Tag Archives: Christianity

Paths The Lead Nowhere

Posted on August 2, 2025 by salooper57

Humanity walks on a ruined earth, the result of Adam’s rebellion and the long, devastating war that followed. The paths we take frequently lead nowhere. We lose ourselves and we cannot find our God. Continue reading →

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Fascinating Storytelling from Matthew 28

Posted on July 26, 2025 by salooper57

This is only one expression, and the least obvious, of the parallel lines of storytelling by Matthew in chapter 28. The twin storylines follow the women and the guards, and … Matthew structured his narrative this way on purpose. Continue reading →

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God Is Father

Posted on July 24, 2025 by salooper57

Our biological parents often don’t really know us. They make the mistake of treating us as if we were younger replicas of themselves. “But you like to fish. I’ve been taking you fishing since you were in diapers!” “Of course, you’re going to play the piano.”
… But our heavenly Father knows who we are. Continue reading →

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How Did Sin Lead to Jesus’s Death?

Posted on July 19, 2025 by salooper57

The crucifixion is a microcosm of sorts, displaying how human sin, from envy to ethnic and racial hatred, results (both immediately, at the time of the crucifixion, and over the millennia of human rebellion) in rejection of, and hatred toward, God. J Continue reading →

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The God Who Is Light

Posted on July 16, 2025 by salooper57

He took all the things he ever heard Jesus say about God and, after spending decades thinking about them and talking to God about them, he summarized them in ten words (in Greek): “God is light; in him there is no darkness at all” (1 John 1:5). Continue reading →

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How Do You Identify?

Posted on July 12, 2025 by salooper57

Poised between two identities, we are faced with the decision to repent, which is so much more than turning from our sins. It is a turning from our identity, a losing of ourselves (our soul, our ψυχή) in order to become someone new… Continue reading →

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Why I Had So Much Trouble Reading the Bible

Posted on July 5, 2025 by salooper57

I would read some passage in the Gospels and, before I was done with the first paragraph, wander into some daydream or fretting episode. When I finally emerged and returned to my reading, the same thing would happen again within moments. Continue reading →

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Jesus: The Divine-Human Interlinear

Posted on June 14, 2025 by salooper57

We don’t see it because we think of glory as glitz and hype and notoriety. Glory, in our minds, is being selfie-stalked on the street, going viral on social media, entreated for interviews and autographs. Continue reading →

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The Ascension and Spiritual Gifts (Eph. 4:7-16)

Posted on June 4, 2025 by salooper57

Who would have guessed? Those little pieces were important. And so are the gifts that God gave to each of us. You can say, “My gift is probably not important,” but Jesus gave that gift to you for a reason, and gave you to us for a reason. Continue reading →

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John 3:16: The Bible’s Most Popular Verse

Posted on May 30, 2025 by salooper57

The words “believes in him” deserve careful attention. A strictly literal translation would go, “believes into him.” This is a Johannine phrase, used only in this Gospel and in the First Epistle, but used more than twenty times. What does it mean to “believe into” Jesus, and why did John latch onto this preposition? Continue reading →

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