Easter Sunday is coming, which has a lot of people thinking about resurrection from the dead. Two Sundays ago, I preached on how Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead after he had been dead (and smelly) for 4 days (John 11). This was the straw that broke the camel’s back for the religious leaders to […]
How Evangelical Christians Should Respond to the Orlando Nightclub Massacre
49 people were gunned down and killed in an Orlando gay bar early Sunday morning, with another 53 wounded. You can read more about the gut-wrenching story here (CNN). The Orlando Sentinel is compiling a page where you can read a short tribute about each of the victims. There are lots of heavy elements to […]
Saying the KKK is to Christianity what ISIS is to Islam is not true
It is a convenient, and I’ll admit, still a somewhat helpful statement to say, “What the KKK is to Christianity is what ISIS is to Islam.” The problem with it is, it is not true. By “not true,” I mean it is not objectively, factually, academically true. Not because I said so, but because of […]
What do Muslims believe? What’s the difference between Cultural and Radical Muslims?
I opened my newspaper’s USA Today section yesterday to see another horrifying cover story of Muslim suicide bombers devastating innocent people. What makes this attack different than some is that it is Muslims attacking other Muslims, this time in Turkey. Many people want an answer to the question, “What do Muslims believe as it relates […]
Don’t Spread Injustice: Cultural Muslims are not the same as Radical Muslims
Here are two things I am passionate about: Having conversations about what is true about different religions (specifically Islam in recent conversations) without saying the (silly) notion that all religions are the same. I desire simple honesty about what a religion believes and when lies are thrown out there, to identify them as such. How […]
Ben Carson is right about Islam, Congressman André Carson is wrong
I was listening to an interview with U.S. Representative André Carson on NPR yesterday. Carson is one of only two Muslims in Congress and was being asked about the violence that is connected with the Muslim faith. Congressman Carson was giving the standard moderate Muslim response that the texts in the Qur’an that command violence […]