In the Scriptures, there are many instances where prayer was answered with a resounding “yes.” Hannah received the child she prayed for. Elijah called out to God and brought a widow’s son back to life.
But what about when God says no? Why are some healed from life-threatening diseases and not others? Did we not have enough faith? Did we not pray properly?
Much of mainline theology over the last hundred years has been an attempt to repackage the gospel into modern categories. Lutheran theologian Rudolf Karl Bultmann wrote in 1941 that “the task of theology is to demythologize the Christian proclamation.”
This present age between the first and second comings of Jesus Christ is where we experience the ‘already/not yet of the Kingdom of God.
Henry de Jong creates an exhibit by setting meaningful items of his late mother’s in nature.
Disasters and their aftermath can be an opportunity for the local church to do what it does best: care for the vulnerable, get involved and seek out those in need.
“It’s a myth that religion is dying in Canada. There remains a solid core – about one third of the country – who deeply value faith. Another one third reject it, and the final third make up the ‘ambivalent middle.’”
A wise friend of mine once said something I’ve never forgotten: “I wonder what God will do next.” I recalled her comment as I pondered how God recently led me to a unique, surprising experience – writing a drama based on the lives of women at a St. Catharines, Ontario, inner city program.
Professor Ron Dart has taught Political Science, Philosophy and Religious Studies at the University of the Fraser Valley, Abbotsford, B.C., since 1990. During that time, he has also authored over 30 books and is renowned as the leading authority on the North American High-Red Tory religio-political tradition. The High Tory tradition is a unique Canadian tradition that is withering away under the domineering trend toward philosophical liberalism.
Help was coming, just not from where Reverend Bill McCutchen of Hilton Head Presbyterian (PCA), thought it would. Yet the confusion of who was offering help soon gave way to one of the greatest examples of the larger church in action.
Sometimes I am part of conversations in which the CRC is understood to be the most liberal expression of Christianity from which a believer would want to run. And indeed, people do, thinking that the CRC is “going to hell in a handbasket.” At other times, I am part of conversational circles or leadership groups in which this faith tradition stands out as a lonely bastion of conservative Christianity, and people look at me sideways because my faith is so markedly conservative, so “reformed.” Both cases can spark an identity crisis.
I have never met Helen Bosch. I only know her through the email messages we’ve exchanged over the past week. However, even though we’ve never seen each other and we live half a country away, she wants to tell me her story for the Heritage Project.
Orthodox convictions – and the sense that believing key doctrines matters and that this good news ought to be shared with neighbours far and near – that lead to healthy growth.
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