Defending Wrong

I always tell JJ to live centered between the hands–you know, “on the one hand…but on the other hand…”

Eagle, Mouse, and Ethics

All through the day today I thought about what I would write in my blog when I had the opportunity.

Becoming Who You Hate

All my family is still sleeping. I am the first one up, and I have been drinking coffee as I snuggle in my quilt visiting various websites with my laptop. I think it’s amazing that I can visit people all over the country and world while snuggled in a quilt.

Relationship AND Rules (or Mount St. Helen AND Marriage)

I feel a need to re-emphasize what I wrote in my last post, because I know that it could be easy to overlook what I am trying to say, and hear only one part, and I want BOTH parts to be heard.

An Offensive God

I think it was C.S. Lewis, one of my favorite authors, who wrote that every generation has it’s strengths and weaknesses. Often, the current generation feels superior to previous generations, not realizing that while they may be stronger in some characteristics, a previous generation was stronger in others. So one generation might understand the love of God better, but other generations understood God’s holiness better, or had more courage in suffering, or had a deeper humility, or better grasp of obedience. Lewis suggested that people read books from all generations, and not just modern books, because if we read only books from the current generation, we gain only its strengths and all of it’s weaknesses. In reading books from every generation, we learn from the strengths of every generation and minimize weaknesses. I think that is wise advice.

The Opposite Truths of Forgiveness

This is the second of a series of posts about forgiveness. The first post in the series is here.


Forgiveness is not easy or simple. Oh, we forgive people many times every day for minor offenses, but the greater the offense, the more serious the wound, the deeper the pain we feel, and the more difficult to forgive. It can take years to forgive serious wrongs, as a person goes through the stages of grief and the steps of healing. 

So You Think You Can Dance?

The administrator of a Facebook group asked the following question awhile back: The Bible promises “Truth will set you free,” right? Is it just me, or do Bible quoters and Bible Pushers seem like the most bound up, un-free people in the world?

Spiritual Tensions

I used to think I had God and faith all figured out–I knew what God liked and didn’t like. I knew what pleased Him and what didn’t. I knew what He would do and not do. I had all the answers–or, at least, most of them. As I study Hebrew, I see the awesome depth and beauty of  Scripture, and there are many things that were confusing to me that I understand more. However, the more I learn about God and experienced life with Him, the more I realize that God is so much MORE than I ever imagined: more awesome, more incomprehensible, more immense, more surprising. I realize don’t have all the answers of how He ought, should, and will act–I can only sit back with my jaw opened in amazement. Before, He was safe. But now I realize, to quote the Beaver in C.S. Lewis’ The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, that though He is utterly GOOD, He is definitely not safe. He can’t be contained in my little “box” of expectations.

Opposite Truths

One of the things I’ve been thinking about for several years is the thought that two seemingly opposite truths can both be true at the same time. I see it all through the Bible. For example, Jesus was God AND man. The Bible was written by men AND inspired by God. God is sovereign AND we also have freewill. God chooses us AND we also choose Him. We are to love sinners AND hate the sin. We must live in freedom AND not let our freedom become a “license to sin.”

I found out later, after I had pondered it for a year or two, that this “opposite but truth” truths is a Hebraic thing. Greek thought has “either/or” beliefs: “either” this is true “or” that is true, but not both.  The Jews, however, believe that two opposite truths can both be true. They are ok with not understanding everything, and with God being “mysterious.” In some book or another (I can’t remember which one) I read that there is a Hebrew phrase that says “These, also, are the words of God” meaning that two opposite things can both be true.

I believe that if we go to an extreme of one belief to the exclusion of the other, we fall into error. For example, if a person hates sin without loving the sinner, he becomes a hateful, judgmental, self-righteous person. However, if he loves the sinner and the sin, he loses his hold on truth and righteousness. Only in standing balanced between loving the sinner AND hating the sin can a person stand firm in truth.

I believe that many centuries of debate in the church, many new denominations, many church splits, have been the result of not understanding that “these, also, are the words of God.” Does God choose us or do we choose Him? Is God a God of justice or mercy? The answer is “yes.”