What does the Bible say about suffering? Turning off the kitten videos and finding God in lament I preached on Lamentations a couple of weeks ago, a book that rocked my world, and continues to rock my world. Essentially Lamentations is the prophet Jeremiah weeping in sorrow over Israel (Judah) finally losing the Promised Land. […]
Jesus’ Authority Keeps Us Unshakable When Suffering Comes
I had the opportunity to preach at Trinity Church in Lansing this past Sunday on Romans 8:31-39. Romans 8:31 and Romans 8:37 are home run verses that we love (and I love), but if we’re not careful they can become verses we take out of context and use to formulate a theology that bad things […]
What does the Bible say about hell?
What does the Bible say about hell? Hell, God’s Sovereignty, Suffering & My Depravity The doctrine of hell is one that was overemphasized in my faith upbringing. It’s one I subsequently tried to disprove and deny using the Bible. In this attempt, I ended up coming to terms with the truth of the biblical doctrine […]
Faith’s Grand Paradox About Your Doubts: Love Trumps Information
Ken Wytsma’s most recent book The Grand Paradox, addresses many of the tensions believers and non-believers feel toward the Christian faith. Ken is founder of The Justice Conference coming up June 5-6 in Chicago and is also the author of Pursuing Justice. Tensions within the Bible and Christianity abound. Many of these tensions push people […]
2 Unexpected Ways Believing in Hell has Reinvigorated my Faith
I grew up in a church tradition that really emphasized hell as a motivation for accepting Christ’s forgiveness of our sins. In fact, my own salvation decision as a young child was highly motivated by this. I no longer see overemphasis on hell (often an exclusive emphasis) as biblical or effective in bringing true heart […]