parables of a prodigal world

**UPDATE: You can also read this article in Precipice Magazine .** In other words, can an attorney be a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ? A Christian attorney? Isn't that like saying "a married bachelor"? But seriously... As you might imagine, this is one of the most central and difficult question with which I have grappled since I began to call Jesus "Lord" some three years ago, 9 years after I became licensed to practice law in the State of California. The short answer I'd give, at this point in my grappling, is "With men it is impossible, but not with God: for with God all things are possible." Now for the long answer. First, it depends a little on your area of practice. But not much. For my purposes here, I'm talking about the garden-variety tax attorney, litigation attorney, corporate attorney, but I'm also including the civil rights attorney, the attorney who focuses on issues of social and political justice, the attorney who defend...

"What is truth?" The famous, final query of the official interrogation of Jesus by Pontius Pilate in John 18. The quintessential "postmodern" question, asked some 2,000 years ago. And Jesus, famously, gives no answer. Why? Lotta reasons. One is that Pilate was not really on an open-minded, truth-seeking mission, and it didn't take Jesus long to figure that out. Pilate wanted to know if Jesus thought of himself as a king. Jesus tried to explain the nature of His kingship: "My kingdom is not from this world. If my kingdom were from this world, my followers would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jews." Pilate's response? "A-ha! So you do think you're a king!" I had a similar experience once. A man who was vehemently opposed to church, etc., commented to me that he would never allow himself to be so "controlled." I tried to bust out a Jesus-before-Pilate type response, saying something to the effect that we a...

I guess it would be an understatement to say that much has been written of late about Todd Bentley and the Lakeland revival. I could link to some really good posts about the subject, but I'm pushing 40 and I'm not sure I have that many years left in me. So here's my two cents about the whole issue of miracles, healing, etc., notwithstanding (or in light of) the whole Bentley fiasco. Miracles and healing happen all around us, even if God isn't, and never was, performing any through Todd Bentley. Most of us don't notice, unless its one of those really "glitzy" ones. But even when we do notice, it would be all too easy to view these types of stories, as many people of faith do, within a deistic framework of a distant God who occasionally intervenes to do strange things within an otherwise normal space-time universe. Beside the obvious danger of completely mischaracterizing the God of the Judeo-Christian worldview, the God of creation and covenant, the God who...

This week in the blogosphere (or that little bit of in on which I keep an eye): Trevin Wax's wonderful series on his list of the Top 5 Christian Theologians in history . Can't argue with his selections. As for the future of theology, Scot McKnight says that lies with the Wright brothers (N.T. and Christopher). Kathey Escobar does another marvelous piece on the audacity of those of us who think we are called to change the world. Doug Wilson has a pretty critical series on a book by one of my favorite all time theologians, David Bentley Hart. Mofast responds , in more or less exactly the way I would have. Eugene Cho, in his own special way, responds to the Spanish eye-slanting photo with a wonderful piece called " My Slanted Eyes are Beautiful. " Michael Spencer on Christian art . Brandon Rhodes waxes eloquent on the difficulty of evangelism for us emerging types . Great introductory photo, by the way: Thanks to Michael Hyatt, President and CEO of Thomas Nelson Publ...