The marks of (un)belief
I believe that doubt is a part of faith, not its opposite. It took me quite a few years to say this without feeling guilty. I needed to have many experiences before I could accept that questions are legitimate and not a sign of spiritual decay.
What does Philadelphia look like and where can we find it?
“Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God’” (John 20:17).
The need for meaning: life’s oxygen mask
“Do not fear death so much, but rather the inadequate life.”— Bertolt Brecht
Five steps to change your money mindset
Do you remember the man who was supposed to marry Rose in Titanic? He dressed exceptionally well, had slick brown hair and was from a family of great wealth. His character was based on the life of a man named Caledon Hockey. He survived the shipwreck but not the Wall Street Crash. When the stock market fell in 1929, Cal’s money and everyone else’s plummeted...
Teachers who shape us
"The task of the modern educator is not to cut down jungles but to irrigate deserts." (C. S. Lewis)
Cures for loneliness
We live in a time in history when we seem to be connected in every way possible. It seems as if there are few, if any, who have no one to socialize with.
Did the Church halt the progress of surgery?
An urban legend claims that the Church vehemently opposed the dissection of corpses through medieval decrees of prohibition or limitation of this practice.
There is no such thing as absolute truth or absolute values. True or false?
By their very complexity, situational moral decisions demonstrate that there is an absolute good that we seek. Moral principles work together for the absolute good.
Dealing with negative emotions in times of crisis
Many years have passed since I last lived with my brother. Recently, I decided to go and stay with him for a while. One day we both decided to visit a place in nature that neither of us had been to before. When we got there, it started to rain—while not very heavy, rain was not what either of us had wanted. But...
Aurelius Augustine
Aurelius Augustine (354-430) is known for the stirring Christian experience he described in his Confessions and for the seminal theological thought that has shaped theology to this day.
Fragments of light in the dark
When it was close, when I first saw its truly hideous face, I realised that I would never get used to it. And, no matter how hard I tried, no matter how much hope I tried to gather, I found nothing bright or inspiring about death. I know I will never find such a brightness, because it doesn't exist. But I saw the...
Jesus, the One who calls us by name
What I love most about Jesus is the deeply personal, highly individual way He relates to people around Him—the openness, genuine interest, and respect...
Something to look forward to
“For the joy set before him he endured the cross” (Heb. 12: 2 NIV).
Self-esteem and religion, a complicated relationship
Some psychologists fear that religion erodes self-esteem. Some believers fear that self-esteem endangers salvation. Who is right?
He believes and what he believes comes into being
Very few people have ever found rest in what they are and what they do. They are always seeking what they do not have and trying to become what they are not. These people talk about transformation, development and fulfilment but no matter their accomplishments or status, they are always thinking that they need to surpass their present state, that there is something...