Restful Blissful Ignorance

SI Filings

“I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that I’m the only person in the world who reads through back issues of the Ann Arbor Baptist, a periodical from the late 1800s. But periodicals like that were the blogs of their era and within their pages I find such interesting articles and poems.” - Challies

Discussion

Church and State–A Sketch in Five Acts (Principle 3)

TylerR

Read the series.

Now we have to tackle the issue of identity. This is where we get down to brass tacks. Our first two principles taught us that (1) there are two kingdoms, Babylon and Jerusalem, and Babylon will lose, and also that (2) God’s kingdom is distinct from every nation state. So far, so abstract—what are Christians supposed to do with this information?

Discussion

Is Our Perspective on Sin Warped?

Aaron Blumer

There are a lot of sins in the Bible. We don’t feel the same way about all of them, though, do we? Some sins trigger strong righteous indignation or an intense “ick” response. Others we barely notice.

We’re not entirely wrong to feel that way. Though there are not really any small sins, some are bigger than others. (See Bob Gonzales’ excellent study on that topic: The Greater Sin: Are There Degrees of Sin?).

But this range of reactions to different sins should prompt us to ask some questions.

Discussion

Church and State–A Sketch in Five Acts (Principle 2)

TylerR

Read the series.

In the last article, we discussed the most basic principle to rightly understand the “church v. state” conundrum. That principle was this—there are two kingdoms, Babylon and Jerusalem. Babylon will lose. Now we’ll build on this foundation and introduce the next building block:

Principle no. 2: God’s kingdom is distinct from every nation state.

Discussion