Augustine’s Confessions detail approximately a 15-year-long struggle with God. His journey wanders through Manicheism, skepticism, and neoplatonism, before seriously considering the Christianity his mother taught him at a young age. After meeting regularly with the bishop, Ambrose, and attending church, Augustine’s intellectual arguments against Christianity (and the Bible) fade. He becomes compelled by the beauty and truth of … Continue reading The Habits of a Reluctant Convert
Tag: faith
Voting in 2024 (Pt. 2)
This article is the second installment. Here is the first. Recap: Living in a democracy during an election means that all of us play some part in election process—even if we vote third party—all of us cast a vote, which means all of us must be prepared to make compromises. How do we know which compromises to make? We … Continue reading Voting in 2024 (Pt. 2)
You Aren’t Your Feelings
In Jerry Sittser’s painful memoir, A Grace Disguised, he recounts how suffering can grow your soul. And his words carry a certain heft because he writes from overwhelming firsthand experience. A drunk-driver killed his wife, his mother, and his four-year-old daughter in one tragic accident. The book is an expansive meditation on his own grief, and how … Continue reading You Aren’t Your Feelings
An Unusual Response to the Problem of Evil
Again I saw all the oppressions that are done under the sun. And behold, the tears of the oppressed, and they had no one to comfort them! On the side of their oppressors there was power, and there was no one to comfort them. And I thought the dead who are already dead more fortunate … Continue reading An Unusual Response to the Problem of Evil
Leo Tolstoy: A Modern Ecclesiastes
A traveller walking through the desert suddenly finds himself encountering a raging beast. In a panic, the traveller leaps into a nearby dried-up well to hide. He hangs onto a small bush that grows out of the crevice till the coast is clear. He is safe, for now. But, to his horror, the man hears … Continue reading Leo Tolstoy: A Modern Ecclesiastes
A Model of Maturity (1 Cor 9:1-23)
https://youtu.be/wJn6TLY0n14 True maturity is revealed in the presence of immaturity. If dad sees his child beginning to throw a temper tantrum because she is losing the board game, he condescends to her level, explains how the board game works, reminds her of what good sportsmanship looks like, and encourages her. He probably will hold himself … Continue reading A Model of Maturity (1 Cor 9:1-23)
Christ Above All (1 Cor 8:6)
https://youtu.be/6ATYFdo3npo So, here we are, on the cusp of a New Year. We can look back over the last year and kind of evaluate how it went. Did you spend 2023 how you hoped you would? If not, then now is the time to look ahead to the next year. What do you want 2024 … Continue reading Christ Above All (1 Cor 8:6)
Such Were Some of You (1 Cor 6:9-11)
https://youtu.be/E-c3HrlsUqU What should we think about the tragedy going on in the Middle-East? The only other event in modern history where more Jews died was the Holocaust. But, equally tragic, even more Palestinians—many of whom do not support Hamas, and some of whom are our brothers and sisters in Christ—have died in Israel’s retaliatory strikes. Six thousand … Continue reading Such Were Some of You (1 Cor 6:9-11)
Who Are You to Judge? (1 Cor 5:9-13)
https://youtu.be/qUxbFlat0Vg No one likes a hypocrite. We are frustrated when someone claims to be for something, but their actions prove otherwise. If a politician vows to be pro-life when candidating, but then recoils from enacting legislation when in office, his constituency is frustrated. If a business claims to care for the environment, but then dumps … Continue reading Who Are You to Judge? (1 Cor 5:9-13)
Ought You Not Rather to Mourn? (1 Cor 5:1-8)
https://youtu.be/WG7Lic7kTns Ireland for a long time was the most thoroughly Christianized nations in Europe, retaining a much higher percentage of practicing Christians than any other European country. The authority of the Catholic church in particular was staggering, so much so that many assumed that to be Irish was to be Catholic. Yet, today, Ireland is … Continue reading Ought You Not Rather to Mourn? (1 Cor 5:1-8)





