In today’s world we have so many options available to help us feel connected. Between our MySpace pages, our Facebook status updates and our tweeting on Twitter, it seems that we can keep track of every moment of our days and our friends’ days as well. Yet with all of this technology designed to keep […]
GOD’S RESCUING GRACE
My life seemed destined to fail before it had really begun. I was twenty-five years old, an alcoholic, burned out, tired of living and seriously considering ending it once and for all by committing suicide. I had tried everything possible to escape feelings of emptiness and hopelessness but nothing worked. I soon concluded that nothing would […]
ARE CHRISTIANS ANTI-HOMOSEXUAL?
The book UnChristian: What a New Generation Really Thinks About Christianity And Why It Matters by David Kinnaman and Gabe Lyons (2007), details nonbelievers’ view of Christians. In the book, Kinnaman and Lyons, with research from the Barna group, highlight the ways Christians are viewed in a negative light, especially among Americans aged 16 to […]
GOD ALWAYS HAS A PURPOSE
This is a story of a woman’s salvation. Even having strayed from God, and in the midst of her darkness and despair, she was never alone. God was her ever-present protector, guiding her back into his gracious arms. Net, a strong, independent woman on the outside, was physically and emotionally battered on the inside. She […]
BREAKING BREAD AND BREAKING BARRIERS IN SOUTH AFRICA
My arrival in Durban, South Africa was a very particular brand of disorientation. Nothing seemed familiar. Rand. Paranoia. Koombis. Xhosa. The remnants of apartheid. Humidity. Food-stealing monkeys. All of it felt foreign. I decided to study abroad for one year in college to get some field research experience in another country. But underneath the academic […]
GOD VALUES OUR HEALTH
I grew up going to church, listening to sermons and scriptures being spoken, but I really struggled when I tried to read the Bible myself. I actually felt condemned and a burden of expectation whenever I tried to read a passage. Five years ago, after a very difficult loss—the birth and death of our daughter […]
ARE CHRISTIANS TOO FOCUSED ON GETTING CONVERTS?
In the last issue we covered the first perception mentioned in the book UnChristian: What a New Generation Really Thinks About Christianity: And Why It Matters by David Kinnaman and Gabe Lyons (2007), that details nonbelievers’ view of Christians. In the book, Kinnaman and Lyons, with research from the Barna group, highlight the ways Christians […]
YASUSHI MIKAMI
Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, […]
DENOMINATIONAL DIFFERENCES: PART 3
To some extent, Christian denominations can be seen as ways to ‘do church’ differently. Usually, what sets denominations apart is their take on certain biblical subjects, beliefs, interpretations, and practices. Variations on a recipe, if you will. In some denominations, the style of the church gathering is different; others have different perspectives on topics such […]
WHAT IS THE GAZA STRIP?
A recent BBC report partially attributes the December 2008 rocket attack by Hamas to a blockade set by Israeli forces in Gaza. The blockade was established nineteen months earlier in an effort to cut off the gasoline supply to the region. Mutual attacks between Israel and Palestine have escalated since Hamas’s rise to power in […]