I’ve had the privilege of meeting a half a dozen or more Christians in my lifetime who were seriously contemplating ending their lives. These weren’t just average people going through depression. One young business owner, whose family called me late one night, had a gun in the drawer of his desk in his office. Another successful professional, whose wife frantically called me had been contemplating ending his life for weeks. They and the rest were dead serious about putting an end to it once and for all.

Every single one of them asked me The Question, “Do Christians who commit suicide to go to heaven?” I was afraid if I told them what I really believed, they might just do it. So I lied. “I’m not sure,” I told them. And if that was a sin, I was willing to commit it to scare them into choosing life.

On this topic, theologically, I’m way over my pay-grade. So the following are the views of Pastor John Piper, one of the most conservative and respected pastors and theologians in the country.
(more…)

This is a guest blog by Dr. Preston Sprinkle. Preston has a PhD in New Testament, taught at Cedarville and Eternity Bible Colleges and co-wrote a book with Francis Chan. He’s also a close friend and co-founder with me of The Center for Faith, Sexuality and Gender. www.centerforfaith.com. Preston and his amazing family living what he teaches.

I’m one of those guys who has an extra sensitive Christian cliché antenna. Some call it a BS meter. It picks up on all kinds of chatter through the church airwaves and demands a concrete explanation. So when I hear Christians say “I want to become more like Jesus,” my meter goes nuts. Not that it’s a bad thing. Becoming more like Jesus is a good thing. But what is this good thing? What does it look like? What does it smell like? What does it mean to “become more like Jesus?”

(more…)

In Luke we have this familiar story:

As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him.  She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said.  But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!”

“Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed—or indeed only one.  Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.” Luke 10:38-42

Most of my life, I’ve not been all that wild about Mary, because I’m a Martha. I’m a doer. I like getting things done for the kingdom of God. I like organizing things, starting new ministries, teaching and leading.

Mary’s don’t seem all that interested in moving forward or pitching in with the work. They’re happy and thankful when you or other do it, but they are generally people, people. They hang out with people and they love quiet times of contemplation and Bible study. They’d rather “be,” than “do.”

Does Jesus favor Mary’s?
(more…)

A few weeks ago, I gathered with our older grandchildren (high school and college) for what they call Papa School. They suggest topics they’d like to discuss about the Christian life, the Bible, history – you name it and I try to answer them.

One of the questions they asked was “how can we say with confidence, all other religions are wrong and we are right?” You can read my blog “The Myths That Not-Yet Christians Believe About God” for the answer to that question.

But one of the other impromptu questions during that discussion was this, “Papa, what if the Bible isn’t true and there’s nothing after death?”
(more…)