… put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation. For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Thessalonians 5:8-9) A critic of Whosoever wrote to me recently
I remember a sermon my pastor delivered one Sunday when I was in high school. The subject was God and love. For the first time, I heard that the Bible, in its original languages, uses several words to describe love. Our pastor gave us examples
Where there is love, Where mercy abounds, Where justice prevails, There surely is God, found in our midst, Where there is Love. (Bob Hurd) Those beautiful lines are the chorus to a hymn that I sang for the opening of the Valentine’s Day service of
I’ve always loved the work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. So many things he said resonate with truth in my spirit. The timelessness of his cries for freedom and his insights into the nature of oppression give me strength for my own journey as
Legalism is an idolatrous religion. Legalistic judgmental religion is based on absolute commitment to biblical literalism, which is the conviction that every word of the Bible is literally true and every statement in the Bible has equal authority as the word of God. This approach
There is a spirit of sadness rampant in the community of black gay / homosexual / same-gender-loving men. It can be recognized underneath the many beautiful faces and wonderfully sculpted bodies of brothers in bars and clubs. It was evident in the August 1998 issue
Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. (Hebrews 11:1) I’ve decided God has one wicked sense of humor. It seems no matter what topic I pick for an upcoming issue, it turns out to be the biggest
It’s easy to talk a good talk about faith. “Faith is belief in that which is unseen but still known,” we might say, or “faith gives my life meaning.” There’s nothing wrong with these statements, but they can direct us toward a pietistic, quietist approach
For the gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender person, life has never been particularly easy. We live in societies in which ignorance, and a subsequent fear of those who are different, have led to destructive myths about who we are and what our lifestyles involve. We
The nine words that serve as the title to this article are framed and hang on my bedroom wall, just across from my bed; I see them first thing every morning when I wake up, and as I exit the door to my room preparing