The Templeton Committee met for the first time on October 21, 2015. Pastor Michael Tavella had received a $5000 grant from the John Templeton Foundation through the auspices of Earl Whipple, a staff member of the organization and a member of Holy Trinity Lutheran Church. The grant will be used to develop a manual for churches and individual Christians on how we should conduct ourselves when in conversation with atheists and others who do not attend Church (the “nones”), either one on one or in a public forum. The biblical basis for the project is I Peter 3: 15b-16. The proposal includes field testing the manual in church adult classes and then holding at least one public forum in which Christians and non-Christians dialogue with one another. These conversations will constitute a Christian defense of the faith (ἀπολογία, apologia, English-apology) and a witness to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Albert Camus was a French philosopher whose literary output included essays and novels. Recently, I read his book, La Chute (The Fall), adding to my list of The Stranger, The Myth of Sisyphus and Other Essays, and The Plague. The Fall is unusual in that it is a monologue of a man to an interlocutor whom the narrator…
To be a disciple of Christ means that we are engaged in a battle against evil. A central tension in the plot of the Gospels is Christ’s battle with the devil and the human opponents who represent him or defend his cause (see the confession at Caesarea Philippi in Matthew 16: 23 concerning Peter’s rebuke) …
The Church is divided. This is not news. Especially since the Reformation, the Church has not been able to speak with one voice. In America there exist hundreds of denominations and independent churches that can boggle the mind. How does this fact affect our witness? Doctrines vary from one church body to another. Confusion among…
Years ago, I happened to be in a Quaker meetinghouse. I was astounded at what should not have surprised me. The building contained no Christian symbols, pictorial or otherwise. Banners were hung in the fellowship area, but not one of them included a Christian symbol. This experience reminded me that The Society of Friends gave…
Americans do not live in a culture with an overall idea. One might object by saying that we have freedom and the Constitution as causes worthy of our united respect. But, neither is any longer compelling in our society. The organs of government must make great efforts to keep the rickety system working. Among the…
The Advent and Christmas seasons are astir with secular activity, not the least of which is the commercial. Santa and his reindeer, busy elves, gift buying, snowmen, snowflakes, the Grinch, candy canes and many other holiday fixtures overwhelm the biblical story of Christmas. Drive or walk down any neighborhood, and you will see secular decorations…
The word eternal in reference to the universe means a system of never ending and never beginning time, or it can mean timelessness, that is, reality outside time where clocks don’t tick. In the latter sense God is eternal. In relation to the flow of time, God has no beginning and no end. He was…
Adam and Eve ate of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. For this deed, they were thrown out of the Garden of Eden. The serpent was the one who told Adam and Eve that if they ate of this fruit, they would be “like God, knowing good and evil.” …
Last time, the topic was our aspirations in life, especially a yearning for God to fulfill our lives. Writers, like Feuerbach and Freud, have criticized Christianity for representing wish-fulfillment. Freud called belief an illusion. We desire eternal life, but fulfillment is not possible. God does not exist; He is merely a projection of our desires. …
We all have dreams and hopes for our lives. These aspirations may change as we mature, but we always have them. The deepest of these aspirations has to do with our relationship with God and the hope that is grounded in Him. How does this idea pertain to atheists? Even atheists have aspirations; but, of…
