Category Archives: Sin

HITLER’S CROSS

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Hitler's Cross: How the Cross Was Used to Promote the Nazi Agenda - By: Erwin Lutzer<br />

Lutzer, the longtime pastor of Moody Church in Chicago, has made an important contribution to our understanding of Nazi Germany.

Hitler’s Cross is a troubling account of how moral decay and timidity results in disaster. And the disaster, as was the case in Nazi Germany, is usually far more reaching than we could ever imagine.

I appreciated this book very much except for the author’s desire to tie Nazi ideology to a certain view of end times. For those who don’t hold to dispensational theology, they might be tempted to write the author off, and thus would sadly miss an important book.

NICE EUPHEMISM: WHITE COLLAR CRIME

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You may recall the man in the picture above: Ken Lay, longtime CEO of Enron. 

 

“White collar crime” is a curious combination of words.  It tends to blunt our outrage over the actual damage individuals commit.  Consider a computer hacker who may not have the guts to rob you in the parking lot, but they do in equally or even more destructive ways.

And then there are those CEOs like Lay who ruin many lives, but do not look as sinister as other criminals.  God, for one, and the one who really matters, is not so easily snookered by the window dressing!

REMEMBER THE VERTICAL!

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I was speaking with my dad the other night.  I typically call him on Sundays, but this past Sunday was special.  Dad was celebrating his eighty-ninth birthday.  He continues to lead a full life with ministry to the poor and enjoys many, wonderful friendships.
We got talking about a prayer he recently wrote on the evil of terrorism.  Dad mentioned that the word evil is being used more by journalists.  Good thing, but evil is typically used to describe the wrong we have done to another human being.  Sin, on the other hand, reminds us of what we have done against God.  It reminds us that our vertical relationship is primary.
We can really celebrate when newscasters begin to use the “S” word!

WATCH OVER YOUR HEART!

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The man in the picture above is my friend, Evan Hock.  Evan is pastor of Trinity Fellowship Church in the Denver area.  We met during our respective studies at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School.  The picture is a nice depiction of Evan: thoughtful, but with a playful smirk about to tell you who knows what. 
In an email exchange over a friend’s infidelity, Evan wrote this:
“…I am finding out that many of these ‘breakdown’ cases (with men in their mid-40s and 50s) arise from men who have not taken seriously enough the cultivation of a degree of spiritual formation within their lives internally. It has been all-to-often tilted towards doctrinal and rational consistency or built upon gifted performance and diligence but at the expense or neglect of deeper questions addressing ‘truth in the inner part.’ There has been a growing disconnect within them. In time, certain passions, perhaps out of fear of having lost something, or missed something desired, or a yearning to connect to something more, so they assert themselves recklessly in the name of a ‘fuller life.’  In the process, they question the reality of their faith.”  (Emphasis mine)

NO CHEST BEATING!

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Our dear friends, Allison and Darin Maurer, served on Cru staff with us at Stanford University.  Allison recently reminded me of a visit they paid to us when we were living in the “Chicagoland” area.

We went to Willow Creek and they were having a celebration for their church.  They had a nifty brochure for the event, but it was the information inside which shocked and thrilled me.  Along with the wonderful things which happened over the years, they candidly described some of their failures, including mention (not by name) of former pastors infidelity.  

I was edified by Willow Creek’s humility, and their saying no to the temptation of beating their collective chest.