Category Archive for: ‘Uncategorized’
Practical Ways to Reach Out to Muslims (Or Anyone Else). Tip #4: No Western Christian Culture
This is a tough one. The obvious follow-up question is, “How do we know the difference between what’s Western Christian culture and the good stuff?” Great question. Answer: It’s not easy to tell. Because no matter what we read and hear and believe, our experience …
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Practical Ways to Reach Out to Muslims (Or Anyone Else). Tip #3: Be A-Religious
After a talk I gave at Harvard one day, a Jewish grad student came to meet with me. She walked in loaded and ready for a fight. The first comment from her lips was, “I want you to know that I’m Jewish, and I don’t …
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Practical Ways to Reach Out to Muslims (Or Anyone Else). Tip #2: No Agenda
I know, we all have an agenda. Jesus had one. His was multifaceted. To serve. To teach twelve. To live in a way we could see the Father. To love. To die. And it seems the people he met never felt “used” by him. He …
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3 Tips to Make 2016 the Best Year Ever!
In May of 2001 I attended a Muslim-Christian dialogue conference in Baghdad hosted by none other than Saddam Hussein. About 5000 delegates from all different kinds of religious backgrounds, from all over the world. Mandaeans (followers of John the Baptist). Yazidis. Syriac, Chaldean, and Assyrian …
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People You Ought to Consider Supporting
Like you, Chris and I scramble at the end of the year asking the question, “Who should we send a year-end gift to?” It’s sort of a weird tradition. I mean, it all counts the same in both God’s eyes and in the eyes of …
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Do Muslims and Christians Worship the Same God?
You might think such a question should be simple. Yes. No. But answers about God and his nature have never been able to fit on the bumper of a car. The Bible is full of of descriptive passages as to God’s character, often using anthropomorphisms …
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When You Don’t Know What To Do
It was the evening of November 12th. Sitting with my dear friend Samir at his home in Saudi Arabia, I got a text from our daughter Anna who lives in Beirut: Don’t worry. I’m ok. “Why would she say that,” I asked Samir. He …
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The Bible: Is It Really That Complex?
Here is an essay introduction I wrote to the book of II Thessalonians for the recently released Jesus Centered Bible. **** First, a confession… I have no idea what “the man of lawlessness” referenced in 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12 is all about. This mysterious phrase is …
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What Have We Handcuffed to Jesus?
I like all my books. Really I do. Periodically, someone will ask me what book that I’ve written is my favorite. And, it is kind of like asking which of my kids is my favorite. After all, each was birthed through a fairly intense labor process …
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How Do We Really “Spread the Good News”?
Here is an essay introduction I wrote to the book of I Thessalonians for the recently released Jesus Centered Bible. **** Jesus in I Thessalonians More than I’ve seen in my lifetime, people in the church are divided over how we should most effectively spread …
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