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You Are God’s Temple
“Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are.” (1 Cor 3:16, 17 NKJV) Pause for a moment and reflect on what…
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The Hardest Thing
Knowing what to believe or what to do is hard. What should I believe about the current cultural controversy? Which section of Scripture applies to what I’m facing right now? What is the biblical response in this situation? What is harder, much harder, than knowing what to believe, is doing what I already know to…
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Do Science and Faith Conflict?
In 1633, Galileo Galilei stood before the Inquisition, charged with heresy for saying that the earth revolved around the sun. He refused to recant what he believed was true, and as a result, he was forced into house arrest until his death in 1642. A man of science had stood up for the truth of…
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A Painful Homecoming
nos·tal·gi·a (nŏ-stăljə, nə-)n.1. A bittersweet longing for things, persons, or situations of the past.2. The condition of being homesick; homesickness.[Greek nostos, a return home.] [Greek, from algos, pain.] All it takes is a picture, a smell, or a sound. We remember some past time and place, and a hollow feeling we can’t quite identify settles…
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Who Is For Us?
Distrust can lead us to not trust our brothers and sisters in Christ and to have a cynical and destructive attitude about others. It can also cause us to discard the knowledge and wisdom of established institutions and put alternative sources in their place. The American ideal of the rugged individual makes us think that…
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Seasons
When I was six, I was sure a geologic age must pass until my next birthday or my family’s vacation at the beach. Now, both the days and weeks fly past with a rapidity that is alarming at times. One week gone, then a month, then a season and a year. Without realizing it is…
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What’s In a Name?
Naming things is difficult. Sure, it’s easy to throw a few letters or words together, but to really name something—to choose a few words that describe the essence of a thing—is not easy. Today we usually don’t think much about the meanings of the names we give our children. Often we base whether we like…
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The Danger of Distrust
You can trust everyone. Never question, never ask if something is true. This approach leads to paying a used-car salesman too much for a thin skim of fresh paint and Amour-All or blindly following the current cultural trends. This way is easy, for it requires little but a mind that is unwilling or unable to…
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Embrace Imperfection
Every culture has its taboos. Muslims can’t drink alcohol; Jews can’t eat pork; Mormons can’t drink coffee, tea, or anything with caffeine. Some taboos are explicit, perhaps written in a holy document, while others are unwritten or unspoken. They become an unseen but powerful undercurrent in a culture that is rarely perceived or questioned. What…