Does everything happen for a reason? Many people believe so, but as we discussed yesterday, sometimes things happen because of the kind of world we live. What do I mean by that? What kind of world do we live in? Our world demonstrates at least the following three tendencies that very much affect why thingsContinue reading “3 reasons bad things happen [False ideas Christians believe about…God’s involvement in our lives. Part 2]”
Author Archives: joelkime
Everything happens for a reason? [False ideas Christians believe about…God’s involvement in our lives. Part 1]
How involved do you think God is in your life? Does he seem distant? Or does he seem close? Maybe he shows up, but only rarely? With this post we begin a series fact-checking common sayings related to God’s interaction with the world. This is very much related to what we talked about in theContinue reading “Everything happens for a reason? [False ideas Christians believe about…God’s involvement in our lives. Part 1]”
How to walk through pain [False ideas Christians believe about…difficulty. Part 5]
How should we respond in the midst of pain? The psalmists often lament, crying out their complaint to God as to why he is not answering their prayer. This is why we are fact-checking statement about dealing with difficulty. The post you are reading is number 5 of 5. If you’re starting here, I encourageContinue reading “How to walk through pain [False ideas Christians believe about…difficulty. Part 5]”
This too shall pass? [False ideas Christians believe about…difficulty. Part 4]
Are the difficult times in life good or bad? You might read that and think, “How could difficult times ever be good?” Well, when we experience suffering, we tend to feel more helpless and needy and thus we pray more. Increased levels of communication with God, as with any relationship in which greater communication almostContinue reading “This too shall pass? [False ideas Christians believe about…difficulty. Part 4]”
God helps those who help themselves? [False ideas Christians believe about…difficulty. Part 3]
“If you are unemployed and need a job, and you pray for a job, don’t expect God to give you a job if all you do is collect unemployment while you sit on the couch all day watching Netflix and eating chips. Stop making excuses and get to the unemployment office!” What do you thinkContinue reading “God helps those who help themselves? [False ideas Christians believe about…difficulty. Part 3]”
When life crushes you [False ideas Christians believe about…difficulty. Part 2]
Have you been there? The feeling of life crushing down on you, and you just want to crawl into a ball. Most of us have experienced that awful feeling, probably numerous times in our lives. We feel we can’t handle life, and wonder if we are failures. In the middle of the pain, we raiseContinue reading “When life crushes you [False ideas Christians believe about…difficulty. Part 2]”
God won’t give you more than you can handle? [False ideas Christians believe about…difficulty. Part 1]
If you’ve ever been going through a really difficulty time, you may have heard one of the following statements: God won’t give you more than you can handle. God helps those who help themselves. During times of suffering, you’ll be closer to God. This, too, shall pass. We hear them regularly, don’t we? We interactContinue reading “God won’t give you more than you can handle? [False ideas Christians believe about…difficulty. Part 1]”
Practical suggestions for reading the Bible [False ideas Christians believe about…the Bible. Part 5]
Did you know that a billionaire guy in England has built an amazing state of the art chocolate factory? His chocolate is known for its astoundingly creamy taste, and he attributes this to his unique manufacturing process. No other chocolate factory has anything like it. It is a chocolate river that ends up in aContinue reading “Practical suggestions for reading the Bible [False ideas Christians believe about…the Bible. Part 5]”
Examining the literal approach to reading the Bible [False ideas Christians believe about…the Bible. Part 4]
Did you ever hear the phrase that we need to read the Bible literally? In part 3 of this series we saw that a literal reading of some parts of the Bible leads to very bizarre results. Maybe the concept of reading the Bible literally should mean something else? Take Jesus. Jesus was a masterContinue reading “Examining the literal approach to reading the Bible [False ideas Christians believe about…the Bible. Part 4]”
How genre is vital to the Bible [False ideas Christians believe about…the Bible. Part 3]
We read the instruction manual for our car differently than we will read Shakespeare’s sonnets, right? We read the Declaration of Independence different than we read Huckleberry Finn. As we should. The authors of each of those documents are utilizing different literary genres to accomplish a purpose. Genre is a fancy word that just meansContinue reading “How genre is vital to the Bible [False ideas Christians believe about…the Bible. Part 3]”
Engaging Scripture 