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Faith

Famous Nameless: Giving Grace Like a Slave Girl Chris Altrock – July 3, 2011

A Pew Research study found that nearly half of us have “Googled” our name.[1] This refers to typing your name in the Google Internet search engine to find out if there is any mention of you on the Internet.  Nearly half of us have Googled our name.  Why?  I think it’s because we want to find out if we have any notoriety.  We want to know how popular we are.  We want to know how many people might know our name.Read More »Famous Nameless: Giving Grace Like a Slave Girl Chris Altrock – July 3, 2011

Almost Christian: Living with the Wrong Confidence Chris Altrock – June 26, 2011

Psychologist Carl Pickhardt writes about fear and the future.[i] He says that before we turn 13 years old, the future is hardly even on our radar screen.  We rarely even think about the future.  From ages 13 to 15, however, we do start thinking about the future.  It suddenly shows up on our radar screen.  But it’s a small blip.  The present is still much more important to us than the future.  From ages 15-18 we really begin to think about the future.  And what we think about the future is that it will be fun.  We think about all the neat things we’ll get to do in the future: drive, graduate from high school, date, move away from home, etc.  But beginning at age 18, the future starts to concern us.  The weight and responsibility of the future looms ahead and we start getting anxious.Read More »Almost Christian: Living with the Wrong Confidence Chris Altrock – June 26, 2011

Doubt: When the Pain of Faith is Too Great (John 20:1-18)

During the French Revolution people were being executed every day. Three men were waiting for their death sentences to be carried out.[1] The first one was a priest. As he was brought to the guillotine, he was asked, “Do you have any last words?”  The priest said, “I believe God is going to save me.” He put his head underneath the blade, the blade came down, but then it stopped two inches from his neck. The executioner said, “This is a miracle,” and they let him go. The next man came up. Like the first, he was a priest. The executioner asked him, “Do you have any last words?” The second priest replied, “I believe God is going to save me.”  He put his head underneath the blade.  The blade came down, but then it stopped two inches from his neck.  They said, “This is a miracle,” and they let him go. The third man came up. He was a skeptic. He was a doubter.  The executioner asked him, “Do you have any last words?” Looking at the guillotine, he said, “Well, I think I see your problem.  There’s something jammed in the gear mechanism.”Read More »Doubt: When the Pain of Faith is Too Great (John 20:1-18)

Doubt: When the Proof of Faith is Too Small

Several years ago I got into a Bible study with a non Christian named Lon.  Lon was a financial analyst who might spend hours at work tracking down one mistake on a financial report.  When he watched television, he carried that same attitude with him.  He always asked questions and looked for errors or mistakes.  And he applied this same skeptical approach to faith.  Often when we studied the Bible together, we’d only make it through two or three verses before Lon would ask several questions that take the rest of our time to answer.  And he was rarely satisfied with my answers.  He always took the skeptic’s approach and kept pressing and prodding.  After studying with me almost weekly for an entire year, Lon decided he did not want any more.  He really didn’t believe Scripture.  He didn’t want to become a Christian.  He had too many doubts and reservations.  Some non Christians have a lot of doubts.Read More »Doubt: When the Proof of Faith is Too Small