Why, they ask, do not those miracles, which you preach of as past events, happen nowadays? I might reply that they were necessary before the world believed, to bring the world to believe; but whoever is still looking for prodigies to make him believe is himself a great prodigy for refusing to believe where the […]
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Author: Rick Shrader
Signs Of The Times
Unfortunately there is in religious circles a cult of the intelligentsia which, in my opinion, is merely beatnikism turned wrong side out. As the beatnik, in spite of his loud protestations of individualism, is in reality one of the most slavish of conformists, so the young intellectual in the pulpit shakes in his carefully polished […]
Is Cupid Old Fashioned?
This is what comes of giving one’s heart to anything but God. All human beings pass away. Do not let your happiness depend on something you may lose. If love is to be a blessing, not a misery, it must be for the only Beloved who will never pass away. St. Augustine, Confessions In this […]
Abstinence–Our Area!
I want to speak of the danger which at present, in my opinion, especially haunts the act of love. This is a subject on which I disagree, not with the human race (far from it), but with many of its gravest spokesmen. I believe we are all being encouraged to take Venus too seriously; at […]
The Incarnation: A Worldview
G. K. Chesterton said, ‘‘The incredible thing about miracles is that they happen!’’ The incredible thing about the incarnation is that it happened! God became a man and walked among us! This fact, along with its corollary of Christ’s resurrection, together form the basis of the Christian life view i.e. the person and work of […]
All Hallows’ Eve
‘‘Knock knock.’’ ‘‘Who’s there?’’ ‘‘Trick or treat.’’ ‘‘What?’’ ‘‘Give us something we want or we’ll play a trick on you.’’ Why is it that that little greeting doesn’t seem as innocent as it once did? It wasn’t that long ago that no one cared that Halloween is one of the eight Sabbats of the WICCA […]
The Tradition Called ‘Church’
Christian churches must pause to ask why those young people, many of whom were reared in church-going families, failed to find genuine community and fellowship in the church. We should neither sacrifice authentic fellowship nor indulge in what some call ‘‘koinoniaitis.’’ Fellowship cannot be treated as an end in itself, but rather as a means […]
World Youth Day
Colorado has been an interesting place to live in 1993. We’ve watched Amendment 2, Dan’s Bake Sale, Pat Schroeder’s hair style, and now World Youth Day. This last event has been the most amazing by far. 375,000 Catholics from 70 countries of the world came here to observe the Mass from their holiest priest. This […]
Pardon Me?
I’m sure that when Congregationalist John Harvard founded the school in 1636 that still bears his name, and Puritan minister John Eliot was busy converting and civilizing Massachusetts Indians, they were not anticipating the recent article in the Harvard Theological Review by Roy Bowen Ward. According to Ward, first century Christians had no hang-ups on […]
Democracy and Christianity
I’m glad to be a Christian living in America. But I must admit that as another July 4th comes and goes, it is getting more difficult to put my hand on my heart, which belongs to a holy Savior, and pledge allegiance to what I see around me! I’m not a pessimist. I’m not a […]