Today, the longing for cultural Christianity on both the left and the right hearkens back to an older version of Christendom that was a mixed blessing for the church in the western world. The cultural mediation of Christian views on created order has certainly benefitted the civilization we’ve inherited. But the gospel itself isn’t something that can be reduced to cultural mediation either. Instead, the gospel as a message stands apart from all human accomplishments and achievements, no matter how beneficial they might be.
Josephus does not tell us that Christianity is true, and Christians do not need Josephus to tell them that Christ is risen. But Christianity makes claims about things that happened in public history under identifiable rulers, priests, and governors. For that reason, testimony from outside the church matters.
The student of Scripture should always have a map open next to their Bible as they read. If possible, they should also travel to Israel, not to make a pilgrimage, but to see the context of the land in which these stories took place. These are not fairy tales made up about fictional fantasy lands; these are stories about real people in real places interacting with a real God.

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You are not alone if you find it difficult to wrap your mind around the auspices of the Old Testament sacrificial system.
My fear of this coming darkness only lasts a moment.
Some explanations are better than others, but they remain our explanations—except if we had some perspective from outside, above, and behind nature.
This is the message of Lent. We are not called to sacrifice for Jesus in order to earn our salvation. Rather, we are called to remember the sacrifice that Jesus made for us.
“So loved,” then isn’t about how much but instead simply how.
Hidden beneath the sinner is a glorious saint. Jesus has declared it to be so in your baptism.
Let us rejoice, then, in this grace so that our glory may be the testimony of our conscience wherein we glory not in ourselves but in the Lord (2 Cor. 1:12).
A theologian is a passive receiver of God’s active revelation about Jesus Christ, his words, works, and ways.
Who is God really? He is offensive, anarchic by the world’s standards, and far too gracious to people who don’t deserve his time or attention.
You are a child of God. You’re blameless, holy, perfect, and righteous. Don’t feel that way? Too bad. God is greater than your heart.
Our value and our values, our life, our everything is from Jesus Christ given to us as a gift.
God is consistently rooting us in reality—both what is seen and unseen—because that is where he is.