Category Archives: Faith

Following Christ Today: The Righteousness of the Heart

Posted on September 21, 2022 by salooper57

This class session focuses on the righteousness of the heart and how it contrasts with expressions of anger and contempt. Anger and contempt have ravaged society and family. Our hope for the future lies in the righteousness of the heart, … Continue reading →

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Don’t Use Religion to Impress People

Posted on September 17, 2022 by salooper57

One of the most influential teaching sessions in history took place on a mountainside – possibly because of the acoustics – and is known as the Sermon on the Mount. It is not a sermon in the modern sense of … Continue reading →

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Power in Prayer (Mark 9:14-29)

Posted on September 11, 2022 by salooper57

“This kind comes out only by prayer.” Jesus said that about a stubborn unclean spirit, but there are many things in our lives that “come out” only by prayer: stubborn marriage problems, addictions, financial needs, and more. Learning to pray … Continue reading →

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How Did Jesus Treat Women?

Posted on September 10, 2022 by salooper57

To read some Bible scholars, one would think that Jesus viewed women through a twenty-first century feminist lens. Other equally-well regarded scholars, seem to think that Jesus looked at women through a pre-Nineteenth Amendment lens. It seems to me that … Continue reading →

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News Consumption May Be Affecting You Adversely

Posted on September 3, 2022 by salooper57

During the last few years, I have seen people break off relationships with family and church because they had been transported into pandemic-related stories, election stories, and war stories. This has happened among both liberal and conservative media consumers.

A critic might contend that something similar occurs among consumers of the Christian gospel. Continue reading →

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Hope Is Not Pollyanna Positivity

Posted on August 27, 2022 by salooper57

Occasionally, I read or hear someone say something like, “Christians believe some really strange things.” They usually mean that Christians believe in miracles like a six-day creation, a man who was swallowed by a great fish (and spit out days … Continue reading →

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Come Follow Me (Following Christ Today)

Posted on August 21, 2022 by salooper57

What does it mean to follow Jesus? What is required? This class begins where following Jesus began: on the shores of the Sea of Galilee. Seeing what discipleship meant for those first followers of Jesus will help us understand what … Continue reading →

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How to See the World Differently

Posted on August 20, 2022 by salooper57

I am currently co-teaching a class titled, “Following Christ Today.” Some may consider the “Today” in the title unnecessary for surely following Christ was not much different yesterday than it is today. They would be right in thinking that the … Continue reading →

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Following Christ Today (1): The Smartest Man Who Ever Lived

Posted on August 17, 2022 by salooper57

Kevin Looper and I have begun a class on real discipleship in the 21st century – what it looks like and what it takes. This introductory class reveals what we must believe about Jesus to actually follow him. (The video … Continue reading →

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Are People Basically Good?

Posted on August 13, 2022 by salooper57

Lewis’s reasoning was, as usual, spot on. But I, who have quoted Lewis more often than any other source, save the Bible itself, am forced to admit that the premise on which he founds his argument is faulty. He is assuming that total depravity means absolute depravity, which is not what most theologians mean by the term. Continue reading →

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