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Tag: Person of Christ

The Joys Of Small-Mindedness

The Joys Of Small-Mindedness

We live in a world in which credulity (a pre-disposition to believe without substantive evidence) has become a virtue, and uncritical acceptance a sign of intelligence.  It is a world in which naivete is a mark of noble character, and gullibility is morally superior to critical thinking (whatever that was).  Full disclosure: this is not a world in which I feel comfortable or into which I readily fit.  I blame my parents first and foremost. Let’s face it—they were not particularly broad-minded people.  To start with,…

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Learning To See Double

Learning To See Double

“Seeing double” is the colloquial term ascribed to a phenomenon in which a particular kind of visual impairment causes the person experiencing it to perceive two images when only one is actually present.  The scientific designation for this is, “diplopia.” Films and television programs often portray double vision as the comical result of illegal drug use or excessive drinking.  But it is no laughing matter.  Persistent or repeated diplopia warrants prompt medical attention to determine the cause(s) of the disorder—not an easy task,…

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Avoiding Sudden Destruction

Avoiding Sudden Destruction

It has been widely reported in national news media that the world’s elites—the wealthiest of the wealthy and the most dominant of the dominators—are investing vast sums in modern-day bomb shelters for themselves and their loved ones.  These hardened shelters are said to be fortified against most any danger, from riot to invasion and are built to withstand any threat short of a direct hit by a thermonuclear missile. Most of these strongholds are at least partially buried and the best…

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Religion Or Relationship?

Religion Or Relationship?

For this week’s column, I perused dictionary definitions of the word, “religion.”  What I found wasn’t pretty.  I’ll spare you the details, but suffice it to say, it was all about “bonds,” “obligations,” “duties,” “practices,” “rites,” “rituals”—mainly overt actions performed by human beings compelled to do so by the tenets of the particular system to which they adhere. Few sources even got ‘round to mentioning “beliefs.”  No hint was provided as to God’s role, if any.  Much was said about conformity and tradition, but…

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A Kingdom For The Asking

A Kingdom For The Asking

The religious and political upper crust of first century Jewish society thought that they were finally getting just what they’d been wanting for ages.  Money had changed hands.  A secret arrest had been made.  The man at the top of Jerusalem’s ‘most wanted’ list could not rightly be called public enemy number one, because he wasn’t an enemy of the public—just a threat to the power structure.  But he had been hauled in and now stood bound before them.  After the skullduggery it had taken…

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Knowing and Being Known

Knowing and Being Known

If I did not know Jesus Christ and did not expect Him to return for me and for all who trust in Him, I would not, could not know love, peace, joy and hope.  I would know crushing disappointment, seething hatred, suffocating panic, and utter despair. Think about a Christ-less world for two minutes.  What do you see? Your very existence the result of an inexplicable series of accidents, a product of random chance, without meaning, purpose or intrinsic value.   No answer to existential…

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A Most Unusual Servant

A Most Unusual Servant

One of the greatest of the ancient Hebrew prophets was a man named Isaiah.  Chapter 52 of the book of the Bible that bears his name introduces us to someone popularly known as “the suffering servant.”  He doesn’t start out that way. In verse 13, we learn that this servant is unique: “Behold, my servant shall deal prudently, he shall be exalted and extolled, and be very high.”  Prudent (judicious, wise, shrewd).  Exalted (elevated, of greatly superior status). Extolled (praised, glorified, lauded). Very high (extraordinarily or…

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Let Save And Live

Let Save And Live

The venerable phrase, “Live and let live” is a familiar one.  It should be, having been around for about four hundred years [originally a Dutch proverb, it’s first appearance in English dates from around 1622].  The idea seems to have been, ‘live as you see fit and allow others to do the same.’  Expressed as a negative, it would be, ‘Don’t interfere with others, lest they interfere with you’ or ‘Leave others alone, so they’ll leave YOU alone.‘  It is not the Cold War’s strategic…

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Death Turns The Tables

Death Turns The Tables

Jesus of Nazareth was known for shaking things up.  He had a positive gift for “comforting the afflicted and afflicting the comfortable” [a phrase credited to humorist Finley Dunne, in regard to the role of the newspaper].  Jesus turned conventional wisdom on its head all right, and he certainly knew how to speak bluntly, as when He told the religious leaders of His day: “…Ye are they which justify yourselves before men; but God knoweth your hearts: for that which is highly…

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Love At First Sight

Love At First Sight

A question often asked in romance novels, smarmy films, “speed dating” clubs, and everywhere bad pick up lines are sold is, “Do you believe in love at first sight?”  And while this question is asked in restaurants and bars all over town, by people of varying motivations, you can be pretty sure of one thing: the questioner is desperate, deluded, or disingenuous. Typically, the individual making this inquiry is either experiencing a psychotic break with reality, is already in love—with themself—or has…

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