Making Friends with the Spaciousness: Lessons from Gerald G. May’s Addiction and Grace Part 3 of 3 You cannot become addicted to God. We learned this in the first post in this series. We are going to consider this again. You will want to see this clearly, because this God-you-cannot-be-addicted-to is the perfect one to … Continue reading Prayer as an Entrance into Freedom
Category: Contemporary Christian Books
Seven Mind Tricks that Hinder People from Breaking Addictions
Making Friends with the Spaciousness: Lessons from Gerald G. May’s Addiction and Grace Part 2 of 3 A house divided against itself cannot stand. Someone who struggles to overcome an addiction will learn this lesson well. In Addiction and Grace, Gerald G. May described his struggle by comparing it to quicksand: Even when I consciously … Continue reading Seven Mind Tricks that Hinder People from Breaking Addictions
A Christian Psychologist Looks at Addiction
Making Friends with the Spaciousness: Lessons from Gerald G. May’s Addiction and Grace Part 1 of 3 Gerald G. May didn't offer any guaranteed solutions or easy answers to the problem of addiction. He didn't make any grand promises. What he did was struggle to confront and understand his own addictions in the light of … Continue reading A Christian Psychologist Looks at Addiction
Five Myths about Church History: Heresy and Orthodoxy
Alister McGrath overviewed the epic, centuries-long battle between good and bad theology in Heresy: A History of Defending the Truth. Here are five ideas about heresy that, according to McGrath, are either myths or misconceptions. Myth One: Heresy arose from boredom with orthodox doctrine and an appetite for something new Most of the classic heresies arose … Continue reading Five Myths about Church History: Heresy and Orthodoxy
Paul vs. the Debaters of the Age: Some Background to the Corinthian Letters
In the beginning of 1 Corinthians, Paul issued this challenge: "Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?" (1 Corinthians 1:20 ESV) When we understand what was happening in Corinth in the first century, both … Continue reading Paul vs. the Debaters of the Age: Some Background to the Corinthian Letters
The Sermon on the Mount through the Centuries
The Sermon on the Mount through the Centuries is a collection of essays in which scholars look at how different commentators have approached the Sermon, from John Chrysostom to John Stott. Here are some lessons, drawn from that book, that may help as as we seek to understand and apply this greatest of sermons. Chrysostom: … Continue reading The Sermon on the Mount through the Centuries
Truth to Restructure Your Thought-Life Around
A Look at Bill Johnson's God Is Good We need to be transformed by the renewing of our minds (see Romans 12:2). A key to that renewal is to take the goodness of God seriously. And if we take it seriously, we will pursue it passionately and consistently. This is one of the themes of God … Continue reading Truth to Restructure Your Thought-Life Around
David, Bathsheba, and Uriah: What Really Happened?
Understanding Honor/Shame Culture We all read the Bible with a set of cultural assumptions and values. This affects our interpretation. For those of us in the Western world, many of the these assumptions and values are addressed by E. Randolph Richards and Brandon J. O'Brien, in Misreading Scripture with Western Eyes: Removing Cultural Blinders to Better Understand … Continue reading David, Bathsheba, and Uriah: What Really Happened?