Israeli Christians Think and Do Almost the Opposite of American Evangelicals
In 1949, the state of Israel was formed to be a haven for the world’s decimated and traumatized Jewish population after World War II. Ever since, American Christians have largely supported the modern-day Zion; in 2013, 82 percent of white evangelicals believed that God gave the land of Israel to the Jews.
In contrast, only 19 percent of Christians actually born, raised, and living in Israel believe that God gave the land of Israel to the Jewish people. Significantly more than half (66%) believe this is not literally true, while another 9 percent don’t know what to think.
Seven things I’m learning about transgender persons
I don’t know much about transgender issues, but I’m trying to learn — in part because I want to understand the way God has made us. For me, this is a theological quest as much as a biological inquiry or a political cause. How about you?
Gender Identity vs. Personal Identity— What is It and who Decides?
Leaving aside altogether the issue of people who are sadly born with deformities, such as being born with both male and female genitalia, it ought to seem axiomatic to all of us, as it is to many many scientists, notably biologists (and my wife is one), that while many factors go into making up personal identity, when one discusses gender identity, at the most fundamental level it has something to do with how gender in part determines one’s identity. One isn’t a man merely because ‘that’s how I feel about myself or think of myself’, one is a man in part because that’s what my sexual nature, my chromosomes etc. tell me.
7 Truths About Marriage You Won’t Hear in Church
Such is the case with the Church and marriage. I am grateful for the foundation the Church gave me in regard to marriage. It was a good study guide. But there some things on the test I did not learn until marriage began. So I am going to give you some answers to the test that some of you might not expect to see. Here are a few truths about marriage I never heard in church.
All of us must examine our hearts to see whether we give more time and affection to our spouse or children than we do to Christ. If we get angry that we are being asked to examine this aspect of our lives in this way then it is probably a mark that we have more family idolatry in our hearts than we would like to admit.
Wright’s observation is perceptive. He reminds us of a great truth: when we are fully engaged in singing, when we are expending our breath (spirit, wind) in honor of God, the Divine Breath is within us. The Apostle Paul makes this point in Ephesians when he links the Holy Spirit with singing. “Be filled with the Spirit,” he says (5:19). Being filled with the Spirit and singing to God are necessarily related. In a word, hymn singing is—or ought to be—sacramental.
Gender gap in religious service attendance has narrowed in U.S.
While affiliated women are less likely to attend services weekly in recent years (33%) than they were in the mid-1980s (40%), affiliated men’s attendance patterns have been much more stable over time. If anything, affiliated men have recently become more likely to say they attend services weekly; 24% of affiliated men said this in the mid-1990s compared with 28% in the current decade.
The web was built on words.
And words, of course, are available to anyone who can type. They’re cheap, easy to edit and incredibly powerful when used well.
Today’s internet, though, is built on video. Much more difficult to create well, far more impactful when it works.
24 Things No One Tells You About Book Publishing
Ten years ago, my first novel Prep came out. Three novels later, here’s what I’ve learned about the publishing industry and writing since then.
’70s High School Art Project Mistakenly Valued At $50K On ‘Antiques Roadshow’
The Antiques Roadshow episode aired in January, and PBS released a correction note in February. (The story comes to our attention now thanks to The Washington Post and the CBC.)
A viewer recognized the jug as the work of one of her friends — Betsy Soule. Soule verified that, indeed, it was her student handiwork.