As Dostoevsky said, “If God does not exist, everything is permissible.”
Theists claim that people could not do good without God. But, people do good things all the time, even without believing in God. Atheists, agnostics and people of all stripes can do good things and they do good things.
Obviously, believing in God is not a prerequisite to doing good things. A better question, is whether good can exist without God?
If God does not exist, what basis exists for determining good or bad? Right or wrong? Continue reading “Can You Be Good Without God?”
German Chancellor Angela Merkel declared a year ago that Christians are the most persecuted religious group in the world today
I just watched God’s Not Dead 2. I know, I am a bit behind the times. But the movie sparked some thoughts about the plight of the Church in the US and around the world.
Before getting to the point, it’s worth noting that courtroom movies are usually not very realistic. Movies rarely get the courtroom scenes right. But, I was pleasantly surprised. They got it right! I am talking about the rules of evidence, the questioning of witnesses, the objections.
I am an attorney and did a brief in law school focusing on religious freedom in schools. That was a long ago, and I have not remained up to date on the details regarding how the law has evolved since then, but I pay attention to what is going on. I have represented public school districts, which has given me the opportunity to update my knowledge periodically.
Unfortunately, the odds in this country are increasingly being stacked against the believer. Continue reading “The Light Shines Lightest in the Darkness: the American & Global Church”
How much of our political motivation is rooted in our desire for an easy life, for familiar things, for things that are friendly to our faith? We need to search our hearts on a regular basis to be sure that we are not following after our own, human purposes and not God’s purposes.
What if God doesn’t see things the way we do?
What if God can be most effective and make the most change in the world and in people’s lives when circumstances are not favorable to the motivations and desires of Christians? What if God’s light shines most noticeably where darkness is greatest?
These are rhetorical questions, of course, and the answers are not often what we want them to be. Continue reading “Voting As Sojourners and Exhiles”
We don’t always think about the courage necessary to be a follower of Christ. Sure, we know the words that Jesus spoke: If you deny me before men, I will deny you before the Father.[1] But we tend to view those words through the fear of being found wanting.
Fear is a bad motivator. I don’t think our tendency to be afraid of losing our salvation serves us very well. Perfect love casts out all fear. God is looking for the courageous, not the fearful.
Jesus actually spoke those words in the context of fear.[2] And the message from Jesus is: do not fear! Continue reading “A Time for Courage”
Our freedoms in this country may just be the one thing that most undermines the Christian faith in the United States of America. This election cycle has had me doing lots of soul searching. In the process of that soul-searching, it dawns on me that our freedom to choose which person we will vote for in November puts us squarely in a position where we have to compromise our faith.
People have been talking about Donald Trump as if he were the Nebuchadnezzar of the present day, but he isn’t. The people in the days of Nebuchadnezzar had no choice. In the present day, we do have a choice. When Daniel was faced with compromising his faith or being a loyal servant of Nebuchadnezzar, he chose not to compromise his faith, in spite of the consequences.
He could have easily justified a different choice. Continue reading “Be Faithful to the Gospel This Election Season”
Wanda Waterman's Journal of Mindful Creativity
Lead Pastor at V1 CHURCH INC
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"The LONG VIEW ON THE HIGH ROAD" -- Intriguing perspectives on life
