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Here’s What’s Wrong With God Looking Through the “Filter” of Jesus to See His Children

It’s supposed to be encouraging when we hear that God the Father sees His children through the filter of His Son Jesus Christ. I’ve seen Christians almost come to tears when they talk about how God the Father is wearing “blood-colored glasses” to look at us, seeing the righteousness of His Son instead of our sinfulness. Continue reading “Here’s What’s Wrong With God Looking Through the “Filter” of Jesus to See His Children”

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“Your Greatest Problem Is Your Own Sin” (Guest Post by Valerie Jacobsen)

Religious Pharisees will tell believing children of God,

“No matter what you’re suffering, your greatest problem is your own sin.”

The ones I have known meant it this way:

Oh? You just heard that your child, or spouse, or parent is dead? Well, that’s very sad, but your greater problem is your own personal sin. Oh? Your husband is abusing you and your children? Well, that’s pretty bad—if it’s true—but your greater problem is your own personal sin.

I have heard this said to saints in the chains of slavery and oppression, to saints at the unexpected graveside, to saints in the most severe distress, suffering the greatest persecutions. Continue reading ““Your Greatest Problem Is Your Own Sin” (Guest Post by Valerie Jacobsen)”

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“Look To the Cross More”: A Response to the “Gospel-Centered” Movement

Last week I received a letter from my friend Ana. The first part of her first question read:

In the Reformed/Gospel-centered movement, the focus seems to be on how sinful and wicked and powerless we all are and how comforted and relieved we should be when we look to the cross. It seems like the answer to most problems is to look to the cross more. I don’t even know exactly what that means. For me, it encouraged a miserable cycle of wallowing in how awful I am and basing the Christian life on the feelings I get when I think of Jesus dying for me.

Here is my reply: Continue reading ““Look To the Cross More”: A Response to the “Gospel-Centered” Movement”

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A Gothard Girl Testifies About the “Root of Bitterness” (Guest Post by Lauren Rose)

A while back when I (Rebecca) was talking with some former ATI members (Bill Gothard’s Advanced Training Institute), I thought about the devastation, confusion, and even anti-Christianity that has resulted from this homeschooling program. I said aloud to myself, “Bill Gothard certainly has left a tremendous amount of destruction in his wake.”

Then I added under my breath, “Many were defiled.”

I saw that he was the very root of bitterness in Hebrews 12:15 that he himself loved to talk about.

Continue reading “A Gothard Girl Testifies About the “Root of Bitterness” (Guest Post by Lauren Rose)”

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“It’s Not About You”

Quiz time.

What’s wrong with that statement in the title?

Answer . . .

There’s no antecedent for the “it.” 

(As a writer, editor, and English teacher, I’m troubled by a missing antecedent because of the ambiguity it creates. And yes, that sentence was a little bit “about me.”)

So I had to do some research to find out what people think the “it” refers to. Turns out different people think it refers to different things. Imagine that. Gotta love ambiguity. Continue reading ““It’s Not About You””

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Will God Send Leanness to Your Soul?

Here’s something we taught our children from the time they were old enough to understand:

Sometimes the worst punishment a person can get is what he wants.

I remmeber how astonished our children were with that teaching. It took much discussion for them to even begin to grasp it.

And of course our Biblical example was the Israelites, who turned from God and got what they wanted—lots and lots of quail. So much that it came out of their noses, as Numbers 11 so colorfully describes. Continue reading “Will God Send Leanness to Your Soul?”

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You Should Come to Church to “Give” and Not to “Get”

Years ago when we were visiting a large and well-endowed fundamentalist church here in Greenville, South Carolina, the Sunday school teacher went on a bit of a tirade about how wrong it was to come to church to “get.”

“You’re only supposed to come to church to GIVE,” he rebuked us. He went on to express his disgust with people who come to church wanting something, Continue reading “You Should Come to Church to “Give” and Not to “Get””