Category: Faith Questions
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“But I’m pro-choice . . . does that matter?”
That which is growing inside Mary’s womb—what is it? Is it birth material or an unborn child? a fetus or a baby? a human zygote or a miracle from God? What do you call it? What do you call it when the Holy Spirit comes upon a virgin named Mary and the power of the…
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Can a Loving God Send People to Hell?
What kind of man is this, with what kind of heart? Jesus tells his friends how much he has longed for this last Passover supper with them . . . knowing full well what comes after it. With candlelight dancing in his eyes, he surveys a table set with bread and wine, bitters and roasted…
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“Your ‘amazing grace’ just seems too easy.”
Another standing-room-only day in the life of Christ. A crowd clogged every conceivable entrance of the house while he preached inside. Outside, a circle of friends surveyed the scene. One of them was paralyzed and needed desperately to be seen by Jesus. So love found a way. Imagine the wonderful commotion, the delightful mess. Dirt…
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The Need to Justify
In Eden, before sin changed everything, Adam and Eve knew only one heart condition. Their hearts were always and only at peace with the Creator. They also were at peace with his creation, and with each other. In absolute terms, everything was right in those relationships. God provided for their every need.
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A Case Study
We read Genesis chapter 1 with jaw-dropping awe, scratching our heads at the intricacy and vastness of our universe and searching for a vocabulary to express our wonder. When words fail us, God provides the words of an inspired writer (Moses) to put creation’s super-miracles into perspective. Like the peal of a cosmic bell, Moses…
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Predictable Patterns
Big storms are common along the Atlantic Seaboard. Old salts call them nor’easters. In 1991, early in the last week of October, a nor’easter named Hurricane Grace skipped along the coast, skirting the Bahamas. By midweek a second cyclonic depression had slipped down the coast from Nova Scotia to join forces with Grace. Sometime on…
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All the Church Cares About is Money
Mary broke her jar open, and along with it her tender spirit. Her perfume and her devotion poured out on Jesus’ head and pooled at his feet, overwhelming the room. He saw to the soul of what she did and was pleased. “She did it to prepare me for burial.”
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Why Should I Believe the Bible?
Picture a seed drying on a sun-baked sidewalk. Jesus tells a story about a farmer casting seed all around, letting it land wherever—in rocks, in weeds, in soil. For now, notice the kernel that lands on a hard, hard path. Birds come along and snatch it away before anything good can happen at all. If…