There's a parable in here somewhere . . .
This isn't my story, it's Neil Gaiman's, but it bears remembering.
Radicals & Pharisees
It's not what you think.
Memo to self: don't get cocky
"Let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall."
Skeptical conversations, part VII: The Holy Spirit and the Bible
On the role of both in our faith
The gospel according to Firefly
This beats The Gospel According to Peanuts all hollow.
On the power of stories to teach, part II
Inspired by Dr. John Stackhouse and his evaluation of The Shack
Our Swiss-cheese Bibles
Do we read the Holy Bible, or just the holey Bible?
Reflection on Amos 5 worship, for a thoughtful friend
The importance of reading Amos 5 in light of Amos 2
Out of the past, in the present, toward the future
On time and the life of the church
In defense of the church, part IV: Jesus
Whatever else may be true, however little we may deserve it, Jesus loves his church.
Politics in a state of grace
The founding principle of any truly Christian politics must be the absolute sovereignty of God.
“Doubting Thomas”?
We’re in no position to talk.
Skeptical conversations, part VI: Relationship with God (or not)
Salvation as a matter of knowing the one who saves
Worldly heavens make me ill
On the rubbish that is the popular idea of heaven
Firefly, Tolkien, and narrative theology
On the intrinsic theological significance of story
Explanations aren't excuses
A brief note on the tragedy of Burma and those who would try to justify it.
Church as a missional community
The people of God are identified and defined by our destination.
Skeptical conversations, part V: The person and work of Jesus
This is the section of my credo laying out what I understand to be true about Jesus.
Thoughts on the idolatry of relevance
The way for the church to be relevant is not for the church to try to be relevant.
Prince Caspian
So I'm in the minority—I liked the movie, and I think I had good reason.
Thoughts on the nature of Christian faith
Neither simple nor natural nor anything like a crutch.
The Gospel in the Ascension
God's love goes farther than our sin.
Why lawyers shouldn't teach history
Those who misunderstand history will never learn its lessons . . .
The problem with historical parallels
. . . and as a consequence, will misapply them to current events.
In defense of the church, part III: Doctrine
On why the attack on doctrine is incoherent and unfounded.
Belated thoughts on prayer
Power isn't in prayer, power is in God.
Humble knowledge
It’s important to remember our limitations.
The relevance of liturgy
We tend to misdefine relevance.
The God who speaks
“God is always speaking to us, and all of life is the medium through which he speaks.”
Pretzelbyterianism
Or, how to tie yourself in a logical knot to avoid reaching a conclusion you don’t want to reach.
Worship as orientation
"Specifically, toward God, flat on our faces."
Fantasy, science fiction, and the epic
"Fantasy and science fiction, at their highest, appeal to an essentially theological impulse in the human spirit." See also "Fantasy, science fiction, and the mysterium tremendum."
The Ascension and the Second Coming
Does Jesus teach the Second Coming? I believe so.
Prosthetics, athletics, and the human future
We need to be careful how far we go.
Answering Islam on its own terms
And those terms are religious, not secular/political.
Holy discomfort
On Pope Benedict and his critique of the selfish, reductionist individualism of our culture.
The old made new—not replaced
All things will be redeemed, including the works of our hands.
The Ascension, the body, and the kingdom of God
Our bodies aren't temporary.
Meditation: on barbering churches
Is the church defined by its edges? If so, how?
Brief meditation: on art
Considering art, God, mediation, and the problem of definition.
Skeptical conversations, part IV: Considering humanity
On what it means to be human.
Further thoughts on the Ascension: the value of our humanity
On the significance of the fact that Jesus is still the carpenter from Nazareth.
Score one for SCOTUS
Standing up for national sovereignty and the proper separation of powers.
On praying for heart attacks
"Make them stop or make them gone."
What shall we do with a Christless preacher?
A few thoughts on the matter from a working pastor.
Iraq as a litmus test for presidential seriousness
Several truths that are well worth remembering as the President wavers on Afghanistan.
