Truth Triumphs

I have been raised in a pastor's home. Perhaps, more importantly, I have been raised in the home of a pastor who also recognized the necessity of Christian education, and in concord with that recognition, he placed tremendous emphasis upon establishing a Christian school at the church he shepherds. I started at the school in kindergarten, attended there through my adolescent years, and graduated in 2014. Thus, in short, I believe that Christian schools are essential institutions and worthwhile ministries. What is the overall purpose of a Christian school? Harro Van Brummelen answers this question well, "The overall aim of Christian schools is to help students become citizens of the kingdom of God, responsive disciples of Jesus Christ." Christian school educators ought to place as their highest priority the salvation and subsequent spiritual development of their students. There are many reasons that can be presented to support the existence of a Christian school. Howev

The story is told about an effective teacher who taught in the Los Angeles-school area. One afternoon, he decided to take his students to a concert performed by a world-class cello player. After the inspiring concert, the world-class cello player invited the teacher and his students backstage to talk. Obviously, the students were immensely intimated by this man of such musical ability and universal renown. Eventually, however, one of the young students piped up and simply asked him, "Sir, how do you make music that sounds so beautiful?" The world-class cello player responded with great care and concern to this question, reached down, put his arm around the young boy, and replied, "Well, son, there are no shortcuts." I am not an extremely old person, but one thing that I have observed thus far on my short pilgrimage through life is that nothing in life comes easy. In other words, there are no shortcuts. Similarly, in the Christian experience, there are no shortcu

I have most recently been reading through a book written by Eric Metaxas entitled Seven Men: And the Secret of Their Greatness . Throughout this book, he provides short biographies of seven men who made a remarkable impact on the world. This list of men includes prominent men who are well-known by most people, such as George Washington, Jackie Robinson, and William Wilberforce. However, I was admittedly unfamiliar with one man on the list: Eric Liddell. Eric Liddell was born in 1902 in Tientsin, China, to James and Mary Liddell, who were then missionaries to China. The Liddells, desiring to give their children a formal education, sent them to their home country of Scotland. Here, young Eric took a tremendous interest in sports, excelling in rugby and cricket. He also engaged in another athletic activity: Running. Remarkably, this Scottish man possessed world-class speed. What Liddell is so respected for occurred at the 1924 Olympics in Paris. Because of his impressive speed, Liddel

An individual’s response to the person of Jesus Christ will determine his satisfaction with life and his eternal destiny. In his classic The Knowledge of the Holy , A. W. Tozer (2009) wrote convincingly that how a person views God is the most important aspect of his life. In other words, if someone sees God as infinitely holy, impeccably righteous, and immeasurably loving, he will live a better Christian life than a person who views God as weak, indifferent, and capricious. A similar line of reasoning applies to someone’s belief about Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God who assumed human flesh, died an atoning death, and rose a justifying resurrection. Thus, it is immensely vital for Christians to understand the correct teaching of Scripture about the person of Christ and be prepared to defend the truth against the various heresies spawned throughout the history of the church. A Couple Wrong Views of the Person of Christ Before understanding the orthodox view of the person of Ch

In their book Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Other Die , Dan and Chip Heath discuss the problem, known to them, as the Curse of Knowledge. Essentially, the Curse of Knowledge refers to how, when a person knows something, he forgets what it is like to not know that something. In other words, suppose that you are an accountant. Speaking about the intricacies of the tax law without explaining yourself well prevents you from communicating effectively with your audience. In 1990, a graduate student pursuing a Ph.D. in psychology at Stanford conducted a simple experiment which illustrates the reality of this principle. The game required two people: a tapper and a listener. The tapper was given a list of twenty-five popular songs, such as "The Star-Spangled Banner" or "Happy Birthday to You." The tapper then picked a song and "tapped" out the rhythm of the song by knocking on the table. The listener's responsibility was to correctly guess the son

Adults are unanimous in encouraging young people to reach their potential. Comments, such as "Be the best you, you can be" or "Strive to meet your potential," can be heard on a frequent basis. And there is nothing wrong with these statements. God desires all people everywhere to do what they do "heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men" (Colossians 3:23). Undoubtedly, God would not have bestowed us with certain abilities if he did not want us to achieve great accomplishments for him. God is completely different from us in this regard. God has no potential. Theologians use the term Pure Actuality to refer to this attribute of God. Essentially, Norman Geisler defines Pure Actuality as "that which is (existence) with no possibility to not exist or to be anything other than it is." In other words, God has no potential for change and no potential for nonexistence.  This theological principle is derived from the clear reading of Scripture. For

Every person who has ever lived on planet earth is unique in the truest sense of the word. Every individual has a distinguishing personality, odd quirks, and a different body type. Additionally, no two humans have the same fingerprints. Fingerprint experts have observed for many years that all people, including identical twins, have differentiable impressions on their fingers (Jain, 2002). Males, females, boys, and girls all possess differing fingerprints. Furthermore, because he was fully man, Jesus Christ had a unique fingerprint. However, not only was his actual fingerprint unique, but the writers of the Old Testament painted a distinct picture of the coming Messiah. In other words, they created a fingerprint that described in unparalleled definition the birth, life, and death of Jesus of Nazareth. Twenty-first century Christians should investigate the marvelous subject of the Messianic prophecies and rejoice in the wonder that Jesus fulfilled each of them. The Definition of Mess

