war
Journalist Jeffrey Gettleman asserts, “There is a very simple reason why some of Africa’s bloodiest, most brutal wars never seem to end: They are not really wars. . . . The combatants don’t have much of an ideology; they don’t have clear goals. . . . I’ve witnessed up close—often way too close—how combat has morphed from soldier versus soldier (now a rarity in Africa) to soldier versus civilian.”
you choose Q: are demons united in their evil efforts?
Q: I have have this impression/thought that demons are not united even among themselves. It seems like a logical deduction but I would like more certainty if its possible to know what is the stance of the Bible. In Mark 3:23-26, Jesus spoke about a house divided cannot stand. Does that imply in anyway that the demons are united? —Wee…
no fish story
Why is God so big on judgment? Perhaps a better question is: Why is God so patient with us?
prince of peace
While walking through a store, my friend’s 12-year-old daughter commented on a magazine cover about the December 2012 mass shooting that tragically killed 20 children and 6 adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School in the US. Her 6-year-old brother didn’t know much about the heartbreaking event, but he looked up at his mom and said, “I think my favorite name for Jesus is Prince of Peace.” “Me too,” my friend replied. “Me too.”
don’t be evil
How does a cute, little baby grow up to become the face of evil? How does an Austrian boy become Adolf Hitler or a son of privilege turn into Osama bin Laden? And what makes one group of people slaughter members of a neighboring group? How could they possibly think that was a good idea?
truly human (again)
Last year at an international summit of world powers in Doha, the capital of Qatar, global leaders launched the Educate A Child project. The project seeks to build bridges between nations, calling us to recognize our shared humanity and to intervene on behalf of those at risk. Further, the project believes that funding children’s development will ultimately yield to a more peaceful world.
September 9. 2013
What’s your take on the problem of evil?
evil
The problem of evil is the No. 1 reason people give for not believing in God. They assume that a good God would not allow for evil to exist, and an omnipotent God would be able to keep it out, so the existence of evil means God is either not all-good or not all-powerful. And so they conclude that there is no God.
learning humility
Last month, as my wife was using our riding lawn mower, she accidentally hooked the bottom of the mower on one of the swings of our swing set. It dangerously lifted the front tires off the ground! So, as I was recently cutting the grass, her scare reminded me to slow down to first gear. I confidently maneuvered around the swing on my left—but I failed to see the one on the right. Suddenly, the mower reared up on its rear wheels and then tipped backwards. After hitting the ground and rolling clear of the blades, I realized that my mower now lay upside down on its crushed steering wheel.
where are you looking?
Saulo was 16 when he drove the getaway car for a robbery that ended in murder. Now 32, Saulo says, “I remember sitting in the county jail, and it really sunk in: ‘Wow, I’m not going home,’ and [I] realized what I did. I didn’t want to live. I couldn’t believe what I did.”
losing ourselves
James Hunter, a sociology professor at a large university, highlights the shift from shared moral foundations to individual choices that shift and vacillate. He says, “Most Americans continue to think of their lives in moral terms; they want to live good lives, but they are more uncertain about what the nature of the good is.”
magical green stick
When the Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy was a child, he believed in a magical green stick that could destroy all evil. His lifelong yearning for moral perfection in himself may have grown out of that childish belief. He never found it, yet his writings reveal his acute understanding of human depravity and God’s holiness.
rescued from darkness
In Clint Eastwood’s movie Gran Torino, Walt Kowalski is a cranky Korean War vet disgusted by the gangs now running his neighborhood. He gets to know Thao, a teenager living next door, after catching him trying to steal his Gran Torino car—an act forced onto the young man by a local gang.
