I learned a lot about history from the historical fiction novels I was assigned growing up. An especially prolific author I read from was G.A. Henty, who would intersperse his story formula with play-by-play accountings of historical events. While his focus was British history, he also covered adjacent periods such as the French Revolution and…

Mankind is greatly concerned with its reputation. Desire for approval inspires him to boast of his accomplishments, while fear of scorn leads him to hide his deficiencies. The secular man may claim a confidence with his lifestyle independent of social conventions, but will nonetheless expose his insecurity by the emphasis of his assertions. He is…

1 Corinthians 6:9-10 – Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the Kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the Kingdom of God. As legalism…

Do you find yourself prone to resentment against people? Theoretically there should be a distinction between resenting a person and taking issue with their actions; but in practice, it seems we tend to resent the person for their actions. Perhaps as we identify individuals by associating them with their behaviors, we subsequently pass on our…

“The end justifies the means” is among the more controversial adages, with ranging positions of full and situational agreement versus complete disagreement. This form of ethical reasoning associates the morality of actions to their intent, classifying decisions as “right” or “wrong” according to the separately determined moral quality of the result. Theoretically it is impossible…

Toward the middle of the Bible is the poetic epic of Job, a man whose strength of faith was tested to the extreme. The majority of the book consists of discussion between Job and three of his friends as they attempt to explain his suffering according to their perceptions of God. By the end, God…