Travelling with Gershom

It seems to be very popular to complain about Christians and their intolerance, and to cite religion generally (and often Christianity in particular) as a source of evil in the world. This opinion is expressed in books and blogs, the media, and in private conversations. As a Christian, let me expound a little on this view of Christians. Most of the time, the complaint is deserved. We behave badly, in a non-Christian manner, and end up defaming Christ. This is partly due to human weakness - is there any leader or follower of a political or social movement who has not fallen or failed in one way or another? - but in some (and the most important) instances it is more than that.  We all expect people to lose their temper, make mistakes, and the like. The real problem is that when we are presented with an issue like abortion or gay marriage we fail to think first and respond later. In fact, I would go farther: we fail to think. Following Christ is not about a set of rules and regulations th...

Several times in the last few weeks I have come across something exhorting us - well, me - to live more simply. Most of this advice has been prompted by the economy, but it seems to me that to be truly worthwhile any advice must be grounded in something less volatile than the Dow Jones. Ben Witherington recently posted a discussion on the economic situation that gets down to fundamentals. Witherington does not exempt Christians from contributing to our current economic woes, by living beyond our means and opting into the consumer culture (in other words, by being greedy), and he reminds us of several principles that God calls us to live by. It is good reading, and not just for Christians. It's the first and fourth principles I want to address here. That "the earth is the Lord's and all that is therein" and "the purpose of hard work is to save all we can, so we can also give all we can" are inseparable, I think. If we are good stewards of what God has g...