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Tag: Life of Christ

To Seek And To Save

To Seek And To Save

In colloquial English, figurative use of the word “lost” permeates the lexicon of everyday speech.  Examples like the following spring to mind without effort: When applied to consequential things, the things we value most, the word “lost” assumes much greater significance, taking on a gravity no mere figure of speech can command.  You can all but feel the intensity of the suffering behind phrases like, “My family lost everything when the market crashed” or “I lost my wife last year.”  But as grievous as such…

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The First Skeptics

The First Skeptics

We live, we are told, in a “post truth” world, in which eternal verities are said to be irrelevant and reason, superfluous.  It is a place where critical thinking is neither valued nor practiced, and the good faith exchange of logical arguments in debate is a thing of the past. How did we get here?  By rejecting “absolute truth,” by which facts are distinguishable from falsehoods, fantasies, and errors based on objective, empirical data.  The fixed and finite nature of absolute truth is…

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What Christ Can’t Do

What Christ Can’t Do

It seems likely that every Christian above a certain age will sooner or later be asked by self-avowed skeptics some version of the killer question—that masterpiece of logic and irrefutable reason which no religionist can possibly answer.  These ‘stump the band’ conundrums are intended to shut down discussion, end debate of all serious issues and mock those inexperienced enough to try to play the game.  Particular favorites for flustering the faithful include variations of the following: “Could God create a stone too…

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If Christ Had Never Come

If Christ Had Never Come

As I settled in to write this column, sitting down before yet another blank page on my computer screen, I began to think about the question of what the world would look like if Jesus Christ had never come to live among us and die for us.  I should have known that a hypothetical like this one was just too big.  Soon I was chasing rabbits as a welcome distraction. The first was what to call Him.  Jesus was and is a common name.  How to distinguish…

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Jesus Christ–Underreported, Underrated, Undervalued

Jesus Christ–Underreported, Underrated, Undervalued

Adore Him or ignore Him, Jesus Christ is one fascinating character.  His story doesn’t start with His incarnation and virgin birth, as momentous as they are.  In the scriptures we meet Him as the unique and eternal Son of God when there was as yet, no human race for Him to join.  We discover that He existed long before the cosmos came into being.  We find that He was not some interested spectator but was thoroughly involved and fully engaged in every way. As…

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Know Who You’re Dealing With

Know Who You’re Dealing With

A cornerstone of personal safety and security is the admonition to ‘know who you’re dealing with.’  If you do not, you may be taken advantage of and suffer serious loss, up to and including life itself.   Bad actors (and bad liars) may make self-serving or accidental disclosures that unwittingly give them away.  Should anyone suggest that you’d be wise to be on your guard around them, you had best believe them and act accordingly.  Guilt over those they have victimized in the past…

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Mockery Most Mysterious and Malign

Mockery Most Mysterious and Malign

Sometime around the middle of the first century, less than twenty years after Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection, the Apostle Paul confidently declared that there is an appointed “…day when God will judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel.”  (Romans 2:16) Paul happened to be in ancient Athens when he amplified on this theme, saying that in times past, God made allowance for ignorance of His will, “…but now [that Christ has come], God commandeth all…

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To Die But Not Perish

To Die But Not Perish

The world is a dangerous place.  Bad actors do bad things.  Human beings can miss the point of their own stories.  Sometimes one’s life or even one’s day does not unfold as planned.  People minding their own business may be hurt or killed through no fault of their own.  There is such a thing as being in the wrong place at the wrong time.  A tower may suddenly collapse on you.  Death does not discriminate.  No one is immune. These are but some of the observations to be…

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Mourning The Messiah

Mourning The Messiah

Believe it or don’t, Jesus Christ is coming again.  Let that sink in.  Like it or not, He is returning.  Regardless of whether you expect it to happen, it will.  It’s a fact, not a fantasy—a truism, not a belief or a wish or even a fear.  It’s just reality. Oh, you can argue, you can protest, you can swaddle yourself in great swirling clouds of self-delusion and denial—but only until His arrival.  This date with destiny is on its way.  It is on schedule.  It is roaring toward us…

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Emmanuel In Reverse

Emmanuel In Reverse

It’s Christmas Eve 2021 as I write this column.  Naturally, the Nativity is on my mind.  Let’s read together the brief account in Matthew’s Gospel, chapter 1, verses 18-25.  I’ll share a few thoughts as we go. 18 “Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost.” Mary was “found [to be] with child.”  The child was not Joseph’s.  He and Mary were…

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