Tag: faith and growth

What Does Christian Disagreement Look Like?

I'm the sort of person who apologizes even without having done anything wrong, just to smooth over an argument; I hesitate before taking a stance that might cause conflict. And yet the more I study, the more I realize that Christian disagreement both with believers and nonbelievers can be a beautiful, productive thing: we just have to learn the skill and then hone it over time. [Click title to read more.]

Cliff Notes: The Lost Art of Bible Study In The Church (Part 3)

In the first post in this series I spent some time discussing the dangers of Bible-lite, that phenomenon when Christians substitute secondhand study of God's word for actual Bible study. In the second, I talked about some of the consequences of Bible-lite. Today, however, I'll be putting on my professor hat to offer some solutions to the problem. If you struggle with studying the Bible (or even with wanting to study the Bible!), there is both help and hope. [Click title to read more].

Why Forgiveness Is More Complex Than We Imagine

Forgiveness is an act which encompasses much more than saying "that's okay", and we understand that instinctively when we ask for it: we want a chance to prove ourselves, to show we are more than our misbehavior, to not have an act or a series of acts define our identities or others' perceptions of us. [Click title to read more.]

Cliff Notes: The Lost Art of Bible Study In The Church (Part I)

Devotionals and commentaries and Christian books, while valuable to learning and spiritual growth, aren't the Bible itself. And I am convinced that one of the biggest struggles modern Christians will face is being unable, or unwilling, to make that distinction. [Click title to read more.]

Focusing on Ourselves

What Jesus demonstrates here to the disciples is that it isn't our job to police the world in His name. If others are glorifying Christ - if others are doing good works in His name - Jesus' response is "Don't stop them." Don't hold people back. Don't intervene. Even if you think you can do it better. Even if you don't get it. Even if it's irritating. [Click title to read more.]

How To Be A Christian Online

As Christians, we tend to talk a lot about the Internet - what should and should not be accessible on it and how we should or should not handle that - but not about who we are on the Internet. In what ways does our faith inform our technology? Or, more to the point: how do we behave like Christians on the internet? [Click title to read more.]

Christian Self-Image and the Internet

If you spend much time on social media without the necessary brain-filters - as younger people do - you start to feel inadequate. It's inevitable. Everyone is prettier than you. They're going to more exciting places than you. Their talents are better than yours and what they're eating looks better than what you just ate. Their boyfriends and girlfriends smile, flawless, in pictures. Their material possessions, sometimes literally, sit in piles on their beds to be envied. [Click title to read more.]