The phrase or hashtag #MeToo became viral in social media in recent days. 鈥淢e Too鈥 is not a new phrase; the African-American social activist Tarana Burke started using it ten years ago, but it became a media trending topic recently. This phrase represents a public acknowledgement that a person (although women are sadly the vast majority) has been sexually harassed or assaulted. It has been heartbreaking to read the countless testimonies of people who had the courage to share their abuse stories鈥攎any of them for the first time鈥攚ith openness and frankness ...
La frase o 鈥渉ashtag鈥 #metoo (yo tambi茅n) se ha hecho viral en las redes sociales en los 煤ltimos d铆as. No es una frase nueva porque desde hace 10 a帽os la activista afroamericana Tarana Burke intent贸 hacerla p煤blica, pero no ha sido sino hasta estos d铆as que su uso se ha convertido en una tendencia social. La frase indica un reconocimiento p煤blico que una mujer, principalmente y en su gran mayor铆a aunque tambi茅n incluye hombres, ha sido v铆ctima de cualquier tipo de acoso sexual o incluso violaci贸n. Ha sido desgarrador leer los innumerables testimonios de personas que han tenido la valent铆a de contar sus historias y hablar de frente, en muchas ocasiones por primera vez, sobre el abuso que sufrieron ...
I present these thoughts from the perspective of someone who grew up in and is familiar with the academic and spiritual situation on the European continent. My observation is that many of the trends that have eroded a robust Christian influence on European culture are very much active in the Evangelical world of the US in the current situation as well ...
When my father died, I grieved. My father died on a Sunday morning, early. His hospital roommate told us that Dad had spent his last night鈥攖he whole night鈥攑raying softly for his family, person by person, before dying peacefully in the early morning. Even though we鈥檇 known that he would die soon from bone cancer, and knew that he was eager to be home with the Lord, it was still a shock. It was still too soon. Death is like that: it always surprises us and it interrupts our lives. We stop, and we grieve.
A brief look back over the history over the world or turning on the nightly news will reveal the pain of people caused by the actions of others. It can be simply stated: People have caused the impoverished lifestyle experienced by so many in the world through harmful acts. Some cyclical poverty is the result of well-meaning assistance that has perpetuated dependency, unintentionally making things worse. Other people are trapped in communities of poverty through corrupt policies and a lack of rule of law. Worse, history is full of the evil of some to oppress, steal from and enslave people resulting in deadly poverty ...
In the fourth verse of the popular modern hymn, 鈥淚n Christ Alone鈥 by Keith Getty and Stuart Townend, we hear this line that poses Hell as our enemy: 鈥淣o pow鈥檙 of hell, no scheme of man, Can ever pluck me from His hand.鈥 My ear has been catching a similar idea of Hell as a powerful enemy in several other contemporary worship songs. My guess is that songwriters are (perhaps) unwittingly drawing on Jesus鈥 statement in Matthew 16:18, 鈥淚 also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it鈥 (NASB[1], NIV, NKJV). Other translations give 鈥渢he gates of hell鈥 (ESV, NLT, KJV; the Greek text has "Hades" not "Gehenna"). I prefer the RSV and NET that give 鈥渢he powers of death鈥 by interpreting the usage of Hades in line with Sheol of the OT, referring to the place of the dead, particularly for the wicked. The slip of meaning from 鈥淗ades鈥 to 鈥淗ell鈥 is understandable, but this causes a problem theologically that we need to pause and consider more closely ...
My students in Exegesis In The Gospels (a second-year Greek course) were delighted to discover that (in the words of one news agency) 鈥淐hristian conspiracy theorists have gathered clues that suggest the end of the world is nigh" ...
There is no end of opportunities to be blessed with the teaching and preaching of God鈥檚 word. Great preachers can be heard on the radio. Podcasts can be automatically downloaded to our phones or iPads. The teaching of God鈥檚 word is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, on cable television networks. Christian bookstores are full of books by the greatest authors of our day. Electronic books can be carried with us everywhere with ease. Churches have program after program geared toward teaching God鈥檚 word, not to mention a worship service every week, which includes a Bible-based sermon. From the cradle to the grave, opportunities abound ...