In his book Halftime: Moving from Success to Significance , Bob Buford writes that it is in the power of every person to pen his own epitaph. No one can know with absolute certainty when death will call his name. Death, like taxes, is an inevitable event in the life of a person and, depending on your perspective of post-mortem occurrences, may or may not be your last moments of existence. Fortunately, however, because God has gifted every human with a free will, each person can live the life of his choosing, in accordance with his wishes, desires, diligence, and skills. Essentially, an epitaph is the short inscription written upon the tombstone of a deceased person. It expresses something about the one who lies in the grave, whether the person accomplished tremendous acts of benevolence or sacrificed his life for the betterment of others or abided by an unwavering life philosophy. Examples will suffice to illustrate the importance of a carefully chosen epitaph. For instance, Martin

Words cannot adequately express my passion for reading. I am probably fanatical about it. I read voraciously, I read widely, and I read daily. Reading separates the men from the boys and opens a person to a world of powerful ideas and possibilities. Reading inspires and motivates, informs and educates, instructs and amends. Because of my obsession with books, I read through a great number of them each year. I have read some books that ought not to ever have been written. However, I have also read books that have tweaked my perspective of the world, motivated me to exert more time and energy, and challenged me to be a better person. I encourage you to take my advice and purchase the following books. These are good books, worthy to be read by everyone interested in surpassing status quo. Grit (Angela Duckworth). A professor of psychology at the University of Pennsylvania, Angela Duckworth argues that the secret to outstanding achievement is not the result of rare genius; rather, it

It seems oxymoronic to warn of the danger of success. Most people think that success is a noble aim, a worthy goal, with no possibility of peril. However, there is a subtle trap when a person succeeds at his station in life. Rick Warren, the senior pastor of Saddleback Church, admonished, "The greatest enemy of tomorrow’s success is today’s success." The reason is that once a person succeeds, it is extremely easy for him to become complacent. Complacency is a state of mind adopted by an individual who becomes smug about his achievements. He assumes that what he has accomplished, he has done through raw talent. Unfortunately, once a person adopts this mentality, he exhibits the quality of lethargy and exerts no additional energy to achieve anything else of significance. His work stagnates, and as a result of his apathy, other people, who are more diligent, will leave him in the dust. This attitude of complacency is unfortunate. Success never results, expect in rare cir

On Christianity Today's website, Ed Stetzer wrote a wonderful article entitled "3 Ways Technology Enables the Mission of the Church." He argues that, while technology certainly has unintended negative side effects, Christians must use it in ways to spread the gospel and fulfill the mission of the church. As the title of the article suggests, there are three manners in which the church can use technology to its advantage. First, technology enables communication. In a world that is characterized by busyness, it is difficult to have face-to-face conversations. Social media, such as twitter and facebook, permits churches to communicate effectively without the pastor visiting every household to inform them of a change in the schedule. Second, technology allows for community. While weekly physical gatherings are preferred to virtual meetings, group discussions through the means of technology enable people to achieve a sense of community without proximity. This perspective w

Most feel that the word theology has little practical consequence. Theology, in their mindset, is for monks who devote their entire lives to poring over ancient manuscripts; it's for professors with quirky behaviors and no life. However, our theology has a tremendous impact on our lives. What exactly does theology mean? Theology simply means the study of God. In essence, our theology is our view of God. Thus, if your perspective of God is that he answers prayer, you will be a person of prayer. If you think that God is such a God of love that he will allow you to live in sin, you will continually partake in the sins of the world. If you interpret God as one indifferent to the affairs of his precious creatures, you will adopt a fatalistic attitude toward the occurrences of world events. A. W. Tozer, a man whose pen has stirred generations of believers, wrote, "What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us. There is scarcely an er

I was smugly confident as I strolled in Dr. Alison Belzer's office with my first college paper in hand. "Dr. Belzer, can you please look at my paper?" I sincerely asked. Ten minutes later, and with much indelible red ink scarring my paper's surface, I emerged utterly humiliated. My pride was replaced with a realization that my writing ability needed drastic improvement. How did I respond? I chose to accept her criticisms by omitting any egregious grammatical error, rewording awkward sentences, and highlighting the key points of my paper more clearly. Not everyone would have done what I did. The reason is found in the mindset of an individual. Carol Dweck, a professor of psychology at Standford University and the author of Mindset: The New Psychology of Success , argues that there are two basic mindsets people display: a growth mindset and a fixed mindset. A person with a growth mindset believes that no matter what kind of a person you are, you can always change, w

I am not going to say whether she is a boy or a girl, but I go to school with a certain young individual with long hair and feminine features who can empty an entire bus by simply taking her shoes off. The odor of her stinky feet is unexplainable and unprecedented. The smell, at times, is extremely unordinary, an odd combination that the local scientists say is more powerful than a nuclear bomb, more harmful than Ebola, and more powerful than a herd of buffalo. But that’s just the opinion of the science people. Right? We wholeheartedly agree with their diagnosis. As I pen these words in recollection of the horrific times our college has had to endure this difficult trial, I am comforted by the fact that God will reward those who remain faithful to him during the midst of overwhelming circumstances. Somehow, someway, we have survived these close encounters with death to tell the story. Who knows if we will be able to survive any more episodes? Only God. By his grace, we remain alive,