Christian Living, Gratitude, Relationships, Wisdom
John Beeson
Wanderlust and the Christian Life

“Oh the places you’ll go!” Dr. Seuss believed that the true achiever is an adventurer: “You’ll head straight out of town. It’s opener there in the wide open air. Out there things can happen and frequently do to people as brainy and footsy as you.”

“We’re taking a vision trip to Florida,” our friends shared. Tired of the heat of the Sonoran Desert, they set out to find the perfect place for their family to settle. I’ve been part of several similar conversations. It’s healthy for couples to dream together. I’ve seen God weave those dreams into something that honors him and blesses others.

Wanderlust and the Christian Life
Recommendations, Family, Identity, Parenting, Relationships
John Beeson
This Week's Recommendations

  1. I’ve studied over 200 kids—here are six magic phrases that make kids listen to their parents: Good things to tell people, not just your kids. Reem Raouda says, “Parents are constantly searching for ways to get their kids to listen. But a lot of us focus too much on trying to get them to obey in the moment, rather than building genuine long-term cooperation.”

  2. Seven lies about our love lives: Eric Geiger shares, “’It’s just between us’: The world, especially in the West, paints relationships as just between the two people.

This Week's Recommendations
Biblical Studies, Christian Living
John Beeson
Unbelief Isn't a Sin, or Is It?

An earnest interlocutor responded to me, “God wouldn’t hold it against me if I don’t believe in him, would he? If he hasn’t made faith clear enough, isn’t that his responsibility?”

Is unbelief a sin? Surely not!

Culturally, we don’t take unbelief very seriously. We tend to think of unbelief as a neutral characteristic, if not even something that might show a particular strength of character. We might consider someone who doesn’t believe as being sharp minded, thoughtful, or not gullible.

Many Christians even diminish the nature of unbelief. I recently read a book by a popular pastor who claimed that Jesus didn’t call his followers to believe,

Unbelief Isn't a Sin, or Is It?
Biblical Studies, Christian Living, Evangelism
John Beeson
Who Do You Critique Loudest

What comes to mind when you think of a Pharisee? A self-righteous finger-wagger? An arrogant rule follower?

Jesus was a Pharisee.

There were two major Jewish groups during Jesus’ time: the Pharisees and the Sadducees (a smaller number of Jews were part of the Essenes, a separatist group). The Pharisees and Sadducees both emerged after the Hasmonean dynasty (The Jewish rulers who gained independence after the Maccabean revolt (167-160 BC) were known as the Hasmoneans).

The Sadducees controlled the Temple and had political favor with the Romans. They accepted only the Torah (the first five books of the Bible) and rejected oral tradition.

Who Do You Critique Loudest
Recommendations, Evangelism, Family, Parenting
John Beeson
This Week's Recommendations

  1. Parents, we’re doing too much again: Melissa Edgington says, “We’re too often in constant contact with our children. They don’t have any opportunities to learn critical thinking skills because they text us every question in their brains to get quick advice about what to say, which door to walk through, which paper to fill out, and on and on forever.”

  2. Don’t do everything for your kids: O. Alan Noble agrees, “Parenting and guilt seem to go hand-in-hand. Why is that? Society constantly pressures us to Do More and Be More and Get It Right. We are told to practice the latest techniques in parenting to ensure the health and prosperity of our children.”

This Week's Recommendations

Biblical Studies

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Unbelief Isn't a Sin, or Is It?

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Unbelief Isn't a Sin, or Is It?

An earnest interlocutor responded to me, “God wouldn’t hold it against me if I don’t believe in him, would he? If he hasn’t made faith clear enough, isn’t that his responsibility?”

Is unbelief a sin? Surely not!

Culturally, we don’t take unbelief very seriously. We tend to think of unbelief as a neutral characteristic, if not even something that might show a particular strength of character. We might consider someone who doesn’t believe as being sharp minded, thoughtful, or not gullible.

Many Christians even diminish the nature of unbelief. I recently read a book by a popular pastor who claimed that Jesus didn’t call his followers to believe,

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Who Do You Critique Loudest

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Who Do You Critique Loudest

What comes to mind when you think of a Pharisee? A self-righteous finger-wagger? An arrogant rule follower?

Jesus was a Pharisee.

There were two major Jewish groups during Jesus’ time: the Pharisees and the Sadducees (a smaller number of Jews were part of the Essenes, a separatist group). The Pharisees and Sadducees both emerged after the Hasmonean dynasty (The Jewish rulers who gained independence after the Maccabean revolt (167-160 BC) were known as the Hasmoneans).

The Sadducees controlled the Temple and had political favor with the Romans. They accepted only the Torah (the first five books of the Bible) and rejected oral tradition.

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Preaching and Perspicuity

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Preaching and Perspicuity

Monosyllabic.

Inflammable.

