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Sloth

Sloth, the besetting sin of our age!

Sloth has been considered one of the seven deadly sins for much of Church history.  It can be described differently when viewed from different angles.  In the world, it can call “itself Tolerance, but in hell it is

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Reclaiming Conversation

Making a case for face-to-face conversation in an age of digital connection…

It may be the techies themselves who give us some of our better advice in the debate about the use of communications technology.  Kevin Kelly, senior maverick for Wired magazine, has written that smartphones are the new “sugar and

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Glittering Vices--DeYoung

Shaping and misshaping the human soul…

Most contemporary Christian writing on spiritual growth and development ignores centuries of teaching on the virtues and vices.  This unfortunate development misses many rich resources for spiritual formation.  It puts us at risk of “misunderstanding both our past

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Eclipse of Heaven - A J Conyers

Why heaven may be full of laughter…

It makes sense!  Humor is a natural character quality that results from what the apostle Paul describes as the fruit of the Spirit:  love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.  Real humor requires perspective,

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Mere Christianity 2

The vice of which no one in the world is free…

In the fourth section of Mere Christianity, “Christian Behavior,” C. S. Lewis comes to what he calls “the great sin.”  It is the sin which stands in polar opposition to the virtue of humility.  Pride or self-conceit,

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I Am Charlotte Simmons

The sexualization of the American college…

“Dorm Brothel” was published in Christianity Today in 2005.  In this article, Vigen Guroian provided a small window into the sexual chaos on American campuses that Tom Wolfe’s novel, I Am Charlotte Simmons, had chronicled in greater detail

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Humpty Dumpty

How getting love wrong leads to culture wars…

Humpty Dumpty is alive and well in contemporary culture.  His view of language has escaped the pages of Alice in Wonderland and shapes the most important debates of our day.  “When I use a word,” Humpty Dumpty said,

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Mark Driscoll

Mark Driscoll, integrity, and the sound of silence…

Seattle pastor Mark Driscoll continues to undermine his once-recognized opportunity to be reckoned among leading Evangelical pastors.  This latest incident comes with revelations that Driscoll, and leaders at his Mars Hill church in Seattle, devised a scheme that enabled

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Patience--Boy with Squirrel

How we’re wired to be impatient and how one art teacher is resisting…

Technology is not neutral—it wires our expectations.  It enables our desires to be satisfied with ever increasing immediacy.  The two-day delivery of Amazon Prime is not about to become passé.  But like the other giant retailers Walmart

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C. S. Lewis

Pride, the sin of “over-against”…

The posture of pride is “over-against” — over-against both man and God.  C. S. Lewis calls it the “great sin” and devotes a whole chapter to pride in Mere Christianity.  He helps us see that

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