Worried about swine flu?

     Influenza A subtype H1N1, the flu virus killing people in 2009, killed around 50 million people between March 1918 and June 1920. Half the world’s population was infected, including people in the Arctic. The Spanish flu, as it was called, has been described as “the greatest medical holocaust in history,” and its descendants [...]

Does religion help in tough times?

     The answer to the above question is a resounding “No.” No, religion does not help us in tough times. It never has and it never will because religion (not based on the Bible) has no idea why “tough times” exist in the first place.       Tough times exist, according to the Bible, [...]

What’s so important about the Spirit?

     How important is the Spirit in a human life? In Romans 8 it is hugely important, for seven reasons:      1) The Spirit sets us free from sin and death (verse 2)      2) “Live according to the Spirit” and we can fully meet the righteous requirements of God’s law (verse 4), [...]

We’re body and spirit, but only one’s alive!

     Paul had a unique definition of “life.” Life, for instance, was not what he was experiencing in his physical body. His body was merely a vessel for his sinful nature, and his sinful nature only “bore fruit for death (Romans 7:5).” To Paul, a body controlled by its sinful nature “is dead because [...]

Choosing which force controls us

     It used to worry me when my kids watched horror movies. But they weren’t the least bit perturbed. “Don’t worry, Dad,” one of them told me, “I can handle it.” And obviously in his mind he thought he could. He talked as if he had complete control.      Paul, however, talked as [...]

Living free of fear, even in a world like ours

     To a realist, Barack Obama’s “Yes, we can!” is drowned out by the clear lesson of human history, that no matter how well-meaning or how well-intentioned we are, the world never gets better. Human nature still hasn’t evolved to a higher plane; instead, it just keeps on being human nature, the same old [...]

“Yes, we can!”

     What frustrated Paul so much was not being able to do what he so desperately wanted to do – and isn’t that the problem that frustrates all of us? In our inner beings, we’d love to do good and make our world a better place. Barack Obama’s stirring call “Yes, we can!” struck [...]

Obeying God’s law is a matter of life and death

     Paul boils all human life down to one simple statement: “For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live,” Romans 8:13. And how do we know if we’re living according to our sinful [...]

What do Christians have that non-Christians don’t have?

     Some non-Christians seem a lot more Christian than Christians. They’re nicer, kinder, happier, more giving, more sociable, more involved in the community, more even-tempered, more disciplined, better adjusted and more normal. It’s a bit discouraging when you’re a Christian bumping into people like that, because if non-Christians can be such good people, why [...]

Eternal life is…

     A new series of sermons on “Seeing God as he really is” has been generating a lot of questions and comments. The first 3 parts in the series are in the “Sermons” file above. If you have a question or comment too, there’s a spot for comments below the list of sermons.      [...]