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A Short Christian Philosophy of Trust

Trust is essential to our lives. We trust in the predictability of laws of nature like gravity, magnetism, and lift. We trust in the economic decency of others when we shop online, in person, or sell our stuff online. Without trust, our basic functions of society would break down. Trust goes much deeper than that though: into our homes, across our tables, and into our beds. We trust our siblings, so we share our insecurities with them and find we are not alone; we trust our parents, so we let them tuck us in and comfort us at night as children and find salve for harassing thoughts in dark and lonely nighttime moments. Breaches of paternal and sibling trust are written about as grave tragedies by social scientists, novelists, and playwrights alike. Trust defines us in intimate and sometimes ruinous ways. What if there was a matter of trust even greater? What of a trust that runs deeper? What could be more frightening than discovering a trust more profound and intimate, and thus, more da
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The Church's Ongoing Pandemic

Photo Credit  People don’t go to church for a lot of reasons, but a Christian without a church is a Christian in trouble. Sadly, the number of professing Christians is far larger than the number who attend weekly meetings. Many churches experienced an acceleration of this trend during Covid as well: professing Christians have returned to school, work, and leisure, but have not returned for regular church gatherings. Why? Everyone is a unique case in the specifics, but there are trends we see in the wake of the pandemic: people have elevated political and medical (mask & vaccine) opinions over faith commitments and demoted their faith so it is not the primary identity marker in their life. What does this mean for the church? Is it doomed? I don’t think so, but Christians need to rediscover that the church can have different political and medical opinions, but still love each other, be on mission, and gather for Jesus. Christians need to remember that the fact that Jesus died on th
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Does Paul contradict Jesus?

Recently I finished The Heresy of orthodoxy: How contemporary culture’s fascination with diversity has reshaped our understanding of early Christianity by Köstenberger and Kruger. The first is a New Testament scholar and the latter is an early church scholar, so they are particularly capable of bringing clarity to the origins and early years of Christianity. This book is dedicated to debunking and replacing the “Bauer thesis” about early Christianity; many of you do not know it by name but have heard its claims from History Channel hot takes, annual Time Magazine Christmas exposés, your liberal religion professor, or Twitter. Here’s a few claims that you might recognize: Jesus and Paul’s teachings contradict each other. Paul is the true founder of Christianity. The New Testament we have today is the product of political and theological power grabs in the 4 th century. The early church had a bunch of other books like the gospel of Thomas, the gospel of Phillip, Gospel of Nicodemus,
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2021 Southern Baptist Annual Meeting Update

 Last week I visited Music City for the 2021 Southern Baptist annual meeting; it was two days of voting, catching up with ministry friends, eating out, and catching a fresh vision for sharing Jesus and making disciples. Even though Southern Baptists are united in faith and mission essentials, each annual meeting has controversy, because thousands of registered messengers seldom agree on each resolution and motion. Many suspected the 2021 annual convention would be a turning point, and they were right. Southern Baptists resisted both a fundamentalist hardening and a liberal drift this year, contrary to suspicions and concerns voiced before the meeting. Different people were convinced one would occur. This was demonstrated in the resolution on race and racial reconciliation. The meeting also addressed concerns about the Executive Committee (EC) mishandling credible sexual abuse allegations in Southern Baptist Churches. Here is a summary of these two “big tickets,” a reflection on Baptist
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A Review for You: The Coddling of the American Mind

A Review for You (4 Minute read) Do you remember the first time you started a story with “When I was a kid…”? I love hearing other generations' coming-of-age stories. Even at 31, I have uttered this quite a few times. Youth have very different childhoods than I did 13+ years ago. Each generation has virtues and vices that the former did not. The Coddling of the American Mind shares some of the lies believed by youth and parents today, then tries to replace them with truths for their better. This is not a Christian book, but much of it will help Christian parents understand themselves and their children so they can parent well. I think the book is worth your time, so I will summarize and share highlights about the first “untruth” (aka, “lie”), how we came to believe it, and then a few recommended solutions. Three Lies Greg and Jonathan share three “untruths” that have formed many modern parents and kids. At first glance, you may not believe the authors, but they argue compellingly
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A Healthy Switch

“Have a new teenager next week with this parenting trick.” Ever heard that? I don’t buy it. Children and teenagers don’t often make U-turns from a simple parenting tip. But today, my suggestion will – over the long term – change for the better how your teen feels, sleeps, loves, studies, dates, and learns. Here’s my suggestion: switch off your internet at 10pm. [1] Why, you ask? It guards against loss of Zzzs and making bad decisions. Can I explain a little more? Night is designed by God for us to sleep and rest. Sleep isn't a pesky task that gets in the way of living life; it is essential to our vitality. Dr. Walker, a sleep researcher at UC Berkeley, says consistent lack of sleep wrecks your immune system, disrupts blood sugar levels, stresses your heart, and contributes to all major psychiatric conditions, including depression, anxiety, and suicidality. [2]   Lost sleep is a HUGE problem for Americans and especially American youth today. Much of it is lost by teens to hours
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