Opinion

Is God Dead?

Last week, we began to scratch the surface of a story that goes back to the very basement of time: the story of the Jewish people. Since the idea of “history” is defined by Oxford as “the whole series of past events connected with someone or something,” then the Jewish story is not merely a story but is a “history” told by the Jewish people of their past, their relationship with Yahweh, and their prophetic expectations for the future. In short, it is what the Christian theologian Kavin Rowe calls the story of everything.

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No shame is too deep for Christ to cover

About a month ago, the community of El Dorado was hit with horrendous news regarding a young teenage boy’s tragic death at the hands of evil manipulators. One issue at the heart of “sextortion” is shame. It’s not the only factor, but it’s a significant one. We don’t talk much about shame in our culture. One reason is that we’re not like many Eastern cultures—an honor/shame society. If you enjoy watching films or reading books by Jane Austen or of a similar genre, you read a lot about the importance of honor and shame. But even if we are not an honor/shame society outwardly, these issues remain deeply human and, more importantly, Gospel issues.

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How can you live God’s idea of community?

Community. It’s a word that conjures thoughts, images, and emotions. Maybe it’s a parade rolling down Main St., supporting the high school sports team and that pride in performance, the idea of an old school barn raising, or the heroic efforts of first responders in a crisis- however amazing thoughts the word “community” might gather, falls far short of God’s idea of community.

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Is God Dead?

From the moral argument presented over the last few weeks, we determined that since the Great Designer and Creator is necessary for moral values to exist in created humans, He must be a Moral Being Himself who has imparted moral values to human beings —via the imago Dei—with the expectation that they are obligated to fulfill His moral standards. God Himself is an infinitely Moral and infinitely Just Being, both attributes necessary for infinite love. In other words, the Purposeful, Spiritual, Creator and Designer of the universe, God, is a Moral and Just Being who imparted moral values into the spiritual consciousness of human beings whom He created in His image and likeness with the expectation that they embrace and fulfill His Moral Law.

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Devotion: Reflection

Thirty years ago, I had the great privilege of living and studying in Rome, Italy at the Gregorian University. One of the blessings of the two years that I lived there was being asked to serve as a spiritual director for young women who were discerning a religious calling to join the Missionaries of Charity, the religious community founded by Mother Teresa of Calcutta. Four different times, I met and visited with this incredible woman of faith. Mother Teresa often said that there were two types of hunger in the world: physical hunger and spiritual hunger.

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