Considering answers to those faith-questions we all ask…
Tag: Faith
Some of the most difficult words of Jesus for us to accept - believers or unbelievers - speak of blessing and gain through loss, weakness and failure. "Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it" (Matthew 10:39). "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 5:3); "... many who are first will be last, and the last first" (Matthew 19:30).
Why is it that simply believing in someone can make the difference between gaining eternal life and being eternally lost? Surely God doesn't expect us all to believe in someone we can't even see or hear? Surely scientists, historians and archaeologists of our time -the clever people - have all concluded that there is no God and that Jesus either didn't exist at all or was deluded or misquoted?
When you hear people make claims such as "Jesus Christ never existed" you find yourself being challenged. You've been a professing believer for X years, you go to church, you shape your life at least loosely around what you claim to believe, but you've never taken the trouble to find or memorize hard historical or archaeological evidence to back up your faith. With an awareness of this common failing in the back of my mind I recently benefitted from a podcast produced by the Associates for Biblical Research, titled, "Jesus Outside the Bible - The Top Ten Historical References" (
Where do our thoughts come from? Experts of all stripes who view the world from a totally naturalistic viewpoint insist that every thought is a production of the brain - a physical organ. Those of us who believe in something beyond the brain know there's more to the human mind than just meat, chemicals and electrical signals. I'll take that statement one step further: the "meat", the chemical interactions and the electrical signals are vital tools for our spirits to operate in a physical world.
Within the spectrum of expression in the Christian Church the Charismatic movement provides many great and commendable blessings. It appeals to those whose character traits and preferences demand freedom and vitality. However, at and near its fringe there's something dark and destructive at work.
Fuel for Faith, Food for Thought 