UnChristian: What A New Generation Really Thinks About Christianity… And Why It Matterspublished by Reformation21.comEver since Augustine penned the classic City of God, City of Man, the Church has wrestled with the question of how to be the Church in the world. Throughout the ages, the pendulum swings along a predictable trajectory. At one end, what might be called the Antithetical Church stresses that the Church is to be separate from the world. “Come out of her, my people, lest you take part in her sins,” says John in Revelation 18:4. At the other end, the Engaging Church, living under...

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I have lately had my vision of heaven dramatically altered. You see, I have always imagined myself in heaven living in a beautiful palace and walking around on streets of gold. Every now and again, I might journey to the center of the city to visit Jesus, reigning on a throne of light with this Father.But then I actually read Revelation 22. Notice carefully:9 Then came one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues and spoke to me, saying, “Come, I will show you the Bride, the wife of the Lamb.” 10...

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“Daddy, is the Easter Bunny our parents?”“What? What are you talking about?”“I mean, is it true that on Easter, it’s not the Easter Bunny that brings us our candy baskets, but you and mommy?”I wish that I had a picture of my face through my 8-year-old’s eyes when she directed this question at us recently before bedtime. She probably saw a sheepish grin spread over our faces combined with looks of vague disappointment. She would also have noted that her father stalled out on his question. It took a few seconds for me to respond. The reason I hesitated to...

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Imagine a fish who one day decides that the real source of his problems in life is not his family, not his “school,” not his friends…but water. “Water,” he assumes, “is so restrictive, so limiting. It’s time to start to think outside of the box.” What he wants is a new life, free from the mundane and the usual. So to that end, he decides one day that he’ll leave the confines of the water for the happier shores (literally) of dry land where there is warm sun and beautiful beaches, but most exciting of all…air! Forthwith, he throws himself...

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Take a trip, when you have some spare time, through the books of 1 and 2 Kings. Of all the dismal failures of the Jewish people at the hands of their misguided leaders, one particular failure gets mentioned over and over again. Take for example 2 Kings 15:9, “And he [Zechariah, not to be confused with the prophet of the same name] did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, as his fathers had done. He did not depart from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, which he made Israel to sin.” If this were the...

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