Life's Inanities and Ironies

One of the greatest misunderstandings about the Christian faith is the notion that a loving God sends people to hell against their will. Nothing could be further from the truth of Scripture. The Bible consistently teaches that **God does not send anybody to hell**. Hell is real, eternal, and terrible—but every person who ends up there has chosen it for themselves by rejecting the only Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. This is not a harsh teaching. It is a merciful one. It reveals both the justice and the tender love of our God. He has gone to unimaginable lengths to keep us out of hell, yet He will never force anyone into heaven. The door stands wide open. The question is whether we will walk through it. The Character of God: Holy, Just, and Loving Scripture opens with the declaration that “God is love” (1 John 4:8). The same Bible declares that God is “of purer eyes than to behold evil” and cannot look on iniquity (Habakkuk 1:13). He is perfectly holy and perfectly just. He cannot overlo...

 Slightly different kind of blog. Today. I had written this several years ago for a genealogy and history site and I think it's a pretty good retelling of what happened on a February night in 1940 in Rochester, Indiana.  When I was a boy, my grandfather and my great-uncle would sit on the front porch, spinning yarns about their youth and the historic moments that shaped our neighborhood. Their stories covered everything: Uncle Buck’s days mining in the Iron Mountain area of Michigan, his time working at the Kingsbury Ordnance Plant during the war, and Grandad McDougle’s romantic tales of courting Grandma in a surrey with bright yellow wheels. Both told me about the storm that passed a tornado less than 50 ft of the house and pointed out the path that was still evident in the trees across from the house. Sometimes their stories were benign. Other times, they grabbed a young boy's imagination and tore off down the street with it. Now, to be fair, both of them had a distinct prop...

In an age that celebrates "user empowerment" and "personalization," a strange frustration has become commonplace. You open Instagram hoping to catch up on posts from the people you actually follow—family, church friends, ministry partners—and instead find yourself scrolling through an endless stream of algorithmically chosen Reels, suggested accounts, and sponsored content. You tap the logo, hunt for the "Following" tab, switch to chronological order... only to have the app nudge you back toward the "For You" experience next time. Or you Google a straightforward biblical or theological question and are greeted first by an AI-generated "Overview" that summarizes (and sometimes subtly frames) the results, with no prominent, persistent toggle to simply turn it off and see traditional links.  You want the off switch . Not because you hate technology, but because you want *control* over what shapes your mind, your time, and your attention. I...

  Digital theology is an emerging field that examines how digital technologies—social media, the internet, algorithms, artificial intelligence, virtual spaces, and online platforms—intersect with Christian faith, practice, doctrine, and community. It asks questions like: - What does it mean to be the church in a digital age? - How does technology shape (or distort) discipleship, worship, and spiritual formation? - Can sacraments or deep fellowship truly happen through screens? - What does Scripture say about tools that extend human reach but also mediate (and sometimes distort) reality? It is sometimes called cybertheology, virtual ecclesiology, or simply a theology of technology. While the term is relatively new, the underlying questions are ancient: How do God’s people use the tools of their age faithfully?   Ecclesiology in Digital Space (The Nature of the Church Online) The central debate concerns whether “church” can truly exist online. Optimistic views argue that worship...