Christian Life

Reports of My Death Are…

…greatly exaggerated. I really don’t know if anyone reported my death and if they did, I don’t know if they embellished anything other than the untrue statement that I had died. Yes, I have not blogged a lot. I have written weekly emails to the church I pastored during their transition, some of which will make great future blogs but that was the limit of what I could do. Writing blogs, as much as I enjoy it, is not something I could continue to do and still complete my transitional pastor calling. I did not die, I guess that is obvious by the existence of this new post, but I did struggle with some very serious health problems that have shown me that I may have been greatly exaggerating my own death.

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I Am Eve

A rather strange name for a man to use. For this reason, I will be only using this name for this post. I felt it necessary to change my name because I haven’t changed my behavior. The luciferin temptation to worship my intellect, define my existence, to create my own boundaries of right and wrong, has slithered its way into who I am.

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Easter

We have two sayings on which we base our message to the world. At the end of many Good Friday services, it is tradition to say “It’s Friday but Sunday is coming.” On Easter Sunday often the service begins with “He has risen” and the congregation responds, “He has risen indeed.” I may only be speaking for myself but boy, do we take for granted what we not only believe to be true but I would step out on a limb and say for the vast majority of those who are Christians and for all who truly follow Christ, we know this is true!

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Why Do We Suffer?

This question has been asked since the beginning of time. I guess that isn’t quite true. This question has been asked since the fall of man. That may not be true either. It was very clear that suffering would be the outcome of disobeying God (Genesis3:16-19 (NIV)). This is going to be a short blog if I keep answering the question with one sentence answers.

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Is Jordan Peterson a Christian?

I get this question often from people who know I enjoy reading books by and listening to, Dr. Peterson (even Maps of Meaning – way out of my league but I am enjoying it). If you do not know who he is, a quick search will reveal his many accomplishments and controversies. I would consider him one of our greatest modern-day philosophers. Dr. Peterson is a licensed psychologist (for now) and a best-selling author. His YouTube videos give us a glimpse into his thought process. For most of us a glimpse is all we can handle! He has a command of the English language that in itself, can describe everyday events with such depth that you might even believe you can touch, taste, see and smell them as he speaks. Not to be outdone by his vocabulary is his willingness and rarely matched ability to process the many layers of who we are and why we are that way on an individual and societal level. With this description, I do not believe I have even scratched the surface and I don’t believe I can. With that being said, I am still willing to attempt to address his Christ following status although I still may only scratch the surface!

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