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Tag: Plan of Salvation

FYI…From God

FYI…From God

One of the most ubiquitous abbreviations of the modern era is FYI (‘For your information’ or with sarcastic intent, ‘For your ignoring’).  Use of the latter meaning is especially prevalent among cheeky but timid subordinates who think the boss isn’t paying due heed.  Sometimes they’re right.  [And sometimes they’re just passive aggressive worriers, obsessing over nothing.] Self-appointed prophets of doom may be prone to histrionics and are often proved wrong when the deadlines on their dire predictions expire without incident.  Yet every once in…

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Memoir From Hell

Memoir From Hell

How did I end up in hell?  Can’t see what difference it makes, but I’ll tell you, if you really want to know… One day, I received a summons out of the blue, with a Notice To Appear on a certain date and time.  I was not expecting that.  The timing wasn’t convenient for me, so I set it aside, figuring I’d deal with it later.  It may have ended up in the garbage. I’m not sure.  When I didn’t show on the appointed day,…

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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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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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Requiem For Innocence

Requiem For Innocence

There was Adam and then there was Eve.  Created in the moral image of God.  Righteous. Pure.  Consciences clean and clear.  So totally innocent they did not even notice their physical and spiritual nakedness.  In this pristine state, they were possessed of the ultimate humility: utter unselfconsciousness. They could not be described as blameless, as no wrong had been done to which blame might attach.  To call them sinless would be inaccurate, as sin had not entered their minds.  Their character was uncorrupted, but it had never been put…

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New Birthday

New Birthday

[SPECIAL NOTE TO MY READERS: This is my 100th original column.  I thank God for this amazing milestone and pray that each one will find the audience He intends.  To Him be the glory!]   Imagine being an orphan chosen for adoption in a process you couldn’t hope to understand.  Now suppose that the transaction was conducted remotely, at long distance.  You are told that your prospective parent is a truly wonderful person, of sterling character and stainless reputation—not only virtuous but infinitely loving, unstintingly generous, completely…

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Too Good To Be True?

Too Good To Be True?

An aphorism is a saying expressing the collective wisdom gained from the common experience of lots of people over long periods of time.  These homespun insights are not always true or universally true.  But they enshrine general principles reliable enough to have predictive value.  And because they transcend differences in age, sex, class, social status, and language (among others), aphorisms play an important role in shaping and homogenizing culture.  They also serve as safeguards for the young, sheltered, or naïve, against the danger of…

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Chance Meetings By Appointment Only

Chance Meetings By Appointment Only

The airport lounge was crowded with travelers waiting to board flights that would carry some to familiar destinations—their accustomed venues for business or pleasure.  In addition to these commuters were those being ferried to exotic locales of picturesque beauty and idyllic climes, the nearest thing to paradise on earth, and the perfect spot for that once-in-a-lifetime vacation.  Rounding out the manifests were those on missions of particular purpose—a job interview, a family emergency, a military deployment, a special occasion. One of these…

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You Don’t Know Him Like I Do

You Don’t Know Him Like I Do

Sure, I watched cartoons as a kid—lots of them.  One of the most common plot devices involved characters who hadn’t encountered one another before.  One was a born predator and the other its natural prey—sweet, innocent, and harmless.  The predator, sensing no threat, unwisely drops its guard and even starts to trust the little angel, who soon reveals that its meek and mild persona is just a disguise.  The merry mayhem begins when the presumptive victim asks the audience in a mischievous stage whisper,…

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