Author: jon

Reinventing Ourselves: An Act of Despair or of Faith?

Reinventing Ourselves: An Act of Despair or of Faith?

We all are in a process which in effect is a constant growing, even re-inventing of ourselves. That can have a good side if the reinvention builds upon what is right and good and lasting (I’m thinking for myself of my Christian faith). But reinvention in our culture is sold to us as imperative. Beware the life narrative that starts […]

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A highly pertinent question

A highly pertinent question

Good Friday Church Service, Jesus People USA – Photo Jon Trott (c) 2010 “What is it that leads you to Christianity today?” [This question, along with my answer, comes from my face book page. I’d like to thank Sean Huncherick for asking the question.] Q: Clearly you’ve done a good amount of research on different beliefs, so I have to […]

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ALLERGY to FACTS: Rush Limbaugh Defends Uganda’s “Lord’s Resistance Army” as “Christian”

ALLERGY to FACTS: Rush Limbaugh Defends Uganda’s “Lord’s Resistance Army” as “Christian”

Background: October 14, 2011, President Barack Obama announced he was sending 100 troops to Uganda as advisors in locating and defeating The Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA). While to those unfamiliar with the LRA this might have come as a surprise, it bears noting that — in a show of unity remarkable for this congress — a vote to provide aid […]

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“The first person I see” – Soren Kierkegaard’s Christian Ethics of Love (C. Stephen Evans)

“The first person I see” – Soren Kierkegaard’s Christian Ethics of Love (C. Stephen Evans)

[by C. Stephen Evans – from Cornerstone Archives, Issue 116] Everyone agrees that Love lies at the Center of the Christian Life. There can be no intellectual task more important for the Church than the task of developing an understanding of the nature of Christian love, and what that love demands from us in the form of action. This is […]

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C. S. Lewis’ WWI-inspired “Spirits in Bondage” reveals the ghosts he was haunted by

C. S. Lewis’ WWI-inspired “Spirits in Bondage” reveals the ghosts he was haunted by

C. S. Lewis in 1917, left, with friend Earnest Moore during World War I. Moore was later killed, as were many of Lewis' friends. Lewis, due a promise to Moore, cared for (for a time may have loved) Moore's mother. Threads of despair and fantasy are woven together in a poetic work C. S. Lewis, best known for his post-conversion […]

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Reading the Bible to Break Your Heart

Reading the Bible to Break Your Heart

Some times, even for someone who’s been doing it for over thirty-nine years, reading the Bible can be like being ambushed by a Grizzly Bear. I’m not talking about some passage that is one of those “Why did God put *that* in there?” problem passages that folks sometimes use as an excuse to toss the whole thing. I’m talking instead […]

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Porn and young males: “Creating guys unable to navigate complexities of real life relationships.”

Porn and young males: “Creating guys unable to navigate complexities of real life relationships.”

Young men are becoming hooked on arousal via online porn, according to Psychologist Philip Zimbardo and Nikita Duncan. And as they do so, this results in catastrophe for both schoolwork and relationships with others.As the two researchers’ CNN article notes, such on-line images highly stimulate the brain. Parallels to drug addiction are partially correct, but not entirely: “[T]he attraction [in […]

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Equity Gap Doubles Between Whites and Minorities: Race, Wealth, and Empathy

Equity Gap Doubles Between Whites and Minorities: Race, Wealth, and Empathy

In the face of the Great Recession, Whites, Asians, Hispanics, and Blacks have experienced a loss in median household net worth since 2005. But U.S. Census figures show it is minorities who have taken the biggest economic hit, with the gap between them and whites nearly doubling in just five years. Asians, Blacks, and Hispanics saw their net worth shrink […]

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A Careful Intimacy: Women, Men, Sex, Friendship, and Faith

A Careful Intimacy: Women, Men, Sex, Friendship, and Faith

Two college students, a man and a woman, are friends. They each are looking for a roommate to share an apartment with, and decide there’s nothing wrong with the two of them platonically sharing one. A preacher who is married has grown quite close to another woman on his staff, and spends increasing amounts of time with her. More and […]

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An Existentialist Farm Boy’s Slow Fall Toward Jesus

An Existentialist Farm Boy’s Slow Fall Toward Jesus

Six years ago… or was it longer?… I was asked to pinch hit with a Sunday Sermon (the JPUSA pastors were out of town or something). What I offered up was a sort of old-school “testimony,” rough-hewn and homely. Here it is, this time with photos and a few minor corrections.     A Montana farm boy that had two […]

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