Occasionally I’ll discover that some professor, preacher, or Bible teacher I greatly admire holds to at least one seemingly weird view. That one view will then capture my attention and hang in the back of my mind as I listen to them discuss other unrelated issues. The weird affirmation is like a pimple on the face of their systematic theology.

I figured, if we could have a visual representation, always on hand, then the girls would be able to remember. Perhaps we could place sections of the finished project on their walls, or have them laminated. That’s when the idea emerged to create a flowing and ongoing chronological mural that includes pictures drawn and colored by the ladies - from Genesis to Revelation. 

In the end I found myself sitting in a vast kingdom of gold on a pixelated 8-bit throne. My daughter was in her own kingdom far away in another land. We decided to go back to our simple life of work and community. I left the castle behind. 

Fish tales exist on blogs as well. One such case is the oft-repeated claim (whether you’ve head it or not) that atheists actually have more fulfilling sex lives. Is this true?

No longer can one even say, “man,” when referring to “mankind.” "Manmade," must be exchanged for “personmade,” or “handmade.”

In today’s blog, I break all the rules. If a skeptic provided me with a list like this in casual conversation, and I genuinely thought he was open to hearing what a Christian has to say, I would show kindness, humility and love. Nevertheless, you have to understand my own humanity. Occasionally, I hear enough atheist nonsense to provoke my inner Mr. Hyde. I feel a bit justified in this since sometimes a firm response is necessary. Still, if my words offend you, I apologize in advance.

Too many Christian writers, as far as I’m concerned, force a clunky story only so that they can create a moment for their protagonist to give a ten-page sermon. Preachiness is in the foreground and the dull story is in the backdrop like a dated baptismal mural behind the pastor. I didn’t want that. I wanted a story in which worldview issues would not be out of place. My goal was to have the story in the forefront and have the characters trip over, or be jarringly confronted with truth.

Richard Dawkins’ concern is the atheistic equivalent of the question, “If evolution is true shouldn’t all the monkeys have turned into people by now?,” and it has about the same level of intellectual prowess to recommend it (which is to say, not much).

How is it that in heaven we will never sin? It seems that in heaven we will lose the kind of freedom that non-Calvinists (like myself) suppose that we have. After all, Adam was created without sin and his freedom led to a sinful choice. He was just one man. Should we not expect that millions of men and women who posses free will would likewise fall? Surely at least one of them, given the everlasting future of things, would at some point . . . do something . . . wrong. If not, then it must be that the choice to sin will not be available to them. They must not be free in the sense that we imagine. Or will they?

Scripture presents its heroes warts-and-all! Noah gets drunk, Abraham and Isaac tell lies, David commits adultery, Paul starts out as a persecutor, and the list could continue. In fact, there are very few characters in Scripture (about whom we know much) for whom we do not have at least one big sin on record. Naturally, Jesus is in the spotless category, and of course one of the reasons Joseph is often considered to be a type of Christ is because he is more or less blameless too. We often downplay the sins of biblical heroes, but we also play up the negative events in the lives of those we consider to be antagonists. What follows is a discussion of three characters, just in the book of Genesis, that we often treat with contempt unnecessarily, or without much good evidence.