Joy
The day I realized I was failing my first class in seminary with no chance to achieve a passing grade, I skipped class and wandered through a Monet exhibit at a museum downtown. I was not particularly moved by the artwork, but over the course of the day I came to realize that failing my […]
I have been searching for joy my entire life, and I believe I am not alone. If pastor and theologian Jonathan Edwards (1703–1758) is correct, then we are all on the same quest. The reason is because we were created for joy. Yet the quest to find it—that is, true spiritual happiness—often leads us to […]
“Feelings, nothings more than feelings,” so sang Perry Como. For my wife’s sake, I’ll throw in the Bees Gees as well: “It’s just emotion that’s taken me over.” We could go on—and on. In our pop culture, emotions are really nothing more than strong feelings we basically cannot control. On the other hand, they are […]
Several years ago, one of my students wrote a paper comparing C. S. Lewis’s account of heaven with that of a noted theologian. He remarked that while their formal beliefs were essentially the same, the writings of the theologian left him cold, while reading Lewis made him actually want to go to heaven. The power […]
Not long ago, I taught an online apologetics course for a Christian college where class was held in a chat room. The students were required to attend for a specified period of time and then were free to leave, though they were also free to stay around if they wished. Often, two or three would […]