Abbreviation.

Phonetically.

Every one of these words are ironic. Monosyllabic means one syllable but contains five syllables. Inflammable means “easy to catch fire,” but looks like it means the opposite (not flammable). Abbreviation is not an abbreviation. And don’t phonetically should be spelled funetically, don’t you think?

Perspicuity means clarity or “ease of understanding” and yet isn’t very easy to understand. We’ll return to that later.

Roman Catholic theologians during the Middle Ages argued that the scripture was not perspicuous. Scripture was too veiled and obscure for the average person to understand, they contended.

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Hurt Feelings

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Hurt Feelings

Feelings matter. Even if we are certain that truth is firmly in our grasp, it isn’t appropriate to use it like a whip on the back of the skeptic.

In a desire to restore the balance of perceived power, contemporary Western culture has offered a wider berth for those who have historically wielded less power. Our culture declares that our privilege determines whether or not we are allowed to share “our truth.” Intersectionality doles out chips based on a group’s power. Those who come from advantaged portions of society are given fewer chips in order to balance the conversation.

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This Week's Recommendations

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This Week's Recommendations

  1. Relating to a narcissist: Ed Welch with a thoughtful and empathetic treatment of a growing concern, “Diagnostic labels have their benefits and liabilities. They can help you see certain behaviors. They can also blind you by leading you to believe that everything is a result of the diagnoses, which it is not. For the person who wears the label, the word can be meaningless or offensive. It will not help.”

  2. 6 kinds of hearers of God’s Word: Brian Najapfour pulls his list straight from scripture. For instance, “She knows that she has blemishes, but she is afraid to face them. Like someone who avoids the doctor for fear of a bad diagnosis, Mrs. Afraid resists the conviction of the Word. She does not want to be confronted with the cost of repentance.”

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A Womb or Two for Every Man

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A Womb or Two for Every Man

What is distinctive about femininity and masculinity? Our culture is confused about what is distinctive about what it is to be a woman and what it is to be a man. Some have Christians parachuted in trying to provide clarity only to overstate or misstate how the Bible speaks to this question. The truth is that God’s Word blows up our narrowly defined cultural constructs and categories.

So long as we go hunting in scripture for proof of our expectations about masculinity and femininity, we are likely to create two-dimensional cut-outs in place of God’s three-dimensional realities.

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Rainbows, Pride Month, and the Flood

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Rainbows, Pride Month, and the Flood

Rainbow flags might be filling store windows in your town this June. In 1978, Harvey Milk, a prominent gay politician and activist, commissioned Gilbert Baker to create a visual symbol for the gay community. Baker designed a rainbow flag with eight colors. The flag was flown at the San Francisco Gay Freedom Day Parade and quickly became a symbol of pride and visibility for the LGBTQ+ community.

Of course, the LGBTQ+ community was not the first community to claim the rainbow as a symbol. God gave the rainbow to Noah and his family following the flood as a promise that he would be merciful in his judgment.

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Let not him who straps on his armor boast himself as he who takes it off

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Let not him who straps on his armor boast himself as he who takes it off

We would do well to heed Ahab and Roosevelt’s warnings. In our contemporary world, shrunk by media, it is enticing to microwave hot takes for all types of issues. Geopolitical events, religious issues, and economic and social policies entice us to weigh in. We want to know what is right and wrong, good and evil, and we want to hold firm opinions in fields in which we have little to no experience.

Ben-hadad meant “son of Hadad,” the Syrian god of thunder. It’s a fitting name. He was booming and terrifying, but relatively harmless. There are a lot of Ben-hadads out there today, those who dial up every opinion to 100 decibels.

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This Week's Recommendations

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This Week's Recommendations

  1. The vermin of intrusive thoughts: Crystal Kershaw writes, “In 2 Corinthians 10:5, Paul uses battle language to describe the ongoing struggle taking place in believers’ lives. He describes bullets of “arguments” and “pretensions” that land in our internal dialogue. Our supernatural Enemy fires them with a clear, age-old motive; to undermine our faith.”

  2. Just a little bit: Rachel Whisman says, “When have I tried softening sin to make it seem more comfortable, more approachable? Where are you willing to add “just a little bit” to something to make it seem okay? Where are you willing to cave in for “just a little bit” more?”

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David's Worst Sin

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David's Worst Sin

What was David’s worst sin? Every Sunday School child knows the answer to that question: his adultery with Bathsheba and murder of her husband Uriah (2 Sam. 11-12).

There’s no doubt that David’s double sin against Bathsheba and Uriah is heinous. Following David’s sin, his family begins to implode. David’s son Amnon rapes his daughter, Tamar, Absalom murders Amnon in response and then attempts to overthrow his father and is ultimately killed. David’s sin was a direct violation of two of the most sacred moral laws: adultery and murder, and his family or reign would never be the same.

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