Matthew 24:23 – Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look! Here is the Messiah!’ or ‘There he is!’– do not believe it. James 2:19 – You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe– and shudder. John 3:16 – For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten […]
Author: Darryl Williams
Designated Giving, Loss Leaders, and Planned Parenthood
Often there are intersections between politics, economics, faith, and church. This is one of those cases. Encouragement of designated giving can be an effective fundraising tool but, except in the case of major capital campaigns for specific projects, has little or no effect on programs of non-profits using the method to raise money. I am […]
Gospel Distinctives
There are lots of interesting differences among the four Gospels. Here is an interesting one to contemplate.
Clamoring to Concede Freedom of Religion
By clamoring for financial concessions and support (from federal, state, and local governments), thereby transferring our responsibilities to others, we people of faith have slowly given up freedom of religion in the United States of America. It started innocently enough when we were overwhelmingly, at least nominally, Christian and when we almost all agreed that […]
Richard John Neuhaus: Liberal Lutheran to Conservative Catholic
A new biography, Richard John Neuhaus: A Life in the Public Square by Randy Boyagoda, does quadruple duty. It provides a well-researched and documented critical look at the life and work of Neuhaus, in the context of US history, including sociological trends, from the 1960’s through the early 2000’s, societal pressures on and changes in the role […]
My New Favorite Bible Verse
Just as anybody running for political office needs to have a ready answer to the question, “What are you reading?” anybody spending time in Christian circles needs to be able to reveal, just in case, his or her favorite Bible verse. Being the energetic, works oriented, dirty hands kind of guy I am, I have […]
Seeing More Clearly, Thankfully
I know the photo is poorly focused, but this is what I was looking at this morning, just four days after left eye cataract surgery, before the 9 a.m. Mass at St. Peter’s Catholic Church: beautiful, century old works of art depicting the Birth, Transfiguration, Crucifixion, Resurrection, and Ascension of Jesus. I snuck my iPhone […]
Jesus and the First Person Singular
In a Sunday morning class, we were watching a Fr. Robert Barron video in which he talked about the modern tendency to trivialize Jesus as a very smart and very nice guy with a good philosophy of life and lots of interesting stories. The fact is, he said, that Jesus was an unusual and disturbing […]
Freedom of, not from Religion
This week there is a report of the beheading of four teenage Christians in Iraq because of their refusal to convert to Islam. I am willing to concede that Islam may be, or may at least become, a religion of peace if it is stripped of and separated from any political or state power, but that is […]
Jesus…in Context
In the last few weeks I have read “Simply Jesus: A New Vision of Who He Was, What He Did, and Why He Matters,” by theologian and scholar N. T. Wright, “Killing Jesus” by Commentator Bill O’Reilly and historian Martin Dugard, and a short reflection on the tenth day of Lent, “Why Was the Cross […]