Louis Berkhof on the origin of religion

Posted on February 26, 2014 Written by Mark McIntyre 2 Comments

Particular attention was devoted during the last fifty years to the problem of the origin of religion. Repeated attempts were made to give a natural explanation of it, but without success. Some spoke of it as an invention of cunning and deceptive priests, who regarded it as an easy source of revenue; but this explanation […]

The antidote to hypocrisy

Jesus was also hard on the Pharisees, so the lesson I learn from this is that God has a low tolerance threshold for religious hypocrisy. He doesn’t like it whether it is in the Pharisees of Jesus’ day or in you or me.

Be courageous

The question is how can we be courageous when we don’t really feel that way?

Counterfeits and the real thing

The fact that evil deeds have been done by those who claim allegiance to Christ is a criticism that is sometimes raised against Christianity. In thinking about a response to this critique, it dawned on me that anything of value is likely to be counterfeited. The presence of the counterfeit is a backhanded compliment and speaks to the value of the original.

More than I can handle

One of the Christian platitudes that I find most irritating is “God will not give you more than you can handle.” Try telling that to Gideon and the 300 men with him as they moved toward a battle with the entire Midian army. Try telling that to Job who, in addition to experiencing the loss of health, wealth and family, had to endure the empty and sometimes harsh words of his so-called friends.

Stumbling blocks: how we live matters more than our words

Parents and church leaders, the best thing we can do for the next generation is to renounce our selfishness and come to meet Jesus at the Cross in humility and submission. We need to confess where we have compromised and seek to recover the ground that was lost. We want to hear the words of Matthew 25:21, “well done good and faithful slave.” We need to live lives that point to the reality of the Gospel.

No basis for discourse

We seem to have gotten to the point in our society where we can no longer have civil discourse. If someone makes a claim for truth, rather than take on his arguments and present counter arguments, it is much easier to just label his opinion as hateful and thereby wrong. It is easier to discredit the messenger than to respond to the message.