Years ago, I started a book on Missions Theology--- 2016, I think. But in 2017, I stopped. Then I worked on a couple of other books on missions, gutting some parts of this book. But then I started to work again on it during this pandemic. I am mostly done. Here is a rough draft …
Month: December 2020
Lilias Trotter and the Will of God
I finally had a chance to watch the documentary "Many Beautiful Things." It is on the life of Lilias Trotter. She was a missionary of the early 1900s in Algeria. I connect with the story. Like me, she was a missionary who was not sent out by a traditional mission agency or society. But I …
The Magi and The Preparation for the Gospel
Praeparatio Evangelica, or preparation for the Gospel, is a term used referring to the belief that God has sown seeds of the gospel message in other cultures that will only fully bear fruit with the arrival of the message of Bible. Don Richardson believes that redemptive analogies, stories or images within a culture that express …
Continue reading The Magi and The Preparation for the Gospel
Two Christmases in One
I have written on Christmas here previously. One of my favorite posts is "Christmas. It's Okay... Really." I wrote it back in 2012. I wrote it because every year (E....V....E...R...Y.... Year) people complain about Christmas for one thing or another. And so I made the following points: It is Okay to Christianize a Pagan Holiday …
The Good Follower
Who can lay a hand on the LORD's anointed and be guiltless? As surely as the LORD lives," he said, "the LORD himself will strike him; either his time will come and he will die, or he will go into battle and perish. But the LORD forbid that I should lay a hand on the …
In Christian Ministry, Should Race Matter?
I have been teaching cultural anthropology here in the Philippines. I wrote a book for the class so that students did not have to grab chapters from several different books. As I have taught the class I have started to notice some issues. One of these is the chapter on Race. The chapter is quite …
Accepting our Mutual “Crappiness”
Before I get into my topic more fully, I would like to share a quote from Martin Buber. Genuine conversation, and therefore, every actual fulfillment and relationship between men, means acceptance of otherness... Everything depends, as far as human life is concerned, on whether each thinks of the other as the one he is, whether …
Top Five Posts for 2020
Today is December 2, 2020. Today my dad would have turned 96. It has been a challenging year. But days roll by, the earth keeps spinning regardless. I thought I would share the top posts this year. Reflection, Restoration, and Redemption, and the Three Little Pigs. 2015. This was a story I wrote that utilized …
Sufficiently Advanced Magic
Years ago, Science Fiction Writer, Arthur C. Clarke came up with Three Laws that he shared in an essay he wrote titled, "Hazards of Prophecy: The Failure of Imagination." When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is possible, he is almost certainly right. When he states that something is impossible, he is very …
Selective Exposure, Confirmation Bias, and Information Overload (Part 2)
So what can one do to avoid falling prey to groupthink, confirmation bias, selective exposure, and being overwhelmed by information overload? Well I had several awesome ideas for this post.... but then I took a few days off, and I can't remember some of them. But let me see where this goes. Doubt. Paul Westphal …
Continue reading Selective Exposure, Confirmation Bias, and Information Overload (Part 2)