We run our website the way we wished the whole internet worked: we provide high quality original content with no ads. We are funded solely by your direct support. Please consider supporting this project.
On Attending to the Light in Darkness
Donald Miller has posted a reflection on his Storyline blog about highlighting goodness and thereby pointing to Jesus in the aftermath of events such as the bombing in Boston this week. We want to emphatically declare together that “an enemy has done this” (Matt 13:28). But we also want to be a people who will attend to the light shining in the darkness, the hands and feet of Jesus bringing help and comfort. Where are you noticing the light of God in the darkness?
From Donald’s blog:
The real idea is that apart from God, true purity does not reside in us. Without His light shining through us, we are dark inside. But we often take this too far, devaluing the true goodness that is, while earthly, in every human being. We all reflect the goodness of our Maker, whether we know that Maker or not. When we shine a light on the courage and bravery, kindness and altruism displayed by every human being, we say to the world, “See that goodness inside of you? That comes from your Father. You got that from your Father,” and as such invite people to know their God.
Category: General
Tags: Boston Bombings, Donald Miller, Evil, Jesus
Related Reading
Sending Evil Spirits
In several infamous biblical depictions of Yahweh in the Old Testament, God is depicted as “sending” spirits to trouble and/or deceive people (Judg 9:22-3; 1 Sam 16:14, 23; 18:10; 19:9; 1 Kg 22:20-3). While there are several exegetical considerations that arguably help alleviate the problematic way these passages implicate God in unethical behavior, I nevertheless…
How is the Bible “God-Breathed”?
The historic-orthodox church has always confessed that all canonical writings are “God-breathed” (1 Tim 3:16). But what exactly does this mean? How could God guarantee that the writings that his “breathing” produces are precisely what he intended without thereby undermining the autonomy of the agents he “breathes” through? In other words, did God breathe the…
Radical is in the Eye of the Beholder
Josias Hansen is a Brazilian-born, Charismatic Mennonite student at Luther Seminary in St. Paul, MN. Together with Third Way Church, Josias enjoys experimenting with what it looks like to take Jesus seriously as a jolly community of kingdom disciples. Was Jesus a radical? Did he do and teach radical things? What if I were to tell…
Jesus and Democracy
Question: I’ve heard that the reason Jesus didn’t speak up on political issues was because he didn’t have the benefit of living in a democracy. Since we do, don’t we have a duty both to God and our country to be involved in politics? Answer: If the reason Jesus didn’t speak up on political issues…
Guest Post: Culture War Neighbors by Bonnie Kristian
Matteo Parrini via Compfight The first time I was aware of meeting a gay person, I was 18. I took a summer job waiting tables, and it turned out two of my coworkers were attracted to people of the same sex. One, a waiter in his 40s, fit every stereotype on Will and Grace. The…
Pretty Little Vampires: Osheta Moore
We’re thrilled today to introduce you to Osheta Moore, blogger extraordinaire over at Shalom in the City. Osheta is in the middle of a wonderful series of blog posts on finding her “tribe”. We love this woman. Listen to a section from her “about me”: I’m an African-American, suburbanite Texan from the Bible Belt living in…