La compasi贸n debe ser sentimiento esencial de aquellos que se dicen seguidores de Jesucristo. La palabra compasi贸n significa 鈥渟ufrir juntos鈥 y es un sentimiento que se manifiesta al percibir y comprender el sufrimiento de los dem谩s y, por lo tanto, produce el deseo de aliviar, reducir o eliminar este sufrimiento. Al ver las noticias, caminar por las calles o simplemente al conversar con personas a nuestro alrededor es f谩cil darse cuenta que muchas personas est谩n sufriendo por diferentes circunstancias. La tendencia natural y tristemente com煤n incluso en muchos de aquellos que se dicen cristianos es juzgar a los dem谩s y asumir que sus circunstancias negativas son consecuencia de sus malas decisiones. Es f谩cil amar a los que nos aman y preocuparnos por aquellos que son cercanos a nosotros, pero una marca central de Jes煤s y sus seguidores debe ser amar y tener compasi贸n por todos sin importar quienes son o qu茅 han hecho ...
Dr. Matt Williams (Professor of Biblical & Theological Studies) recently released a new DVD Bible study series titled The Forgiveness of Jesus (a DVD Bible study, in the Deeper Connections series). We were able to catch up with Dr. Williams to learn more about this exciting series ...
En este a帽o se celebra alrededor del mundo los 500 a帽os del inicio de lo que se conoce como La Reforma protestante. El 31 de octubre de 1517 el monje agustino Mart铆n Lutero clav贸 en la puerta de la Iglesia del Castillo en Wittenberg en Alemania 95 tesis en las que criticaba abiertamente las ventas de indulgencias de la iglesia cat贸lica romana. Lutero escogi贸 ese d铆a deliberadamente ya que era la v铆spera del D铆a de Todos los Santos y tanto la facultad de la universidad como muchos fieles asist铆an a la iglesia. Lutero inicialmente no ten铆a la intenci贸n de romper con la iglesia romana sino enfatizar la supremac铆a del evangelio de Cristo basada en su simplicidad y a la vez en su gran profundidad ...
This summer, as part of my participation in Talbot鈥檚 Kern Foundation reading group, I had the opportunity to travel to Grand Rapids and attend a 4-day think tank called Acton University. This was my first time participating in a think tank (unless you count my years watching MacGyver problem-solve for the Phoenix Foundation), and it was an experience! The annual event brings together around 1000 scholars, students, businesspeople, and leaders from over 75 countries and seeks to provide 鈥渁n opportunity to deepen one鈥檚 knowledge and integrate philosophy, theology, business, development 鈥 with sound, market based, economics鈥 (http://university.acton.org/). The daily program consisted of several parallel presentations (in fact, Talbot鈥檚 own Dr. Scott Rae was a presenter), a fabulous dinner designed to foster new relationships and stimulate conversations, and it closed each night with a plenary talk ...
I saw something amazing this June. Something rare. Something inspiring. It happened behind-the-scenes at Hume Lake Christian Camps and I simply had to move it from backstage and into to the spotlight. Before I showcase this beautiful sight, let me provide a couple paragraphs of context: As part of Talbot鈥檚 Kern Reading group this year, I鈥檝e had the joy of reading (and re-reading) several thought-provoking texts on work, leadership, economics, poverty relief, and the relationship of theology and the church to such matters. On this journey, I happily re-read a chapter from one of my favorite books on organizational leadership, Ken Blanchard and Phil Hodges鈥, Lead Like Jesus: Lessons for Everyone from the Greatest Leadership Role Model of All Time (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2005) ...
A few years ago I received an email from a former student (now a young pastor) asking some questions about speaking in tongues during corporate worship. Let me excerpt his e-mail and then include my reply (with his permission): Dr. Berding, I am emailing you because I have a question about 鈥榮ervice of worship鈥 for the church. Recently I have taken upon myself to work out some position papers on where I stand on a few ecclesiology topics. I have spent time reading from Horton, Grudem, Bloesch, and some of Clowney's works on ecclesiology. However, recently at our corporate worship one of the elders prayed in tongues and this was followed by what appeared to be an interpretation. As I have been reading through these books and wrestling with scripture, I have come to wonder if tongues plays a role in corporate worship or not ...
Overall point: The major battle we face in this life is not what is seen, but what is not seen鈥擲atan is intensely and intentionally opposed to what God is doing. AND the greatest defense we have is not our offense, but rather our dependence. Jesus is prayerful and successful; the disciples are prayerless and careless ...
