Blog Posts
Romans 12:2
The theme of the last three months was „The pattern of this world“. In Romans 12,2 the apostle Paul admonishes us not to conform to the patterns of this world, but to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. So I tried to dismantle some of the patterns of which we are often not aware, because we grew up with them and live and breathe in them - and I tried to point out what Christ’s perspective and alternative could be…
Possible?
„You can do anything - just believe in yourself!“ Does that sound familiar? It’s one of those standard secular lies. It sounds astonishingly similar to Jesus’ statement „If you have faith, you can tell a mountain to move“ (Mt 17,20), or like Paul’s saying „I can do all things through Christ“ (Phil 4,13)…
Professionals
Our society tends to believe in the power of professionals. If you have any kind of difficulty - be it financial, medical, mental or whatever -, you ought to speak with a professional. A professional is someone who has studied the field, has a certificate, and knows the answer to your problem. Also if you are a teacher, you are expected to think, speak and act professionally…
The Bucket List
Are you familiar with this term? Apparently it became a worldwide metaphor through the movie with the same name in 2007, where two men (Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman) who are terminally ill, meet in a hospital room and join to accomplish their list of things to do before they die. Thanks to the blatant wealth of the white man Cole, they succeed largely with their primarily selfish goals…
Standing Firm
Human nature is weak and easily seduced by temptations - that is demonstrated already in the story of Adam and Eve, but also in our daily lives: How hard it is to discipline ourselves to do our exercises, or to resist the whisperings of chocolate, or coffee, or …
Judgmental vs. Judging
One of the seven lies that Elizabeth Urbanowicz exposes is „A loving God would not judge“. She recounts how one day she pointed out to a second-grader that she had written her letters J the wrong way round. The girl looked up at her and said sternly „Don’t judge me!“ Having talked with the class before about objective truth and subjective preferences, Elizabeth then asked the girl whether there was an objectively right way to spell the letter “J”…
Apologetics
Some Christians are reluctant about apologetics. They say „No one comes to faith in Christ through apologetics.“ Whether that’s true or not, depends on what you understand by „apologetics“. True is, however, that a shocking number of youths who were raised in Christian families, fall away from their faith during university. They have not learned to cope with the arguments of secular society against the Christian faith…
Alternatives
Jesus constantly warns against the false values of „the world“, and Paul, in one of my favorite verses (Rom 12,2) says plainly: „Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.“…
Competition
Our western society has become so drenched with the idea of competition that we don’t notice anymore. We have become used to asking „What did you like best about …?“ or „Which is your favorite …?“ or „Who is the best …?“ These are all questions of competition. But why should I elect one aspect, one asset, one person over all the others…
Emotions
Our western society over-emphasizes emotions. Emotions are fickle. They need the assistance of reason in order to contribute to a productive life. I would say, we are influenced by our feelings, AND we can influence them. It works both ways, but to be CONTROLLED by feelings is to be enslaved by them. That should not be…
Attitudes
I went a bit far last week by saying the Fruit of the Spirit (Gal 5,22) are attitudes. I was using worldly terms. In worldly terms it is true. Attitudes are formed by drawing moral conclusions from our experiences. It is our choice what we make of our experience. Facing adversity, we can give up or persevere…