Category: Theological Thoughts

Sometimes when I am playing tug-o-war with my dog, I drop the toy. It’s not because I can’t win, and it’s not because I didn’t have the superior position (he is a 17lb dog). I drop the toy because I know that in his mind, my dog is prepared to continue pulling that toy indefinitely…

The origin and continued existence of evil has been called the Achilles’ heel of Christianity. Philosophers have contended that the presence of evil calls into question God’s omnipotence or His goodness and love. The argument suggests that if evil exists independently of God’s sovereign power, it logically follows that God cannot be omnipotent. Conversely, if…

A couple years ago family rode took a bike ride on the Route of the Hiawatha Trail along the Idaho-Montana state line. The bike ride begins and ends with a 1.661 mile long tunnel. There is a long stretch of that tunnel where you can’t see either end. You can’t see where you entered, and…

I was recently out with a group of people doing some door to door evangelism, and we had a conversation with a woman who asked about our stance on the gift of tongues. My evangelism partner shared how he believes that the gift of tongues ceased along with certain other gifts when the apostles completed writing the new testament. I ended up sharing how I believe the gift of tongues is still available today, and how I have personally experienced that gift being exercised in a disciplined and biblical manner. We ended up having a good discussion around how this is not a salvation issue and how we can disagree on peripheral issues and still worship together with love and grace.

It’s a common gag in tv shows to have a scene where someone is doing something naughty while they are alone, then all of a sudden one of their family members barges into the room unexpectedly and catches them in the act. Then the person that is doing the naughty thing scrambles to hide what…

Sometimes I feel like I just can’t wait until I grow up spiritually, and have it all together. I feel like I did as a kid in my early teens, when I couldn’t wait to be an adult and be in control of my own life. I would have a good job, my own house,…

We are all inclined to wander. We are all prone to move towards darkness. It can happen suddenly, or it can happen gradually; it can be a conscious decision, or it can be  a subconscious decision. When it occurs — when we notice that we have slipped back into the darkness our flesh is so drawn to, we sometimes…

I often find myself wishing that God would just tell me, in a clear and unmistakeable way, exactly what it is He wants me to do. I read about people throughout the Bible who hear the audible voice of God, or have a vision, or talk to a burning bush, and God gives them some…

Lately God has been making me more and more aware of how easily I tend to fall into a routine in my life where I spend the vast majority of my day feeding my fleshly appetites and little to no time strengthening my spiritual life. We live in a culture that is saturated with easily accessible fuel…

This week at church, the pastor taught on Philippians 3:1-3. In verses 2 & 3 Paul lays out a contrast to help us recognize the difference between having a relationship with Jesus that is focus on yourself, and having a relationship that is focused on Jesus. Here are the notes I jotted down from the…