I think sincerity certainly does count for something. But I also believe it counts for less than we think it does. There are sincere people, for instance, who don’t believe that Jesus is the only way to Heaven.
In Galatians 1:10 Paul says, “Am I now trying to win the approval of men or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ.” Paul makes it clear that God is the One we’re supposed to please.
I came to Christ at an uncool church (not the one in the photo, but built in the same era). Coming from the family of a tavern owner, and never having been part of a church, it was strange to hear the way people spoke, how they dressed (the men wore suits and ties) and what they sang, including occasional songs in Swedish.
Last Thursday the internet exploded with the Louie Giglio “scandal.” What was this outrageous revelation? An eighteen-year-old recording of a sermon Louie preached. His sermon actually shows that—wait for it—this Christian pastor believed and taught what the Bible has said, and virtually all Christians have believed, for two thousand years.
As a fiction writer, and as a father and grandfather, this post by Nate Wilson resonated with me. I met Nate a while back at a Desiring God conference. He’s a good brother with a great point—the power of story, and the importance of saturating our children and grandchildren with the kind of stories that will, as Nate says, “Give them a taste for goodness, for truth, for beauty.”
Universalism: the belief that everyone will eventually go to Heaven.
The logic behind it goes something like this:
What I think about myself is important. We all have a self-image. But not all self-images are equally valid.
My father was the most resistant person to the gospel I’ve ever known. He warned me never to talk to him again about “that religious stuff.”
At age eighty-four, Dad was diagnosed with terminal cancer. One day he phoned, very upset.
On my Facebook page, someone asked: "Randy, you often mention that you and Nanci have been to a movie. I'm curious about what kind and rating of movies you attend. I'm interested in how you regard the type of movie (violence, sexual overtones, etc.). Should Christians knowingly attend such films? This of course also applies to TV programs."
If you’re not familiar with Os Guinness, he is an author and social critic who lives in the Washington DC area. He’s written or edited more than 25 books and is a frequent speaker and seminar leader at political and business conferences in both the United States and Europe. When Os and I were both speaking at the C. S. Lewis conference in Oxford in July, Nanci and I had a delightful dinner with him and his wife Jenny.
I'm the author of over 40 books and the founder and director of Eternal Perspective Ministries. I love Jesus, my wife Nanci, and our daughters, sons and five grandsons!
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