II spend a good deal of my time spiritually mentoring 20- to 30-year-old men, often single. And I'm still shocked when they freely disclose without a hint of embarrassment that they're living with their girlfriend. I'd expect this indifference to violating God's moral laws from non-Christians. But I often get the same response from men raised in Christian homes and who actually attend church with their girlfriends! They often ask me to name a verse in the Bible that clearly p

We're continuing the conversation about Jesus and religion. I said last week I don't think Jesus hated it, but to be sure he was wary of some aspects of it and we should be as well. I asked the group of Christian high school students in Panera I wrote about last week this question, "What bothers you most about religion?" Young adults will often describe a church where the congregation sang with gusto, "I surrender all…", but obviously didn't. "Take my silver and my gold, no

"Mr. De Graaf, do you think Jesus hates religion?" A decade ago I’d just spoken at a local Christian high school chapel and was now meeting after school hours at Panera with 16 kids who had questions about my talk, when this question was asked. There was a YouTube video by a young rapper Jefferson Bethke entitled "Why I Hate Religion, But Love Jesus", that has been viewed by over 19,000,000 people! If you have kids or grandchildren the chances are they've watched it too, and

I once heard Ken Davis, a Christian comedian tell this humorous story of a Christian who gets on an empty city bus, walks to the rear, and sits down. “Lord,” he prays, “if you want me to speak to someone about you please give me a sign. At the next stop another passenger gets on, goes all the way to the back and sits right down next to the Christian. "Do you know anything about Jesus?" the passenger asks. The Christian excuses himself for a moment and slowly bows his head onc