Electricity, Hurricane Sandy and the Feast of Sukkot – Four lessons

Posted on November 2, 2012 Written by Mark McIntyre 6 Comments

After the brute force of Hurricane Sandy subsided, I had some time to reflect on what had just happened. I offer four observations in response to Sandy.

Toward an Understanding of Christian Stewardship

The main word that is translated steward is οἰκονόμος (oikonomos), a compound of the words for house (οἶκος) and law (νόμος). It literally means one who rules over a household. Therefore a steward is one who manages his masters assets for the master’s benefit. A steward manages the assets of another. Therefore the first question […]

Simone Weil on Affliction

It is sometimes easy to deliver an unhappy man from his present distress, but it is difficult to set him free from his past affliction . . .

A Thought from Saint Augustine

In the Confessions, Saint Augustine describes a depraved soul as “falling away from security in you to destruction in itself.” I like the way that Augustine puts this. When I make moral choices, I am choosing between God or self, light or darkness, building or destruction. There is no middle ground. Yet there is hope. […]

The idol of approval

This morning I was challenged by a paragraph that I read in The Unbelievable Gospel by Jonathan K. Dodson. “In Christ, we possess a power that can rip the muzzle off, chase away the shadows, and bolster winsome, authentic gospel witness. That power lifted Jesus out of the grave, but it sits latent in our […]

What is my motive?

I should point out that there is value in doing the right thing even if our motives are not entirely pure (which they will never be in this lifetime). I’m certainly not saying that one should sit on the sidelines until something can be done with perfect motives.

The blessing of persecution

Scripture is clear that sometimes the righteous will suffer persecution. In this Beatitude Jesus assures us that when this happens we are blessed.