Category: Commentary
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The American Gospel and the meaning of Easter
Originally posted April 6, 2012 Statistically, we know that the vast majority of Americans believe in some form of a higher power. There are relatively few who are atheists. Since people do believe that there is something, and since it’s so easy to think of the majority of Americans as Christians, many simply attach themselves…
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The Passion: gospel musical on Fox
Fox aired “The Passion” tonight which was the passion narrative in a contemporary setting, told with popular music. Songs from groups and artists like Whitney Houston, Jason Mraz, Imagine Dragons, Creed, and Jewell were featured. I think it’s helpful to see that popular songs can carry deep Spiritual themes. In a culture that is becoming…
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Sunday to Friday: Save us! to Crucify!
Jesus enters Jerusalem riding on a donkey. It’s a festive scene. Passover week, one of the most significant holidays in the Jewish calendar. Jesus has been preaching throughout the region of Galilee. He has built up quite the following: teaching on the kingdom of heaven and performing miracles. And here he enters the holy city,…
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Why did Jesus have to come in the first place?
Why did Jesus have to die? For years, this puzzled me. I could get on board with the idea that I fell short of God’s perfect standard. But why did Jesus need to die? Couldn’t God have just forgiven me? Like some sort of Spiritual write off? One of the best explanations I have ever…
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An oppressive regime and an American college student
Otto Warmbier, a 21 year old student at the University of Virginia, was arrested in January before leaving North Korea for attempting to stealing a political banner. Yesterday, he was officially sentenced to 15 years of hard labor. My initial reaction to this story was “How foolish can a person be to try to steal…
Josh Benner 