In January, hundreds of students packed an auditorium at the University of Florida in Gainesville, not to catch a performance by a popular rapper or a lecture from a powerful political leader, but to experience a one-man production detailing the…
The troubled waters of sexual diversity: Willful blindness
This is the fourth in a series of articles on sexual diversity. C.S. Lewis referred to his atheism prior to his conversion to Christianity as “willful blindness.” This description undoubtedly describes my state of spiritual blindness before I began seeing…
Letter to the editor: Evangelicals — save an unborn baby or save a soul?
Letter to the Editor April 7, 2022 Dear Editor: Evangelicals are going to have a lot of explaining to do when we meet the Heavenly Father. We have gotten so entangled in the anti-abortion movement, and subsequently in the Republican…
Lunatic, liar or lord, revisited
After writing six opinion pieces for Baptist News Global about former President Donald J. Trump, I felt his defeat signaled that I would not need to spend any more time or effort treating him as the subject of a new article. But…
Loving our neighbors: Day 0
It has been a difficult week, no question. After a difficult spring, a difficult and spectacularly hot summer, and a difficult, if beautiful, fall (at least where I live). “Difficult” may not even really cover what we’ve all been through….
Saving John Oliver: 10 suggestions for retaining young people in the church
The form of religion we have inherited was packaged for mass appeal. It can still be sold to the Boomers, but the Millennials aren’t buying. And that’s a blessing.
Justice and joy combined in the words of Mary
Justice and joy are intertwined, not unlike the link between joy and pain. To love is to suffer, as the mystics remind us. Deeply acquainted with the recesses of the human heart, C. S. Lewis wrote: “Joy is distinct not…
The light shines in the darkness
By Alan Bean This sermon was recently preached at a memorial service for those who have lost loved ones in the past calendar year. Before preaching, I sang an old country gospel song by Merle Travis, I am a Pilgrim…
Between heaven and hell
By Leroy Seat Americans remember Nov. 22, 1963, as the date of the assassination of President Kennedy. And the public media has widely publicized today’s 50th anniversary of that tragic event. Some Christians will remember that Nov. 22, 1963, was…