Respect: the lubricant of good politics
We should take our political disagreements seriously—but we need to remember that ultimately, we're all on the same side.
The life of faith vs. the life of politics
On the temptation to try to achieve the kingdom of God by political means.
Skeptical conversations, part I: Who is God?
Skeptical conversations, part II: What is God like?
Skeptical conversations, part III: The problem of evil
The first three sections of my credo—think of it as a brief survey of all the things I believe about God, the world, the church, and so on.
The church, the prophet, the whale—and God
On the ways we try to sanitize the story of Jonah, and why we shouldn't.
April Fool!
Have you ever thought of April Fool's Day as a Christian holiday?
Responsibility
A thought on a melancholy little passage from James Baldwin.
Martin Luther King Jr.: yad vashem
A tribute, and a consideration of his legacy and what we've made of it.
Brief meditation on gratitude and discipleship
True discipleship only grows from gratitude.
Thoughts on Jesus' ascension
Yes, Ascension Day matters.
I've added the post on my most-searched posts to the blog orientation at the head of the sidebar. While I was at it, I realized that I'd missed one, a post I did a year ago August on the elemental powers of this world, so I added that in, with an additional link to a follow-up post I did, working with an insight contributed by cyberfriend and commenter Doug Hagler.
I don’t get huge traffic around here; I don’t call this “The Blog that Nobody Reads” (that would be fellow Palinite House of Eratosthenes, which is ironic because he gets more traffic than I do), but the number of folks who do read this blog isn’t all that large. Which is fine, since I’m not trying to make a living off this—this is a discipline for me, and I write about what interests me, and if it interests others as well, then that’s great.
That said, I do watch the traffic I get, because that interests me, too; I like to see what posts get linked to elsewhere around the Web, and what searches land here. Some of them are pretty strange, though I don’t seem to get as many really odd ones as folks like Hap do. I’ve noticed, though, over time, that some posts get an inordinate number of hits—they just keep popping up in searches, week after week. That being the case, I thought it might be worth collecting them and posting the list.
The parable of the three little pigs
Reflecting on 1 Corinthians 3:10-20, 6:19-20: what are you building your life with?
Midway between luck and skill
On the role of luck in the Battle of Midway—which, from a Christian perspective, looks like the providence of God. I don’t know that most searchers are looking for that perspective, though.
Elemental powers
The ancients believed that the physical world was ruled by spirits (the elements, the stars, the sun and moon, and so on); Christ came to set us free from slavery to such things. In this post and a follow-up, I asked the question, “What powers does our culture think rule the world?” It appears others out there are asking the same question.
“May the Lamb that was slain receive the reward of His suffering!”
This is a video I posted on the two Moravian missionaries who sold themselves into slavery in the West Indies in order to evangelize their fellow slaves.
Ecclesia reformata semper reformanda secundum verbum Dei
I wouldn't have expected it, but there appear to be a lot of people out there Googling this phrase; I wrote this post for Tim Challies’ Reformation Day symposium, considering the meaning and misuses of this motto, and I hope the various searchers find it helpful.
“Send ’em up, I’ll wait!”
This is a story I picked up from Don Surber of the Charleston (WV) Daily Mail, which it appears is still circulating briskly, judging by the number of folks still looking for it.
The OSM (Obama-stream media) theme song
So far, I haven’t seen anyone else referring to the media as the OSM, but a lot of folks seem to be looking for some variation of “Obama theme song.” Not many searches for the Great Big Sea song lyrics I posted, though.
“Darkness has a hunger that’s insatiable”
Reflecting on the murder of George Tiller and the old Indigo Girls hit “Closer to Fine”; most of the hits are on searches for the quote.
The Gnosticism of sexual sin
Would we be so casual about our sexual behavior if we really understood its significance? I don’t think so.
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom
It would appear that a lot of people want to understand what “the fear of the Lord” means—which is something I’m still working on myself.
