When You’re Tempted to Hate People, Part 3: Compassion

By DOlinger

In his primary description of himself, God includes a list of related attributes (Ex 34.6-7):

CompassionateGraciousSlow to angerAbounding in lovingkindnessAbounding in truthKeeping lovingkindness for thousandsForgiving iniquity, transgression, and sinNot leaving the guilty unpunishedVisiting the iniquity of fathers upon children

And in the parallel prophetic passages,

Relenting of calamity

For easy comparison, I’ve…

On Crafting a Good Sermon: Qualities & Pieces

By Aaron Blumer

As I approach my 60th year of life, I find myself more aware of things I’ve learned that I should try to pass on to future generations. One of those skillsets is how to craft a good sermon. I still have room for improvement, but I do have an approach to sermon-crafting and delivery that a fair number of preachers could learn something from.

A little context: I heard more than a thousand sermons by the time I finished grade school. In high school, we were required to take notes, so I probably outlined a couple hundred during those years (Sunday AM, PM, Wednesday PM and youth…

Disingenuousness and “Expansion” Language

By Paul Henebury

Read the series.

A Plea for Plain Speaking

I am considering this matter of plain speaking in theological discourse, and have noted my dislike of those views which put something in a such way that it is easy to mistake the intentions. We are used to being given the run-around by the cults—for they deal in duplicity—but evangelical brothers and sisters can do this sort of thing too. I only wish to issue a plea for plain-speaking.

Any “liberal” scholar will attest to the fact that the Four…