Faith and good works are in no way mutually exclusive. It is certainly important to stress that we do not come to faith by doing good works, as if we could somehow buy our way into the kingdom of God. But real faith gives rise to good works naturally, just as a tree bears fruit or a vine bears grapes…. Faith, then, is active, seeking to express itself in the way we live, not just the way we think.
— Alister McGrath, I Believe (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1991), 23.
To call God “Father” and be filled with anxiety and doubts is to deny his name.
— John R. W. Stott, Basic Christianity (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 1980), 66.
As the song goes “Christmas time is here.” People are busy shopping, baking, and reliving their special Yuletide traditions. For many churches, the Christmas traditions include Advent ceremonies.
Advent, which means “coming,” is the celebration of Jesus Christ’s first coming into the world to rescue sinners from God’s inevitable just wrath and the anticipation of his hoped for second coming. Continue reading
Posted in America, Christmas, Reflections
Tagged Advent, Christmas, church calendar, country, faith, family, Incarnation, Jesus Christ, traditions
Recently a newspaper reporter asked me to respond to two provocative questions: (1) “Is it necessary to leave reason and move to faith in order to embrace Christianity?” and (2) “If there are strong arguments in support of Christianity’s actually being true, then why aren’t more people, particularly intelligent, well-educated people, persuaded as to its truth?” Continue reading
Posted in Faith, Rationality, Reason
Tagged disbelief, faith, nonrational, persuasion, rationality, reason, talking to people about Christianity
My hope is that this blog will help and challenge Christians to think carefully about the implications of their worldview.
-Kenneth Richard Samples
Straight Thinking I Didn’t Know That!
