belief – Page 15 – 300 words a day

Way.

Some of you have been scratching your heads since yesterday. I started talking about Jesus’ statement from John 14: “I am the way and the truth and the life.” I told a story about a woman and a ladder. What does that story have to do with the claim that Jesus is making? Here’s the […]

by Jon Swanson

Waiting for mansions

In the King James version of John 14, Jesus says, “In my Father’s house are many mansions.” Many people have read that and thought, “Sweet. I’m gonna get me a mansion. I’ll be living good then, after I’m dead, in heaven.” Somehow, I’m thinking that Jesus wasn’t thinking about heaven being a place where everyone […]

by Paul Merrill

God loves fast and slow

(Paul Merrill writes here every First Friday) Since I was a little kid, I always thought God valued what was long-lasting more than what was quickly over. Lately, I have been seeing that God lives and breathes in both worlds. In Matthew 6, Jesus says, “And why worry about your clothing? Look at the lilies […]

by Jon Swanson

8 ways to find a church

That, of course, is the wrong title. Perhaps it should be “8 suggestions for deciding whether I want to attach myself to a group of people who are calling themselves a church, knowing that I can’t blame “them” for not measuring up if I am not willing to commit myself to learning how to be […]

by Jon Swanson

I will never understand.

That’s what lots of people think when it comes to Jesus stuff. “I will never understand the Bible. I will never understand these stories. I will never understand God and theology.” Neither did the disciples. John writes oddly. He shifts from describing events in Jesus’ life to the inside of the disciples’ heads at the […]