Phones, Porn, and a Call to Action
I’ve been writing about technology and the subtle ways it can hurt our personal reflection and relationships. But some of the damage from technology is a bit less subtle. I wish all that was at stake with our phones was the constant potential for distraction. Something far more evil that … Read More
The Holy Spirit and Careful Thinking
This is my third and final post in a series on the Holy Spirit—a subject too often either ignored or misunderstood. The first two posts looked at the Spirit’s role in creation and new creation and as God’s temple presence within believers, respectively. In this post I want to shift … Read More
Why I Call New York City Home
Introduction Over eight million people live in my hometown. Many call it the Big Apple, a financial hub, an artist’s inspiration, a tourist’s destination. I call it home. When I think about New York City, I don’t picture the Brooklyn Bridge, the World Trade Center, or yellow cabs. My mind … Read More
Where the Good Way Lies
In the real world, many things don’t fit neatly into spiritual categories. How should a congregation process these things? We all live them, inevitably. And in the process, a sort of practical culture arises. We try to respect each other, and we do things similarly to each other. Then we begin to recommend those things to each other. That is to say, we develop traditions.
Always Together, Halfway
There’s a frightening irony about our modern lives: as we become increasingly interconnected with others, we risk succumbing to loneliness. This is tragic, because we have more tools at our disposal, not less. That’s the problem, though: we can use good tools at the wrong time and forfeit opportunities for … Read More
Bring Them Home
Let me introduce you to a sphere in which vulnerabilities lie. Some lie hidden behind facades of wealth, religion, and our downtown districts. Sometimes we merely see the city towers, the mirage of cultural diversity, the success, and still think the needs lie in a foreign land, dusty and scorched— … Read More
Holy Spirit as God’s Temple Presence
In a previous post, I started a three-part series on the Holy Spirit—a topic that is often either ignored or misunderstood among Christians. In that post we surveyed the Spirit’s “hovering” presence which brings about creation and new creation. But the Holy Spirit’s roles are as multifaceted as one would … Read More
Should You Read the Bible on Your Phone?
Have you ever heard a preacher discourage people from reading their Bible on their phones? If you haven’t, no doubt the very idea sounds silly. Why does it matter what format we use to read the Bible, just as long as we make sure we are reading it? Especially as … Read More
The Answer to Dealing with Technology: Becoming Pure in Heart
We live in an era of great evil where the atmosphere of our planet is literally saturated with every kind of sexually immoral act. In 2019, one major pornographic website reported that on average, every single day 15,958,080 hours of internet pornography was consumed on their site alone. If you … Read More