Category Archives: Worldview and Culture

No Angst Over Declining Political Clout

Posted on September 24, 2022 by salooper57

What changes would the Republican Party make if Christians, who have been a key bloc within their base, could no longer deliver enough votes to compete with Democrats for national offices? How would the party react to a 12 percent … Continue reading →

Posted in Christianity, In the News, Mission, Worldview and Culture | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

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 →

Posted in Christianity, Marriage and Family, relationships, Worldview and Culture | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

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 →

Posted in Christianity, In the News, relationships, Truthfulness, Worldview and Culture | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Abortion Is an Important, but not an Ultimate, Issue

Posted on July 23, 2022 by salooper57

With humans displaced from God (and, therefore, from each other), secondary errors are unavoidable. In the absence of God, humans invest penultimate things – many good and necessary in themselves – with ultimate standing, to their own detriment. As G. K. Chesterton noted long ago, “When a man stops believing in God, he doesn’t then believe in nothing; he believes anything.” Continue reading →

Posted in In the News, Spiritual life, Theology, Worldview and Culture | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

What Do You Think of Church People?

Posted on July 16, 2022 by salooper57

Another church person trope, as prevalent as the hypocrite, is the stuffed shirt, the religious bore. Unchurched people believe that their churched counterparts are prigs. Unchurched intellectuals presume they are dolts. Church people are straight arrows, stuffy, and prudish. Fifteen minutes in their presence feels like an eternity. Continue reading →

Posted in Bible, Church, Worldview and Culture | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Watch Out for “Christian” Nationalism

Posted on June 18, 2022 by salooper57

Briefly defined, nationalism is an attitude that gives priority of place and standing to the nation. Nationalists subordinate other commitments to that of supporting the nation and seeking its wellbeing. This differs from patriotism, for a patriot can honor and sacrifice for their country without elevating its importance above other primary commitments. Continue reading →

Posted in Christianity, In the News, Theology, Worldview and Culture | Tagged , , , , | 4 Comments

Is Christianity Hard or Easy?

Posted on June 4, 2022 by salooper57

Is Christianity hard or easy? That was the question C. S. Lewis asked and helpfully answered almost 80 years ago. Lewis believed that Christianity is hard – impossible even – if approached from one direction, and easy – or at … Continue reading →

Posted in Christianity, Faith, Spiritual life, Worldview and Culture | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

The Reason Art Got Ugly

Posted on May 21, 2022 by salooper57

The performance arts have also become enamored with ugliness, preferring darkness to light, and antiheroes to heroes. Today, antiheroes are artistically interesting, but heroes are boring. Antiheroes represent truth. Heroes are a fantasy. These days, no one is making films with “High Noon” plots or Will Kane-like heroes. Darkness – think of the recent Batman films – is in vogue. Continue reading →

Posted in Theology, Truthfulness, Worldview and Culture | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

5 Things to Do When You Suffer (1 Peter 4:12-19)

Posted on March 14, 2022 by salooper57

This sermon explores the five instructions the Apostle Peter gives to Christians who are suffering.

Posted in Bible, Sermons, Spiritual life, Worldview and Culture | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

The Key to Ending the Culture Wars

Posted on February 5, 2022 by salooper57

Ukraine is and has been a divided nation. Each of its major regions has a unique history and a character shaped by long interaction with neighbors. There are language differences between east and west. In fact, while most Ukrainians can understand and speak Russian, most cannot speak Ukrainian. Such a conflict, rooted in differences in language, history, and values, might well be called a “culture war.” Continue reading →

Posted in Faith, In the News, Worldview and Culture | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment