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October 4 - October 4, 2022
A person’s faith can collapse almost overnight if she has failed over the years to listen patiently to her own doubts, which should only be discarded after long reflection.
beneath this feeling is the very modern belief that the existence of God is a matter of indifference unless it intersects with my emotional needs.
The only way to doubt Christianity rightly and fairly is to discern the alternative belief under each of your doubts and then to ask yourself what reasons you have for believing it.
God’s grace does not come to people who morally outperform others, but to those who admit their failure to perform and who acknowledge their need for a Saviour.
Many people who take an intellectual stand against Christianity do so against a background of personal disappointment with Christians and churches.
God gives out good gifts of wisdom, talent, beauty and skill ‘graciously’ – that is, in a completely unmerited way. He casts them across all humanity, regardless of religious conviction, race, gender or any other attribute to enrich, brighten and preserve the world.
‘The church is a hospital for sinners, not a museum for saints.’
The people who are fanatics, then, are so not because they are too committed to the gospel but because they’re not committed to it enough.
It is not a question of God ‘sending us’ to hell. In each of us there is something growing, which will BE Hell unless it is nipped in the bud.12
Jesus’ miracles are not just a challenge to our minds, but a promise to our hearts, that the world we all want is coming.
We should make sure we distinguish between the major themes and message of the Bible and its less primary teachings.
The Bible talks about the person and work of Christ and also about how widows should be regarded in the church. The first of these subjects is much more foundational. Without it the secondary teachings don’t make sense. We should therefore consider the Bible’s teachings in their proper order.
Don’t worry about gender roles until you figure out what you think about the central teachings of the faith.
If we let our unexamined beliefs undermine our confidence in the Bible, the cost may be greater than we think.
If you don’t trust the Bible enough to let it challenge and correct your thinking, how could you ever have a personal relationship with God?
an authoritative Bible is not the enemy of a personal relationship with God. It is the precondition for it.
I believe that we should not let the concept of relativism stop us from using national and international forums to examine ways to protect the lives and dignity of people in every culture. . . . When there is a choice between defending human rights and defending cultural relativism, anthropologists should choose to protect and promote human rights. We cannot just be bystanders.6
Sin is seeking to become oneself, to get an identity, apart from him.
Suppose my god is sex or my physical health or the Democratic Party. If I experience any of these under genuine threat, then I feel myself shaken to the depths.
At some point in most lives, we are confronted with the fact that we are not the persons we know we should be. Almost always our response is to ‘turn over a new leaf’ and try harder to live according to our principles. That ultimately will only lead us into a spiritual dead end.
Sin is not simply doing bad things, it is putting good things in the place of God.
They are not praying as often as they should. They are not loving and serving their neighbour as much as they should. They are not keeping their inner thoughts as pure as they should. The resulting internal anxiety, insecurity and irritability will often be much greater than anything experienced by the irreligious.
The Christian gospel is that I am so flawed that Jesus had to die for me, yet I am so loved and valued and that Jesus was glad to die for me. This leads to deep humility and deep confidence at the same time. It undermines both swaggering and snivelling. I cannot feel superior to anyone, and yet I have nothing to prove to anyone. I do not think more of myself nor less of myself. Instead, I think of myself less. I don’t need to notice myself – how I’m doing, how I’m being regarded – so often.
The repentance that really changes your heart and your relationship with God begins when you recognise that your main sin, the sin under the rest of your sins, is your self-salvation project.
Repentance, then, is confessing the things besides God himself that you have been relying on for your hope, significance and security.
