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Empirical Christianity versus Real ChristianityI rarely devote a whole blog essay to answering one question asked by a blog friend. But in this case I have been thinking a lot about the question recently asked by one of my most faithful and, to me, most interesting interlocutors.In a recent blog post I mentioned “empirical Christianity.” An astute reader asked me for a definition of that. As is often the case, […]

|I felt a growing knot of dread and distrust in my belly.Beside me, my friend, our church’s associate pastor, spoke low into her cellphone as our taxi whizzed past Seoul’s Han River. Swift waters flowed between green manicured banks. On the other end of the line, I overheard an angry voice describing the latest allegations of sin by our head pastor.As I eavesdropped, I didn’t know about the cascade of […]

Did you ever wake up in such a state that you don’t recognize where you are?That’s me lately, and I don’t mean it in the ways you’re probably imagining. I mean it about this state, Iowa, and where it is these days.Core freedoms we’ve taken for granted — to safeguard our property and our bodies, to love and worship (or not) as we choose — are being stripped or threatened. […]

Christians are readers. We are “people of the book.” We own personal Bibles, translated into our mother tongues, and read them daily. Picture “quiet time” and you’ll see a table, a cup of coffee, and a Bible spread open to dog-eared, highlighted, annotated pages. For Christians, daily Bible reading is the minimum standard for the life of faith. What kind of Christian, some of us may think, doesn’t meet this […]

Greg and Amy give a brief overview of why they are convinced Christianity is the best explanation for reality and give some tips on what to include (and not include) when you have a short amount of time to share your faith.Question: I’m overwhelmed by all the arguments and the challenge to properly balance apologetics and personal testimony. What is your elevator speech answer to the question “What do you […]

Overlooked by crises in Gaza and Ukraine, Sudan has now endured one year of civil war. Nearly 16,000 people have been killed, with 8.2 million fleeing from their homes—including 4 million children. Both figures are global highs for internal displacement.The United Nations stated that the “world’s worst hunger crisis” is looming, warning that one-third of Sudan’s 49 million people suffer acute food insecurity and 222,000 children could die of starvation […]

I’d just finished reading one of C. S. Lewis’s lesser-known books, Studies in Words, when I happened upon a recent New York Times report on evangelical support for Donald Trump. The former president’s summer of legal woes is off to an early start, and many have asked whether the present trial (or another) will lose him support ahead of Election Day. The answer—among his base, anyway—is undoubtedly no.If anything, the […]

“If we aspire to be different from the broader Christian community, we must break free from this destructive pattern. Allowing groups whose principles do not align with the university’s to influence its operations is akin to pulling BYU back into the crab bucket.”In discussions within Christian communities online, I’ve observed a pattern of crab mentality, a social phenomenon that causes individuals to pull down others attempting to rise and grow, […]

I sat by myself at one end of the boardroom, fidgeting with a few notes on the table in front of me. At the other end were about ten older men in suits and ties peering over their tables, arms crossed. It wouldn’t have been difficult for someone just walking in to determine which end of the room held the power.After my brief opening statement, the rest of our time […]