturally, but praying has always left me impatient. I guess I just don't usually believe that it actually makes a difference. It doesn't seem productive.
But ...
