If the kingdom of God were a symphony, it would welcome anyone who had a desire to learn to play music — from tuba players to piccolo players, from violinists to percussionists. It would accept beginners and master musicians, wisely pairing up the novices with mentors who could help them learn. But it could not […]
Category: Philosophy
The Danger of Blind Inclusion
I heard it said recently that as a community of believers in the way of Jesus we should be prepared and willing to accept and include anyone into the community. However, I think it’s important and essential that our inclusion not be blind. This is often a difficult distinction which serves to illustrate the radically […]
The small, insignificant, and easily over-looked reveals God’s glory
– every teaching Jesus had about how God creates something glorious starts with something small. Never once did Jesus say the Kingdom of Heaven is like a Fortune 500 Company with super happy shareholders. It’s always something small, insignificant, easily over-looked…these are the things that reveal the glory of God. I mean, after all, in […]
The Paradox of Our Age …
We have taller buildings but shorter tempers; wider freeways but narrower viewpoints; we spend more but have less; we buy more but enjoy it less; we have bigger houses and smaller families; more conveniences, yet less time; we have more degrees but less sense; more knowledge but less judgement; more experts, yet more problems; we […]
The Opposite
“Why did it all turn out like this for me? I had so much promise. I was personable. I was bright. Oh, maybe not academically speaking, but I was perceptive. I always know when someone’s uncomfortable at a party. It all became very clear to me sitting out there today, that every decision I’ve ever […]
My Home Brewed World – The Big Question Part 2
Beer is an alcoholic beverage produced by the saccharification of starch and fermentation of the resulting sugar. However, we can arrive at a much simpler view if we look at what it’s made of.. at the essence of the ingredients. Reinheitsgebot – The German (or Bavarian) Beer Purity Law of 1487 dictated that beer could only contain water, malted barley, and hops. The yeast that […]
Learning to Listen
I didn’t grow up in an atmosphere where prayer was talked about much. It was expected that we did it as individuals, and we occasionally did it as a family, but there wasn’t much emphasis on it at all. In my church life as an adolescent prayer was mentioned often, but there were no instructions […]
Hear, Hear, Mr. Mclaren!
I often wander. In the cyber sense. I have done my share of wondering in the physical sense as well, but those are different stories for different times. Back to my recent cyber-wandering. I was recently discussing the relevance of the need to have an understanding of the Old Testament Hebrew world in order to […]
The Data Says So … Doesn’t it?
The Data Says So … Doesn’t it? The paradox of alternate realities Be careful out there! It’s been a very long time since I slogged through my social statistics classes as an undergraduate Sociology major. But, one thing I learned that stuck with me is a simple truth. If you’re good with the math you […]
Quantum Conversation
There are sub-atomic particles that blink out of existence in one place, only to wink into existence in another without traversing a specific route between. They take the route we observe. Our conversations can be like these particles. They can take a route that is specific to the audience hearing the conversation. The conversation can […]
the Verity Paradox 