Ethics

Good Without God?

Is “good” always good?

I’ll bet you received a lot of “year-end” messages from different organizations seeking a final funding push. One that caught my attention was an appeal to join in combating their perception of a growing movement called “good without God.”

I was invited to sign an online declaration—and of course to send some money. I did neither, but I did find myself wondering whether I object to the notion of “good without God.” What do you think?

I recalled a conversation with a close friend (I’ll call him Ben) as he explained why he never took his kids to church.

A good family

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Sins Of Righteousness

What’s the ultimate sin?

I’ve always figured sin was sin, none any better or worse than others. I’ve always wondered about folks who seem to categorize sins and set themselves apart as though there’s something admirable about belonging to a better class of sinner.

If you’re a regular reader, you know that my small group is studying The Prodigal God by Timothy Keller. Last night we discussed Keller’s assertion that one sin underlies all of our other sins and our righteousness—in his words, “the sin of seeking to be our own Savior and Lord.”

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Confidentiality and the Christian Health Care Worker

The principle of confidentiality is necessary to protect information essential for intimate relationships. However, carefully timed and chosen speech used to breach a confidence may protect a neighbor’s life. Therefore the difficult choice of whether to remain “silent” in maintaining a confidence or to “speak” and in so doing justly decide the appropriate person, place and time of speech, demands the wisdom of Solomon.

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Doctrine & Ethics

Every movement that has ever competed for the loyalty of human beings has done so on the basis of a set of beliefs. Whether the movement is religious or political, philosophical or artistic, the same pattern emerges: A group of ideas, of beliefs, is affirmed to be in the first place true and in the second important. It is impossible to live life to its fullness and avoid encountering claims for our loyalty of one kind or another.

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What is Truth? A Biblical Perspective

Many a professing Christian’s theology is no deeper than the latest evangelical cliché. Truth is one term that has suffered sorely. We are told that “All truth is God’s truth” and that we must “integrate faith with learning.”The notion that God has two bodies of “truth” (special revelation in His Son and His Word)and “natural revelation” that are equally authoritative and necessary for godly living is especially pernicious. I think few people have actually considered the biblical notion of truth.

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