Unhappiness has been on the rise around the globe across the past 10 years, Gallup reports. This rise in unhappiness runs deeper than the worldwide dread felt during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. It has been brewing for quite some…
Bruce Willis diagnosed with FTD: How churches can respond pastorally to people with dementia
Actor Bruce Willis has been diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia, or FTD, his family announced Feb. 16. The disease, also known as frontotemporal lobar degeneration, has no treatment or cure. “While this is painful, it is a relief to finally have a clear…
He Gets Us, Part 1: The men and money behind the movement
Comingling faith and football has been a feature of the NFL experience for decades, but this year’s Super Bowl included something different. A group calling itself He Gets Us tweeted: “On February 12, the world’s biggest influencer is coming to…
‘Something wonderful and of God is happening at Asbury,’ church historian believes
The unexpected spiritual events that recently transpired at Asbury University’s Hughes Chapel in Wilmore, Ky., have captured the attention of thousands upon thousands of Christians and non-Christians all over the world. The event began Feb. 8 in an innocuous weekly…
Abortion safe havens and deserts: Where a woman can and cannot access an abortion in the United States right now
Following the reversal of Roe v. Wade, abortion laws in the United States have become increasingly more complex, making women’s access to reproductive health care difficult. Some states are creating new laws to preserve the right to an abortion, while…
Questions to ask while pondering if Asbury is hosting a ‘true revival’
Surprise! It’s a revival! So said Thomas H. McCall, a theology professor at Asbury Theological Seminary, located adjacent to the ongoing spiritual event at Asbury University in Wilmore, Ky. “Sometimes God does what Johnathan Edwards called ‘surprising work’ and what John…
If Jesus wants us to forgive everybody, why is he always talking about hell?
I recently highlighted the Jesus-Joshua problem: Jesus wants us to love our enemies. Joshua wants us to slaughter them. Both can’t be right. But what about the demand for justice that reverberates throughout Scripture, from Genesis to Revelation? If we…
What I witnessed this week at the Asbury revival
Not every experience of God occurs in a revival. But revivals are perennial in American Christianity. In the past, they have made their mark upon the social landscape and changed daily Christian habits. There is the “Burned Over District” in…
Crash-course in Bible history: How the Bible came to be
What is the Bible? Christians may think of the Bible as the “word of God,” a guidebook for life, a book of stories or sayings that teach spiritual lessons about what it means to be a human. As kids, we…