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Faith in the Book of Acts

March 8, 2012 in Bible with 5 Comments

This post is part of a series on faith in the New Testament.

Here is a look at our fifth book in the New Testament filtering through all the examples we see of the word faith. This post will exhaustively look at every example we see in the book of Acts with a brief commentary on each.

Acts 3:16

By faith in the name of Jesus, this man whom you see and know was made strong. It is Jesus’ name and the faith that comes through him that has completely healed him, as you can all see.

Here we have a healing attributed to a man’s faith. There is a coupling of faith and the name of Jesus in reference to the power that was displayed.

Do We Need Less Morality?

March 5, 2012 in Church, Reading with 11 Comments

“The world has far too much morality. If you added up all the homicides committed in pursuit of self-help justice, the casualties of religious and revolutionary wars, the people executed for victimless crimes and misdemeanors, and the targets of ideological genocides, they would surely outnumber the fatalities from amoral predation and conquest. The human moral sense can excuse any atrocity in the minds of those who commit it, and it furnishes them with motives for acts of violence that bring them no tangible benefit.”

I recently read this in Steven Pinker’s book The Better Angels of Our Nature. The book is a VERY in depth look at why violence has declined throughout history (832 pages in-depth). It is truly a fascinating read but Pinker is certainly not kind to God and religion. Particularly the stereotypical views of God and religion but many people may not be able to discern between the two unless they have experienced a healthy church that contradicts many of these types of stereotypes.

The Role of the Artist

February 28, 2012 in Creativity, Jesus with 4 Comments

“Artists use lies to tell the truth, while politicians use them to cover the truth up.”

I’ve always thought of that as a profound truth. Especially because I first heard it in one of my favorite movies.

You see this in the following video. It is the most fascinating five minutes you’ll spend today.

In Need of a Cloud

February 16, 2012 in Bible with 4 Comments

I came across Numbers chapter nine in my Bible reading plan this week. Verses 15-23 talk about the time when Israel had left Egypt and was wandering in the desert. Their method of when to camp and when to walk was totally dependent upon God.

The Bark of the Poodle

February 8, 2012 in Life with 5 Comments

It is never the doberman who says to the poodle, “I too am a dog.”

I originally heard this quote from my dad who credited C.S. Lewis with saying it. After Googling it to pieces I wasn’t able to find any trace of it. So I’ll credit it to my dad until someone can find who originally said it.

The poodle feels the need to convince the doberman that he is his equal. The doberman, secure in his own reality as a dog, doesn’t need to convince anyone of anything. The brevity of the quote misleads how profound of a reality this is.