Theology

Kindness is one of God’s communicable attributes, those He shares with humans in some measure. We use the word often when we speak of a kind person or a kind gesture. THE SOURCE OF KINDNESS If we are called to emulate God’s character, we must go to the Teacher himself. We must be thoroughly...

When considering the communicable attributes of God - those attributes of his that he has graciously shared with his creatures – it’s not often that I think of His being Spirit. Usually I think of attributes like love, kindness, wisdom, grace, or goodness as less abstract than spirit. [1] However,...

I remember hearing this question in a Bible study more than once, and this was the common answer: “Mercy is not getting what we deserve.” While it's short and pithy, is mercy as simplistic as that? Is it only the commutation of a sentence or stay of execution? Or is mercy much richer and deeper? To...

Maria Fearing and the Mission to the Congo If you think you are too old for something you wish to do, Maria Fearing can prove you wrong. She learned to read when she was 33 and became a missionary at 56. She would have continued until her death if the Presbyterian mission board hadn’t stopped her...

“The guy upstairs.” “The big man in the sky.” These are just two of the more common, modern slang terms for God. Aside from being utterly irreverent, they transgress the Second Commandment of having no graven images of God in that they grossly mistake this important attribute of God: His...

Georgi Vins and the Christian Resistance to Soviet Religious Persecution On April 26, 1979, 50-year-old Georgi Petrovich Vins was woken up in his cell in the labor camp where he had been serving sentence for four years. He was asked to change into his own clothes, flown to Moscow, then told that he...

The world is, at its very core, divided. There are divisions between races, between nations, between political parties, and on and on it goes. Even within our own selves we are divided. We desire to do good, but our flesh drives us to do evil. God is not like this. God is not divided. The doctrine...

Some people love a good surprise. They delight to see what others have planned for a special birthday or anniversary. The unknown makes it all the more exciting. What will it be? A special dinner? A new outfit? An exotic trip? Half the fun is the anticipation of the gift. When it comes to the...

Recently I had been thinking about how to minister to several members of our congregation because of what God is calling them to go through again which will surely tax their energy and emotions. I had also been pondering what we are all going through in the present state of pandemic uncertainty. So...

The answer to Hamlet’s famous question “To be or not to be?” is simple for God. God can only “be.” He is “I am,” meaning He exists infinitely and independent of anything, without beginning or end, as the source and sustainer of all things. There has never been a time where God has not existed in...