Filtered Thoughts

I have personally been most fascinated by the concept of an infinite God who is outside of time. To think that a day to Him is as a thousand years is curiously strange. To read verses like Joel 2:25, where He says,  "I will restore the years that the locust have eaten" , it amazes me that such a thing is possible. How can years be restored? How can time itself be contrived and altered after being spent? Well, how can the dead be raised? How can a man walk on water? How can illness be healed with a touch or demons cast out with a single word? In my many conversations with young people who are tottering back and forth with the faith, they say they want to believe, that there are  some  things about Jesus they do believe. However, these kinds of bizarre stories of defying physics, natural law, death, and others... sometimes seem, well, unbelievable to them. I've learned that asking the skeptic questions is of more utility than telling. I'll usually ask, "Tell me...

One of my favorite things about the Bible is that it does not shy away from the human failings of any character in its tales. Even the good guys are not elevated on pedestals as perfect guys. We know Solomon had lust. We know Jonah was bitter. We know Moses had a temper. We know Peter cowered under pressure. We know that Paul was a previous genocidal maniac. We know Rahab was a prostitute. We know Mary Magdalene had seven demons. In most stories, they try to make themselves heroes, or at least make certain characters look good and others evil. The good guys, hide their flaws, or they are spun in a way that they are not 'flaws' per se, but 'vulnerabilities'. After all, if you have the opportunity to be an original leader in a new movement and, unlike most, you actually have the education to write down and document what is happening for years to come... I'm sure it could be tempting to paint yourself in a better light. But the authors do not! Paul boasts in his ...