Where have all the good men gone? Blame Roe, for starters
This one gets hit from a lot of different angles, but the most common search is what you'd expect: “where have all the good men gone?” Further evidence of the sea change Roe brought to male-female relations, I think.
The heart of the matter
Not that I know God, but that he knows me.
Meditation on Holy Saturday and Easter
On the light of resurrection in a dead-grey world.
Bumper-sticker philosophy
Do people who say "question everything" really mean it?
Speaking prophetically
Critiquing the idea that the Rev. Dr. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr. is a prophet of God.
Further thoughts on prophecy and Jeremiah Wright
On tests for a true prophet: risk, humility, and aim.
The fallacy of diagnosis
On why it's wrong to identify other people as the problem.
Rebuild the parties?
On why we might be suffering from an excess of democracy, in one respect.
Reclaiming the gospel?
We have a remarkable ability to get our idea of Christianity backwards . . .
A bad week for Barack Obama
The most recent polls show that a lot of folks who voted for the president are now questioning their votes, whether because of the Gates affair, because he's governed as a hard leftist, or whatever; but everything we see now was foreshadowed during the campaign, for those willing to believe it.
A matter of trust
"We hear God saying, 'Obey me, obey me, obey me'; but what God is really saying is, 'Trust me. Trust me. Trust me.'"
Outsourcing memory
Technology as prosthetic memory, and its effects.
Adolescent atheism and the nihilistic impulse
An observation on the intemperate tone of the "new atheists."
Is there an echo in here . . . ?
This was a response to a meme on "posts that have resonated with you"; there are some great links here that deserve to be re-mentioned.
Blinded by the darkness
Comments on a brilliant sermon by the Rev. Dr. Paul Detterman, Executive Director of Presbyterians for Renewal.
In defense of the church, part II: The institution
Yes, we need the church, and yes, that means the institutional church, for all its warts.
Becoming like children
Jesus told us to, but it doesn't mean what you probably think.
Missing the point on McCain?
A thought on honor vs. reputation.
In defense of the church, part I: Preaching
On the necessity of the church and the importance of gospel preaching.
The adolescent atheism of the self-impressed
On why Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens don't measure up to Friedrich Nietzsche, Karl Marx or Jean-Paul Sartre—or for that matter, C. S. Lewis or Tim Keller.
Let the little children come
It's a gospel imperative.
Five years or so ago, I posted a brief comment on a piece of Fr. Andrew Greeley's in the Chicago Sun-Times titled "There's no solving mystery of Christ"; the original is no longer available on the Sun-Times website, but fortunately, it can still be found here. I say "fortunately" because, while there is much on which I do not agree with Fr. Greeley, in this piece he did an excellent job of capturing something profoundly important:
Much of the history of Christianity has been devoted to domesticating Jesus—to reducing that elusive, enigmatic, paradoxical person to dimensions we can comprehend, understand and convert to our own purposes. So far it hasn't worked. . . .
None of it works because once you domesticate Jesus he isn't there any more. The domestic Jesus may be an interesting fellow, a good friend, a loyal companion, a helpful business associate, a guarantor of the justice of your wars. But one thing he is certainly not: the Jesus of the New Testament. Once Jesus comforts your agenda, he's not Jesus anymore. Consider Bush's "political philosopher." His principal statement on that subject is, "Render to Caesar things that are Caesar's and to God the things that are God's"—a phrase that preachers for a couple of millennia have delivered with tones of triumph in their voice. Jesus had neatly dispatched his adversaries.
The preachers don't explain what that ingenious phrase means in politics. . . . Where does one find the boundary between Caesar and God? Jesus didn't say, and he still doesn't. He won the argument, indeed deftly, but he leaves to his followers the challenge of how his dictum should be applied in practice. No easy task.
Or his challenge, "Let the one without sin throw the first stone." Does that mean we don't denounce any sins? Or that we should take a good long look at our conscience before we take up the stones? Or that if we are confident of our own sinlessness, we can start throwing the stones?
