What do we do with the “boring” Bible passages?
Christian author Beth Moore once called the book of Leviticus the graveyard of good intentions for those trying to read the Bible from start to finish. Surely, there are Christians who can point to many monotonous, bland passages and biblical chapters, confessing that they bypass them or read them out of obligation. What should we do with the “boring” Bible passages?
Envy and its opposite
Beginning with Cain and Abel, history has known famous and less famous stories woven around the devastating experience of envy.
R(el)ational faith
In the maximalist search for evidence that can justify our belief and, at the same time, help us defend our reputation, something is lost: the very concept of faith.
From fearing loneliness to embracing it as a gift
"Loneliness irritates me like a broken nail," says a line in a Romanian poem. The truth is, loneliness stings, pulls apart, and resembles the coffee dregs left at the bottom of the pot in which joy and love once brewed. Although the fear of loneliness is natural, we can choose to see solitude as something more than a "flowering wilderness" and embrace it...
ABBA 40 years on: A return with conflicting feelings
After 40 years, ABBA has made a return to the music scene with an album primed to awaken or indulge the nostalgia of generations who lamented the breakup of the Swedish group in 1982. The album comes with a virtual concert in which the group performs all their new songs, with a twist: with the help of digital technology, the singers will appear...
Looking for a loving father
Fathers are an important part of their children’s lives. Good dads can provide stability, protection and love in a child’s life.
Mentors for change
In addition to my family of origin, as a child, I had the privilege of knowing valuable people in my life, mostly pastors and musicians, who would pay attention to me, teach me what they knew best, guide me towards a strong value system, and act as role models.
Learn to fight smart in your relationship
Couples do not break up because they fight, but because they do not know how to argue, relationship therapists say, underlining the functional components of the differences between partners.
Will Afghanistan become a hotbed of international terrorism?
In recent weeks, Afghanistan has become a tender spot for the whole world. The Taliban's new and newly offensive rise to power is a novel situation for the international community, and every international player wants to know how to position itself in this new pattern of dynamic, bewildering forces.
Seven books about change worth reading
Almost all bookstores today have a section dedicated to books on change, except that the generic name given to this category is "personal development", or "self-help".
The faith that instills certainty
I had a ringing in my ears due to that unusual inner silence which I was paradoxically experiencing at the same time as a thought-storm that made me scream on the inside.
Trailblazers
A former drug addict and a woman with a dark past are not exactly the kind of people one would look up to. However, Evgheni and Svetlana Isaev have shown that the past does not prevent anyone from completely changing their lives and becoming the pride of a nation.
A mind at war in peacetime
When you discover that the only thing you have left is faith in God, you fervently wish that your faith doesn't end up poisoning your soul.
Haiti hit by an earthquake. Again.
I was born and grew up in Haiti, a country located in the Caribbean, about a one hour and a half flight from Miami. Haiti occupies one third of the island Hispaniola (the Dominican Republic occupies the other two thirds).
Faith that sees the miracle
I spent the end of high school in the Scandinavian school system. There, the teenager is confronted with the great questions of mankind in the context of social disciplines