The gift of creative thinking
They said it couldn’t be done. But on May 11, 1997, a computer beat the world chess champion in what many considered the ultimate challenge of man vs. machine. The match pitted Russian chess legend Garry Kasparov against Deep Blue, an IBM supercomputer. Deep Blue won, 3.5 to 2.5. read more
Why is there human suffering?
There are no easy answers to the question of the purpose of suffering and evil. The tendency is to blame God for these conditions, but He did not create them. They came as a result of man's disobedience to God, beginning back in the Garden of Eden; see Genesis 3:16-19. read more
What if God meant all that stuff? A Letter to Non-Believers
Shane Claiborne, of The Simple Way, a Christian ministry for the poor, recently addressed those who don’t believe, in Esquire magazine’s ‘A Letter to Non-Believers’. In it he writes: To all my non-believing, sort-of-believing, and used-to-be-believing friends: I feel like I should begin with a confession. I am sorry that so often the biggest obstacle to God has been Christians. read more
What’s God got to do with it?
It’s hard to define the things inside my heart. I wonder if I’m the only one who feels what I feel and wants what I want. Am I the same as others in this mass of humanity, or am I alone in my experiences? Maybe you sometimes feel the same way. In high school, I had a vague notion that when I graduated I would take off for a couple days, go somewhere in the wild, set up a tent, and spend three days with myself. My hope was that at the end of the time, with nothing but myself and some food, I would have a better idea of who I am and what I want, and where to head with my life. read more
Why is everyone leaving the church?
Talk about a string of bad press! In addition to a write up in the Christian Science Monitor [The Coming Evangelical Collapse], a cover article of the Newsweek Magazine entitled “The End of Christian America,” a more readable and short article popped up last week on ABC News entitled, “Young America Losing Their Religion.” read more
What the...? If you’re real God
Lately, I've been challenged by some people to re-evaluate why it is that I seem to be constantly ragging on the Church. Some of these well-intentioned people have openly challenged the maturity of my faith and even questioned my "salvation". I can't help but wonder how much of their concern for me is based on dogmatic, indoctrinated attitudes or is it merely just a difference in personality? read more
Forgiveness
When someone hurts us and their actions forever affect our lives, the instinctive response is to choose anger and seek vengeance. We look for ways to punish the offender because we want him or her to understand the deep pain we feel and to suffer in the same way. The Apostle Paul's instruction to forgive is easier said than done. read more
On the comforts of home and finding my fit...
I was born with a borrowed homesickness for Tennessee bottomland where my daddy grew up. We never stopped piling into a station wagon and winding the long way there from Alabama for weekends of lap-sitting, early biscuits, percolated coffee, and that iron-rich dirt dotted with arrowheads. It was home to my daddy, where he had been a little boy and where he had known his daddy, and it was comforting to me to see him fit so well. read more
Hope for a broken heart
I thought I was just overweight and out of shape. And while I was both overweight and out of shape, it really had nothing to do with the fact I couldn't finish climbing up the thousand or so feet of Arthur's Seat, a small mountain which overlooked the city of Edinburgh, Scotland. My husband and I were visiting some friends who were starting a community outreach and we wanted to climb to the top to pray over the city. A few hundred yards in, I couldn't breathe, and my chest started hurting. read more
Are you getting what you want?
Too many people associate Christianity with restrictions, with arbitrary dos and don'ts and with negative commandments. Often the Church has banged away negatively at evils but has left men and women empty, without reminding them that God is tremendously interested in our finding a satisfying way of life here and now. We Christians have talked so much about the negative side of Christian experience that we have forgotten to emphasize the positive, joyous, thrilling and victorious experience of daily fellowship with Christ. read more