Faith
Ask an Anti Skeptic: Do you need God to be good?
Do you need God to be good? I think a lot of Christians would quote something like Isaiah 64 on this one: “All our righteous acts are like filthy rags.” Or they might point to the words of Jesus to the Rich Young Ruler in Mark 10: “No one is good except God.” However, the standard of good [...]
Can Christians Cuss?
Great Uncle Leroy My great-uncle Leroy is a man of no uncertain force. After serving in World War II, he came home from the Navy with an imposing anchor tattoo on his forearm. He went from near illiteracy to being a high-school English teacher in only a couple of years. And he loved to box; [...]
Ask an anti-skeptic: Guaranteed spots in heaven?
If you go to church, do you have a guaranteed spot in heaven? What if you constantly skip church but lead a very good life? I like this question, because I think it gets the heart of most people’s understanding of religion, which is basically that the point of religion is to ‘get into heaven.’ And if [...]
Depression in the (post) modern church
Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take; The clouds ye so much dread Are big with mercy and shall break In blessings on your head. – William Cowper, Light Shining Out of Darkness (God Moves in Mysterious Ways) The Problem of William Cowper In Evangelical circles, the story of slave-trader-turned-pastor John Newton is well known, as [...]
Movie Review: Dark Shadows
There are doubtlessly several directors capable of turning a campy long-running soap opera into a compelling two-hour movie. Alas, Tim Burton really doesn’t belong on the list. The spooky, kooky auteur may be our most successful oddball visual stylist, but as a storyteller he often tends to lose focus – sometimes pleasantly and sometimes maddeningly [...]
Derek Webb: The conscientious rebel
The human brand We like our heroes to be linear. We like to see them grow at a steady incline until they transcend all possibility of self-doubt and failure. Ideally, they’ll do more than show us the way — they’ll walk it on our behalf. And if they stumble, they’ll at least deliver a handsome [...]
Story of Burqa [DOXA 2012 Film Review]
The Story of Burqa: The case of the confused Afghan To Afghan Canadian filmmaker Brishkay Ahmed in any and all cases the burqa is a tool of oppression. Ahmed begins her film, Story of Burqa in Vancouver where she stands on a street corner and asks a woman passing by to try on the full-length [...]
Movie Review: The Avengers
“Everybody loves a hero. People line up for them, cheer them, scream their names. And years later, they’ll tell how they stood in the rain for hours just to get a glimpse of the one who taught them how to hold on a second longer.” -Aunt May, Spider-Man 2 That wonderfully sentimental and corny speech from [...]
Ask an Anti Skeptic: Do you need God to be good?
Do you need God to be good? I think a lot of Christians would quote something like Isaiah 64 on this one: “All our righteous acts are like filthy rags.” Or they might point to the words of Jesus to the Rich Young Ruler in Mark 10: “No one is good except God.” However, the standard of good [...]
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