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A Rift in the Modern Church, Part 2 of 3: Liberal-Evangelical Dialogue

Part 1 of this series is here. It’s about working with evangelical and liberal students on campus. A few years ago I was sitting in a fascinating seminary class called “Liberal-Evangelical Dialog.” I’d already been in that dialog for a decade at a pair of liberal colleges in Minnesota. I’d found the conversation between liberals […]

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A Rift in the Modern Church: Where It Originated (Part 1 of 3)

I’ve been reading the noted historian, George Marsden, professor emeritus at the University of Notre Dame. He tells of the great split that occurred among Protestants in the early 20th c. between “liberals” and “evangelicals.” Liberals were concerned to save the intellectual respectability of Protestantism. In response to cultural forces as represented by Darwin, Freud, […]

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A Rift in the Modern Church: Where It Originated

I’ve been reading the noted historian, George Marsden, professor emeritus at the University of Notre Dame. He tells of the great split that occurred among Protestants in the early 20th c. between “liberals” and “evangelicals.” Liberals were concerned to save the intellectual respectability of Protestantism. In response to cultural forces as represented by Darwin, Freud, […]

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Apologetics for Kids, Part 3 of 4: Suffering and Evil

Part 2 is here Why is there so much suffering and evil in the world? Why doesn’t God do more to heal the sick? Why doesn’t he take down all the bad guys? Even little kids wonder about all the misery in the world. Hence, the latest apologetics session with my two oldest grandsons, age […]

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Apologetics for Kids, Part 3: Suffering and Evil

Part 2 is here Why is there so much suffering and evil in the world? Why doesn’t God do more to heal the sick? Why doesn’t he take down all the bad guys? Even little kids wonder about all the misery in the world. Hence, the latest apologetics session with my two oldest grandsons, age […]

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Speaking of LGBT+, Part 2 of 2

In the last post I noted that Christian students are often torn between their beliefs from home and their friends at school. Because their home (Christian) beliefs sometimes lack depth and support, they accommodate themselves to secular norms at school and drift away from the Bible. This I have witnessed too many times to count. […]

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Speaking of LGBT+, Part 1 of 2

In a recent intense week of ministry, I spoke on the topic of LGBT+ eight times to two different groups of high school students and a group of parents. Three observations: I challenged students all week on whether they would be disciples of secular culture or disciples of Jesus. In the next post I’ll expand […]

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Reflections from Israel, Part 2: Religious Scandal

In Part 1 I related how my heart was touched by the holy sites of Israel. I’m definitely not above the innocent wonderment of, say, the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem or the Garden Tomb in Jerusalem. I was also reminded while in Israel of the “scandal of particularity.” This phrase can be found […]

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Reflections from Israel, Part 1

Visiting Israel for the first time, I wondered what to expect. Would it be over-commercialized? Would the holy sites be little more than tourist traps? More lamentably, would I be too old and cynical to appreciate the simplicity of, say, the Garden of Gethsemane or the Jordan River? As it turned out, these fears were […]

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Apologetics for Kids, Part 2 of 4: What of Those Who’ve Never Heard the Gospel?

Part 1 is here. How do we communicate the gospel to kids? I’m no expert. But I am an experimenter. Here’s the latest: I’m working with two of my grandsons, age 11 and 9. I love them both! They’re growing up in a strong Christian home. My main thesis is that they (and many kids) […]

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