Strategies for Christian Living
Strategies for Christian Living
This page carries articles that aim to help our understanding and planning abilities. Its goal is to provide information which can better help us know what the Bible means and what it is saying to us. Our understanding of the strategic goals of Christianity informs our tactics as well as our spiritual aspirations. The more we understand God’s word, the more we understand what our goals should be in the Christian life and how we can best help ourselves and others.
Short Strategic Notes From Our Blog
Discipleship Illustrated
“We must hang together, or we’ll hang separately.” “. . . ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.” “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!” These statements identify (and...
Sampson: Seriously Flawed, Used Seriously
We are amazingly reluctant to realize that our heroes have faults. When it becomes glaringly obvious, we toss them aside, capes torn, shields tarnished, heroes no longer.This must be why we find it so hard to realize that good people in the Bible do inexplicably bad...
Christianity’s Beachheads
World War II Memorial on Omaha Beach, Normandy, France Militarily, a beachhead (so named because it is often a literal area of beach on a sea coast) is an area that an army secures as the initial foothold in enemy territory. Once the beachhead is...
Take Courage!
“… Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! …” (Matthew 14:27) The Bible contains many stories of courage. Some, such as the account of the young David fighting the giant Goliath, come quickly to mind. But there are dozens more examples throughout the pages...
Healthy Incompatibility
Recent statistics suggest that as many as 40% to 50% of marriages in some developed countries end in divorce. The divorce statistics for second and third marriages are even higher (practice evidently does not improve performance), and these sad statistics...
The Second Step of Forgiveness
When it comes to forgiving others as we know we should (Matthew 6:12), we sometimes need to remind ourselves of advice the apostle Paul gave to the Corinthian Christians. The church at Corinth apparently included an individual who had caused some problems for the...
Strategic Articles
Choosing a Bible Translation
If we don’t read the original languages in which the books of the Bible were written – Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek – we need a translation, and even scholars who can read those languages often don't read all of them, so ultimately everyone needs or can profit from a...
Bash Them, Smash Them; Understanding the Psalms of Vengeance
“My God … do not remain silent …Appoint someone evil to oppose my enemy; let an accuser stand at his right hand. When he is tried, let him be found guilty, and may his prayers condemn him. May his days be few; may another take his place of...
Two Views of Life
Christian Living in an Increasingly Polarized Age By R. Herbert Conservatives and liberals? There have probably always been two ways to look at life. We only have to look back to New Testament times to see the opposing views of the conservative Pharisees and...
Another Look at the “Lord’s Prayer”
Apart from telling us WHAT to Pray, the “Lord’s Prayer” shows us in at least three ways HOW to pray! The “Lord’s Prayer” is a profound outline or guide for prayer. It is profound in that although it is so short it provides a framework...
Helping the Sick: Another Look at “The Great Commission”
Most readers of the scriptures are familiar with the “Great Commission” given by Jesus to his disciples after his resurrection. Many can recite it by heart: “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of...
“An Eye for an Eye”: A Law of Revenge or Restraint?
Was the Old Testament law of “an eye for an eye” a brutal law of revenge, or something very different? – And how can the answer help us understand Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount? The principle of “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth”(Leviticus 24:20,...
