Category: Theology
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the
It may be a sign that April Fool’s Day fell during Holy Week this year, because that’s how some churches think about Easter. When they say, “Jesus is alive!” they don’t mean the tomb is empty but merely that Jesus’ spirit goes on, beating in every heart that reaches out and loves the other. But…
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Easter Christians
Tonight and tomorrow we pause to remember the unfathomable sacrifice of Jesus on our behalf. We are right to ponder his suffering and desolation, but we must not get stuck there. Karl Barth warned that we must not fixate on the cross “like the ox which is bound to a stake and, driven by the…
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small ships
The header of this blog is a storm cloud over the Sea of Galilee. I shot it a couple weeks ago from Mount Arbel, where Jesus may have climbed when he went to pray. Like everyone else, I was surprised by the small size of the Sea of Galilee. It’s the size of one of…
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heavenly lies
Alex Malarkey, the boy who wrote “The Boy Who Came Back From Heaven,” came clean this week and said his book is full of malarkey. It never happened. He said he just wanted attention, which is not unusual for a six-year-old boy. Here are five thoughts. 1. Give credit to the boy for owning this.…
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can your MDiv do this?
I have spent the last nine interesting days with a few of our students in Israel. The trip is a requirement for all of our MDiv students, and with the aid of a generous donor, is essentially free (students pay only for the two credits they earn for the trip and related assignments). Our trip…
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ETS 2014
The best part of this year’s meeting of the Evangelical Theological Society was its location. Over two feet of snow fell on my driveway while I enjoyed stimulating conversations by pools lined with palm trees. All things considered though, I’d rather live in West Michigan than San Diego. Our beaches are more beautiful, our lawns…
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contingency
Our seminary family is pleading with God for the life of Kawika Hughes, a baby born last week to our student, Keoni, and his wife Andrea. Kawika was taken five weeks early because he came down with the enterovirus. Last Tuesday doctors were giving him no chance of survival, but by Wednesday afternoon his kidney…
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Reformation sale!
Zondervan is putting several of their stellar books on sale for Reformation Day. For a limited time, you can get some ebooks for $2.99, which as Martin Luther would have told Johannes Tetzel, is pretty much $3. This deal includes “Heaven Is a Place on Earth” and “Don’t Stop Believing,” so to quote Luther again,…
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hope
I’ve been working on Sunday’s sermon on hope, and last night Calvin’s Institutes sparked an idea. He discusses the connection between faith, hope, and love (3.2.41-43). After sleeping on it, I wrote this for my sermon. There’s still time to change what needs fixing, if you spot something. There’s a reason why 1 Cor. 13:13…
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coming home
If you’re able to make it, consider attending the national meeting of The Gospel Coalition next April 13-15 in Orlando. The theme this year is one that strangely warms my heart, and I’m not even Wesleyan. The title is “Coming Home: New Heaven and New Earth.” The phrase “new heaven and new earth” raises an…
Mike Wittmer 