Jesus did not issue any detailed instructions, save perhaps "by this all shall know that you are my disciples, that you have love for one another." And that really isn't detailed at all. Nor is the instruction that you should love your neighbor as yourself. All of these sayings seem vague, slippery, disturbing, dangerous. Jesus is as obscure now as he was in his own time: as troublesome, as much a threat to the public order. . . .
One is tempted to demand of Jesus: "Who do you think you are to challenge us with your paradoxes, to trouble us with your weird stories, to warn us that you are not a reassuring traveling companion, but a messenger from a God who is even more paradoxical, even more difficult to figure out, even more challenging."
If Jesus makes you feel comfortable with your agenda, then he's not Jesus.
Or as I've been told St. Augustine wrote, "If you think you understand the nature of God, that which you think you know is not God." What we can truly know about God is limited to what God has revealed to us about himself; unfortunately, we're always trying to go beyond that, sometimes out of an honest desire to understand, and sometimes out of a desire to make God be what we want him to be—which is the essence of idolatry. Jesus doesn't accept that; he will not be tamed, or made to conform to our desires.
This is not to say that everything we know about Jesus is wrong, or that it's impossible for us to know or speak truth about God, because those statements are clearly not true. It is, however, to say that if we think we hear Jesus saying what we want him to hear, we need to stop and consider the possibility that we're really only hearing our own wishful thinking, and then go back and take a long second look. If we believe in a Jesus who only challenges those who disagree with us, who only makes our opponents uncomfortable, then we've gotten him wrong. In the Gospels, many people received comfort from Jesus, but no one was ever truly comfortable with him; the closer his friends got to him, it seems, the more he confounded them.
The basic principle here is that we're all sinners, we all have sin in our hearts, and therefore Jesus confronts all of us with our sinfulness and calls us to change. He calls all of us to give up things that we deeply do not want to give up, to set aside our own desires and goals and plans so that he can give us his own, to make changes that we'd rather not make; he loves all of us just the way we are, but he doesn't affirm any of us just the way we are—he loves us too much for that. As such, whenever we hear the challenge of God, we need to look first to our own hearts, without exception, to see how his challenge is for us before we ever think to apply it to anyone else.
Jesus didn't come to confirm us in our agendas and tell us we're doing just fine as we are; he came to upskittle our agendas entirely and call us to a radical new way of living. As Fr. Greeley says, "If Jesus makes you feel comfortable with your agenda"—whether that agenda be political, personal, professional, or what have you—"then he's not Jesus." After all, if you're the one setting the agenda, then you're setting the course and expecting others to follow you, and Jesus never offered to follow us; instead, consistently, he said, "Follow me."
As a final note, I would be remiss to post on this without noting that my friend Jared Wilson (of The Thinkings and The Gospel-Driven Church) has a book coming out next month addressing this same concern, titled Your Jesus Is Too Safe: Outgrowing a Drive-Thru, Feel-Good Savior. I'm looking forward to reading it.
A clear-eyed view of the Middle East
On how the situation there didn't look like the media made it look (and still doesn't).
Two cheers for political polarization
Has political polarization actually improved our public life? There's good reason to think so.
Abiding in the light
On disagreeing like Christ.
Inconvenient truth?
I think there are several very good reasons to reduce pollution, but the alleged scientific case for anthropogenic global warming still doesn't hold water.
The value of experience
James Buchanan vs. Abraham Lincoln.
Another idea of a good Christian woman
My contribution to the Better Christian Woman conversation (see the links in the post if you missed that one).
The idolatry of American politics
Reflections on the ways in which politics and country are idols for many of us.
Decaf non-fat latté with a shot of God
If the church isn't challenging people with the gospel of Jesus Christ, then what's the point?
Keeping faith in mind
On why we don't have to choose between our brains and our beliefs.
Preliminary thoughts on the knowledge of God
On how we can know God without shrinking him.
