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Thoughts on religion, politics, life and death. And other banned topics.

Tag: suffering

  • Why God Gives Us Power

    The first chapter of Colossians includes Paul’s prayer for his readers. In it he prays that God will grant them wisdom and knowledge and enable them to bear good fruit and do good works. Then he adds, “being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that….” I stopped there. What was it…

  • Faith and Certainty

    Ἔστιν δὲ πίστις ἐλπιζομένων ὑπόστασις, πραγμάτων ἔλεγχος οὐ βλεπομένων. Hebrews 11:1 (Original Greek) The New Testament makes very clear how damaging doubt can be to faith. For example, Jesus tells his disciples that they can move mountains with the smallest amount of faith, provided their faith admits of no doubt. What is less clear, however,…

  • Bend at the Knees

    Originally written in 2008, this piece by Belinda Burkitt still resonates in a time of pandemics and renewed protests over racial violence. Chip Burkitt, editor. “Bend at the knees!” Something I can remember calling out to my young children as we ventured across an icy patch on a winter walk in Minnesota. My husband and…

  • What If God Ruled the World?

    As a child in elementary school I already had a reputation among my peers as a Christian. Other kids called me a goody two shoes. Boys would try to get me to swear. One day a boy asked me if I believed God could do absolutely anything.” “Of course,” I replied. “Can he make a…

  • Opportunity to Display God’s Work

    In chapter 9 of his gospel, John launches into the story of how Jesus healed a man blind from birth and the aftermath of that healing. Here is how the story begins: As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents,…

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