In Part 1, I observed that Christian forgiveness includes several conditions leading to reconciliation of a relationship that was violated by one person sinning against another. Jesus鈥 commands that the person wronged must 鈥渟how him his fault鈥 (Matt 18:15) as the first condition, to be followed by his repentance, and then we may respond by forgiving him. Common Christian talk about forgiveness tends not to include the necessity of repentance; consequently, many Christians attempt forgiveness and yet fail to live in it. Along with this claim that repentance is necessary to forgiveness, I am aware of the need for at least four caveats ...
The problem I notice is that many times Christians have ongoing difficulty in forgiving those who have wronged them. The strain may go on for many years even as they keep trying to forgive. They frequently assume that there is something wrong with them as being hardhearted and otherwise unloving. They fault themselves for not being able to forgive others. Perhaps these unforgiving Christians are trying to do something that God has not called them to do. Perhaps one-sided forgiveness is actually impossible in the absence of a necessary condition for forgiveness ...
For many years I have been curious about a Roman governor known to us from history as Pliny the Younger. My interest initially arose because I resided for four years in one of the principal cities he governed鈥攏ot to mention that one of my four daughters was born in that city. Moreover, since I have expended significant effort studying the writings of the earliest Christian authors after the period of the apostles (those authors known as the 鈥淎postolic Fathers鈥), I continue to be intensely interested in learning anything I possibly can about the lives of Christians who lived during the first half of the second century ...
Summer movies are often the stories of heroes; whether real-life or Marvel庐, both are super. These stories inspire as they entertain us. The problem is, most of the time, we are content with letting someone else be the hero. We are too busy, too passive, too self-absorbed, or too afraid of what would happen if we got involved; and so the people around us stay unknown to us and do not receive the help they need. The result is preconceived biases that isolate us from one another and a lack of care and compassion for those who need a place of refuge and relief ...
All legitimate work in the world has intrinsic value and God calls men and women to be faithful in working in various arenas as their service to Him. Of course, there are some limits to this, since it would difficult to see how God could call someone to produce pornography or engage in the illegal drug trade. But excluding those exceptions, God calls people to work in business, not only because of what it accomplishes, but because it has value in and of itself to God. Business is the work of God in the world in the same way that being a pastor is the work of God in the church and in the same way that missionary service is the work of God on the mission field. All have value to God because of the value of the work done, and that work is an intrinsically good thing that has value as it's done with excellence ...
Cada vez estoy m谩s convencido que ser un 鈥渢rabajador obsesivo鈥 es la adicci贸n m谩s com煤n entre las personas que est谩n en el ministerio cristiano. Evidentemente esta condici贸n se presenta entre todas las personas sin importar su ocupaci贸n o religiosidad. De hecho en ingl茅s el t茅rmino 鈥渨orkaholic鈥 ya forma parte del vocabulario com煤n ya que representa una realidad cada vez m谩s presente en nuestras sociedades. Pero es f谩cil convertirse en un trabajador obsesivo y disfrazar esta situaci贸n con piedad y buenas intenciones. De la misma manera es muy atractivo sumergirse en el trabajo y echarle la culpa a Dios o a la obra de Dios como excusa por esta situaci贸n ...
Job interviews are a nerve-wracking ordeal. The feeling of being out of control regarding one鈥檚 future leads to subservient postures in relationships. This was the situation the Moabite, Ruth, found herself in after returning with her mother in-law to Bethlehem (Ruth 1). However, in this amazing Biblical narrative is a posture of grace-seeking that is reminiscent of our seeking God; it is the God-action of finding favor in others that we should model in our working relationships ...
Many persons in vocational Christian service got their start by working with young people. Youth ministry is great preparation for future service in other capacities. But it is much more than that. Youth pastors have the potential to impact the world for Christ in a powerful way, because young people often make important decisions about their future lives under the influence of church mentors and student ministries workers ...
Where does inspiration come from? Where does the motivation to use one鈥檚 gifts and passions to make a difference begin? Jane Goodall said, 鈥淲hat you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make.鈥 Are we the source of action or does that spark come from something else? I would like to propose God is the beginning of movements that bring change; history is the record of mankind鈥檚 response to the divine prompting ...
What is my purpose in life? This is a question that plagues each and every one of us. The Westminster confession puts the question this way: "What is the chief and highest end of man?" Countless books and blogs have addressed this question. But are we really asking the right question? ...
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