Category: Uncategorized
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Can God Make a Stone So Heavy He Can’t Lift It?
Some questions aren’t worth answering. Not because the question is too hard to think through, but because if you try to answer it, you have just stepped into a world of nonsense and absurdity. For example, anyone who seriously tried to discuss the question, “How did George Washington like driving with a manual transmission?” is only…
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The Power of Example
“Virtuous deeds,” wrote Plutarch, “implant in those who search them out a great and zealous eagerness which leads to imitation” (Life of Pericles 1.4). Although he was by no means a Christian, Plutarch’s words resonate with the words of Scripture, particularly the cry of the psalmist in the opening verses of Psalm 119: “Blessed are those…
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Saving Group Discussions from Disaster
I have found that group discussions are one of the most difficult kinds of communication to do effectively. The challenge of group discussion lies partially in the fact that the leader has less direct control over how it goes. If you are leading a group discussion, it’s not enough for you to know your material well: you must…
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Never Stop Learning: Five Ideas to Deepen and Expand Your Knowledge
“Education is the kindling of a flame, not the filling of a vessel” (Socrates). “Let the wise hear and increase in learning, and the one who understands obtain guidance” (Solomon, Proverbs 1:5). Learn or Stagnate I believe in the importance of constantly learning. The moment I become satisfied with my current level of understanding is the…
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Six Things You Would Have Noticed About the First Christians
It’s easy to miss the incredible nature of what was happening in Jerusalem following Pentecost. We’ll never be able to fully put ourselves in the shoes of a first-century Jew living in that city, but from Luke’s record in Acts, here’s what would have stood out to us about those first Christians: 1. They were radically…
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Seven Disciplines of the Christian Scholar
In a previous post, I discussed six convictions to guide Christian scholarship. By “disciplines,” I mean habits that spring from these convictions and require determination to maintain. These habits will not be easy. As Sertillanges put it, “The life of study is austere and imposes grave obligations. . . . The athletes of the mind, like…
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Why God’s Triunity Should Confound our Intellect
Is it possible to arrive at the idea of the Trinity apart from divine revelation? A few philosophical theologians have thought so, including Richard of St. Victor, G. W. F. Hegel, and Richard Swinburne. Richard of St. Victor, followed by Richard Swinburne, argues that “if God is loving, then he must share (hence the Son);…
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Evangelicalism and Social Responsibility
In the enormous book Tough-Minded Christianity: Honoring the Legacy of John Warwick Montgomery, Vernon Grounds has an essay entitled “Evangelicalism and Social Responsibility.” I found his main points to be helpful, which I quote here: The Church’s primary task is that of personal evangelism. The Church has the responsibility of nurturing and judging the ethos of our…
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Today Is Sunday
Today is Sunday. It’s the first day of the week—the day my Lord rose from the dead. All four Gospels record that Jesus rose from the dead on the first day of the week (Matt. 28:1; Mark 16:2; Luke 24:1; John 20:1). The Romans called this day “the day of the sun” (dies solis) because…
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Christian Virtue Ethics
Stephen S. Bilynskyj’s essay “Christian Ethics and the Ethics of Virtue” champions virtue ethics as a superior approach to moral decision-making. Working from the writings of Stanley Hauervas, Bilynskyj insists that, for a Christian, ethical questions must be addressed within the redemptive narrative and the Christian’s identity with Jesus Christ. He puts it this way:…
Jonathan M. Threlfall 