Craving Answers, Craving God

This episode is a sister to Episode 126: Israel and Palestine. Many depictions of Muslims in the West picture Islam as a religion of violence, and in a post-9/11 world, it’s certainly not difficult to believe that this is true. But while there is certainly violence in its past, the vast majority of Muslims share with other humans a deep desire for peace and safety.For Christians, being on guard...

Many Christian church bodies in the United States have presidents or bishops that function as administrative heads or public faces of that particular church. But none of these quite matches up to the role of the Roman Catholic Pope—the Bishop of Rome. Does not having a single, strong authority open the door for theological and practical innovations in a church? This has not turned out, in...

Many Christian churches avoid talking about biblical election - the teaching that those who are believers have come to faith because God chose them - because it seems exclusive and non-egalitarian. How can God love everyone but only choose some? But in the Bible, the historical foundation of this doctrine is God’s choice of Israel to be his chosen people - not so that they could have a special...

It might be easy when visiting a church to think that the pastor is in charge. But many times once you get involved in that church and see behind the curtain it becomes apparent that other groups hold the power. What all of these churches have in common, though, is the temptation to find in the world the template for their governance structure. But what the Bible teaches is that the power God...

Humans long for God, if he exists, to prove that existence, and many Christian philosophers have proposed arguments, or proofs, for that existence. Many arguments have been advanced toward that end; for instance, the cosmological argument which states that since everything has a cause there must be something which ultimately caused the universe to exist; the teleological argument which argues...

The current day nation of Israel was established in 1948, a place for many of the Jews who survived the holocaust to call home. Many Christians in Europe and North America consider this to be a fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies to Abraham and his offspring that they would inherit the land on which Israel and Palestine now exist. One result of the establishment of political Israel has been...

When the Athanasian Creed is read on Trinity Sunday every year, many Protestant Christians struggle with the last line, “Those who have done good will enter into eternal life, but those who have done evil will go into eternal fire.” This implication that salvation is by human works seems to conflict with the teaching that salvation is by grace through faith alone. But for a couple of reasons it’s...

In our cynical culture, doubting everything has become a default mode. For Christians who believe that being made right with God happens through trusting Jesus, these doubts can precipitate an existential crisis. Some Christians feel guilty for having doubts, but faith doesn’t negate the existence of doubts. In fact, the rhythm of trust and doubt is a regular part of any relationship, trust being...

We humans feel like we have the ability to make any choice, but the reality is that we can only make any choice we want to. In other words, humans are bound to their own wills - it’s not possible to choose to do something you ultimately do not want to do. Every choice to do something you don’t want to do is made because there is something you ultimately want more. We choose to go to the...

Different branches of the American church have different ideas about miracles - the more rationalistic branches of Christianity don’t place a high value on miracles, while more charismatic churches consider miracles to be a vital part of their Christian life. But all Christians believe that miracles are a part of scripture, and scripturally speaking, miracles happen all the time, as long as we...