Painting above: Christ on the Cross, 1874, Leon Bonnat (1833-1922) —————– What I know about sinners I know chiefly about me.  We did not mean to do the deed, of course.  What we have done wrong— they seemed, or mostly seemed, small things at the time.  The word of encouragement withheld, the touch of kindness […]
Voice of the Martyrs magazine, April 2017, page 11, (www.persecution.com) ————————— Â Â Â As Roberto Santo Gomez looked back on his life, he felt like he hadn’t amounted to much. Â He was empty inside and his heart was filled with hate. Â As a member of the leftist Zapatista rebel group, his work involved shaking down
1450) “God, Give Me Another Chance” Read More »
   There once was a little boy who had a bad temper.  His father gave him a bag of nails and told him that every time he lost his temper, he must hammer a nail into the back of the fence.    The first day the boy had driven 37 nails into the
1412) Nails in the Fence Read More »
By Stephen Marmer of UCLA Medical School, for Prager University. Â Read the transcript below or view this five minute video (it is excellent!): https://www.prageru.com/video/forgiveness ——————————— Â Â Â Anyone familiar with Italian opera or the plays of Shakespeare knows the terrible price paid for grudges, vendetta, and revenge. Â Under the sway of these emotions painful incidents
1330) Three Types of Forgiveness Read More »
From The Clergy of America: Anecdotes, 1869, pages 169-170    A sermon illustration from a New England minister in the 1700’s. ————————–    A clergyman sitting in his study, saw some boys in his garden stealing melons.  He quietly arose, and walking into his garden, called out to them, “Boys, boys.”  They immediately
On October 2, 2006, ten years ago yesterday, Charles Roberts walked into an Amish school house in Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania, took hostages, and then shot ten school girls (ages 6-13), killing five of them. Â He then killed himself. Â The senseless and horrific mass murder became a national news story. Â Then, almost immediately, followed another kind
   (…continued)  What about you?  Have you always understood all of your own actions?  Or do you perhaps sometimes say to yourself, “I wonder whatever made me do that?” or, “I wonder what got into me to say that?”  Did you ever say anything stupid or mean or sinful or immoral or unkind, and
1217) Beyond Cure (part two of two) Read More »
From The Road to Character, by David Brooks, (Random House, 2015), 53-54:    Today, the word “sin” has lost its power and awesome intensity.  It’s used most frequently in the context of fattening desserts.  Most people in daily conversation don’t talk much about individual sin.  If they talk about human evil at all, that evil is
1149) Do We Have to Talk About Sin? Read More »
By Eric Burgdorf, Pastor at Hope Free Lutheran Church, Wyoming, Minnesota, 2011 Easter newsletter message (edited).    I like being at home.  There is a certain amount of predictability. I know where my toothbrush is and where the box of cereal is. I can walk from room to room on autopilot. I know where
1076) This Old House Read More »
Luke 15:1-2  —  Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus.  But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.” ****************************************    (…continued)  You may not be in the category of Mrs. Finney’s vicious neighbor Fred or Louie the murderer.  So
1063) To Save Sinners (part two of two) Read More »
