I once read an address delivered by Dr. Douglas Freeman at the dedication of the library at the University of Florida. Dr. Freeman was for many years the editor of the Richmond News Leader and the author of a Pulitzer Prize–winning biography of Robert E. Lee. At the close of his address he made a rather startling observation that the most important thing about a library was not to be f...
The New York City Youth Board once released a report that attracted a good deal of attention. The board had sent some highly experienced social workers and psychologists into the homes of 500 six-year-old boys. After studying the home environment, the researchers made predictions about the future of each of the boys.
For the children from homes with a notable lack of discipline, religio...
This is a day of vast scientific advances. Science has created "test tube" babies and we can now transplant almost all bodily organs. In a day of such spectacular achievements many wonder if science has outmoded religion. The answer is no! It never has and it never will. The reason why is because they deal with two different ways of knowing and two different fields of knowledge.
Science...
There is one thing that you can rely on—rumors aren’t reliable. People mix stories, tell half-truths, and misunderstand what they hear. The results? A story distorted beyond recognition.
Let me illustrate. A number of people in our church once attended a state softball tournament in Wichita Falls. One morning two tables of sponsors were having breakfast in the coffee shop. The conversat...
The great musician Leonard Bernstein said that when he was young his father strenuously opposed his going into music. Bernstein explained, “If you were to ask my father today if he opposed this, he would deny it. But he would rationalize by saying, ‘How was I to know that he was a Leonard Bernstein?’”
That reply, “How was I to know?” is a classic. How was he to know? We simply cannot se...
In 1960 the country of Surinam had only one entry in the Olympics. For four years their athlete had trained for the 800-meter run. He was entered in the trial heat. He didn’t win. In fact, he didn’t even run. He slept through the event. Think of it! He slept through the most important event of his life.
Christians are in danger of letting something like that happen to us. We are living...
Anyone who has tried to understand human suffering knows that suffering will be a mystery to humankind for as long as people live on this earth. In the face of unexplainable suffering, here are a few suggestions to help you.
Believe that God has an answer as to why we suffer and that in his own time he will give it to you. Faith, after all, is assurance of things hoped...
Those who value life the most are interested in investing their lives in great causes. Jesus gave us the key to a happy, meaningful life when he said, “For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it” (Matthew 16:25).
Life’s greatest investment is in the cause of Christ. It brings back to your life meaning, joy, and purpose as a...
People often say, “Everything that happens is for the best.” Through the years people have licked their wounds with the false comfort of this misconception. To believe that everything is for the best is not Christian optimism but blind fatalism. To say this is to fail to take evil into account. It is to call evil good. Men are free to choose evil as well as good. Evil choices lead to evil conse...