Author: Scriptorium Admin
-
How Did Jesus Train?
Jesus lived and acted as a human being filled with the Holy Spirit in dependence on His Father’s leading. Throughout His incarnation, he voluntarily refrained from employing his divine nature (Philippians 2:5-11). He thereby becomes a real example for us to follow. Accordingly, Paul can say without blinking an eye, “Follow me as I follow…
-
How Did Jesus Act?: Jesus as a Moral Teacher
It has long been recognized that, irrespective of one’s religious views about Jesus of Nazareth, he is one of the world’s leading ethical thinkers and teachers. Indeed, as late as the second world war, most moral thinkers in the West—secular or not—did their best to show that their moral theories yielded results in keeping with…
-
How Did Jesus Argue? Jesus & Logic
Today there is widespread indifference to, even downright hostility towards logic and the fundamental laws that govern it. We are sometimes told that logic is a Western construction invented by DWEM’s (Dead White European Males such as Aristotle), that in a postmodern world, story and narrative have replaced a cold-hearted, logical approach to life, and…
-
Solitude and Silence as Spiritual Disciplines (Part III)
Read Part I here, and Part II here. One final method for practicing silence and solitude is what I call a ‘solitude retreat’. (3) Once or twice a year, go alone on a solitude retreat from 9 am one day until 5 pm the next day. Go to a retreat center that has as one…
-
Solitude and Silence as Spiritual Disciplines (Part II)
Read Part I here, and Part III here. Two regular practices of solitude and silence: First, you must remember that when you go into solitude and silence, your basic goal is to do nothing. Yes, nothing! You are to center yourself in quiet and rest. As you do that, you also focus on centering your…
-
Solitude and Silence as Spiritual Disciplines (Part I)
Read Part II here, and Part III here. Throughout his writings and lectures, Dallas Willard has warned that the hardest thing to get North American people to do is nothing. The regular practice of doing nothing is crucial for spiritual growth. It keeps us from having an inflated view of our importance, it surfaces anxiety,…
-
Anxiety, Depression and Meditation II
In Part I, we saw that there is a biblically and scientifically important distinction between discursive thought (associated with the brain) and emotional intuitive awareness (associated with the heart). We also saw that a major cause of anxiety and depression is obsessive thinking about an anxiety-producing thought. Such obsessive thinking digs a deeper and deeper…
-
Anxiety, Depression and Meditation I
Read Part II here. I once heard a Christian psychologist say that we were made to live in a camel culture—slow-paced, relational and no electric lights to keep people up beyond sundown and deprive them of the eight and one half hours of sleep they need each night. But ours is no camel culture. We…
-
How to Detect Answers to Prayer: The Discipline of Journaling
I want to take a look at the importance of identifying and remembering answers to prayer. In my more than thirty-five years as one of Jesus’ apprentices, I have experienced literally hundreds of specific, detailed answers to prayer. I have been strengthened considerably in my faith by their presence in my life. I, along with…
-
Is the Desire to Avoid Hell Egotistical? (Part II)
Read Part I here. Last week, JP Moreland began his discussion on whether or not the desire to avoid hell was egotistical. The following is the second part of his two part discussion. The second part begins with a summarization of the first part: In sum, it could be argued that Scripture can be understood…
-
Is the Desire to Avoid Hell Egotistical? (Part I)
Read Part II here. Recently the topic of Hell has been in the news. In case you were entirely unaware, yes, Hell is in fact a real place (as Pope Benedict reminded us just last week). Hell, being an altogether unpleasant place, is not a destination where many desire to go, but is this desire…
-
A Tough Time to Marry
John Mark Reynolds, 2005. I want to clarify that when I worry about the birth rate in the nation I am not suggesting that the fault is all in this generation. Sometimes those of us who worry about this kind of thing sound like selfish Scrooges wishing for no more Tiny Tims. Our culture makes it…