Book Review: We Need To Build: Field Notes for Diverse Democracy, by Eboo Patel This book may cause some people to rethink their basic assumptions about how to achieve the just society they properly desire. Eboo Patel offers essential perspectives that some white progressives (and those they’ve influenced) may have overlooked—or forgotten. When the dust …
Category Archives: Theophilus
Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation
Book Review: Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation by Kristin Kobes Du Mez This book clears up the reasons behind the baffling phenomena of people voting against their own interests and for authoritarians. Kristin Kobes Du Mez documents well the origins and evolution of the methodology used …
Redefining Job and the Conundrum of Suffering
Book Review: Redefining Job and the Conundrum of Suffering by Victoria Adams, David von Schlichten (Foreword) This book is a must-read that presents a unique perspective on human suffering that is simultaneously broad based and finely focused. Victoria Adams addresses head on the extensive amount of undeserved suffering in our own time by bringing to …
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Context of “Only Son”
Let’s start by considering our humanity vis-à-vis the currently known universe. The great hymn, How Great Thou Art, includes the stars as evidence of God’s “power throughout the universe displayed.” And what person doesn’t feel like the psalmist: When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,the moon and the stars that you …
Neurochemicals are not Spirituality
Dopamine, Serotonin, Oxytocin, Endorphins and a multitude of other chemicals either are used to treat specific mental conditions or have known effects on the functioning of the human brain and nervous system. In the hands of competent medical professionals, properly administered medications can relieve genuine suffering of mental illness patients. There’s a lot scientists have …
Effecting Good—An Illustrative Allegory
I imagined myself standing on my front porch when the people walking along the street began to scatter into the adjacent yards or run as fast as they could down the street as if to escape something terrifying. People in the nearby houses came to their windows and doors staring in alarm at something up …
PICHEN—The Traversed-Portal State
PICHEN is an acronym I assembled as a way to remember a concept that occurred to me while meditating on life in the Kingdom of Jesus. The PICHEN concept focuses on the practical manifestation of the Cross as a Portal, Not a Destination perspective. The acronym is a shorthand reference to the following actions: Cleanse …
Military of Which Kingdom?
Many countries have special days to celebrate their armed forces, and the patriotism of those who sacrificed for their country with bravery and honor. The most prominent of these days in the United States are: Memorial Day (last Monday of May) Veterans Day (November 11) Independence Day (July 4) Armed Forces Day (third Saturday in …
The Cross is a Portal, not a Destination
It’s clear to me that to live in the Kingdom of God, which in the Gospels Jesus mentions regularly as the end-goal, you must look past your temporal environment. To live in the Kingdom and be with Jesus, you start with a spiritual approach to the Holy Spirit—similar to the way you view the image …
Some Initial Thoughts (for the Theophilus section)
Be reverent toward God, because it is the proper and essential thing to do, and because of the blessings associated with it; so to be confident toward your fellow humans. Some groundwork is in order especially regarding the relationship of Christian orthodoxy (lower case “o”), or anything else religious or spiritual, to skepticism and also …
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