guilty as charged
I recently read of the acquittal of a teenage girl who had been accused of blasphemy under her country’s strict blasphemy laws. If she had been convicted, she would have been imprisoned for life. It was found, however, that a religious teacher had promoted false evidence to frame her.
that name
Back in 2001, Mark Cuban, owner of the National Basketball Association’s (NBA) Dallas Mavericks, offered WGN Chicago Radio sports-talk host David Kaplan $50,000 to change his name legally to “Dallas Maverick.” When Kaplan politely declined, Cuban sweetened the offer. Cuban would pay Kaplan $100,000 and donate $100,000 to Kaplan’s favorite charity if he took the name for one year. After some soul searching, Kaplan held firm and told Cuban, “No.” Kaplan explained: “I’d be saying I’d do anything for money, and that bothers me. My name is my birthright.”
what is a Christian?
Under “religious views” on her Facebook profile, my wife lists the simple phrase “Jesus-follower.” She uses that explanatory term to avoid political and cultural connotations associated with the word Christian. In some cultures, people are “born Christian.” But that is a misunderstanding of what it means to follow Jesus. Ironically, a friend of mine in the United Kingdom asked me…
what's in a name?
"What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet,” mused Juliet in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet.
It’s evident that Juliet was not Hebrew. For the people of ancient Israel felt that the meaning behind a person’s name was vitally important. Parents carefully chose a name based on the personality, characteristics, or character…
are you a "Christian" or a "follower of Jesus"?
In this week's Newsweek (March 16, 2009, p. 18), Lisa Miller writes that many people have begun calling themselves "followers of Jesus" rather than "Christians," because that name is too often associated with stereotypes, such as hypocrisy, judgmentalism, and a particular political party, which they want to avoid.
I believe that the content inside is more important than the label…
