Mystery
“In the Christian context, we do not mean by a "mystery" merely that which is baffling and mysterious, an enigma or insoluble problem. On the contrary, a mystery is revealed for our understanding but we never understand it exhaustively because it leads into God's depth or darkness. The eyes are closed—but they are also opened.” (Metropolitan Kallistos Ware) “The Greek word, mystery, originally meant "initiation," "secret," or "revelation of a secret." Christianity inherited t
Life and Death
“Why was the entire dispensation of history and work of Christ necessary? Could not God simply have saved humankind by fiat?...The solution God has provided is to heal our nature from the inside out. By joining His divine, eternal life to human flesh, Jesus Christ has overcome the power of death; hence mortality will be abandoned in the grave when the universal resurrection dawns. If this explanation is not sufficient for the inquirer, ‘Say something like this to reasonable p
Good and Evil
“An evil person is not someone who is nothing but evil, someone with no redeeming features or virtues whatsoever. An evil person is not a...
Kingdom of God/Heaven
“Seeking the Kingdom of God isn’t a retreat into the wilderness or a complete renunciation of the world; withdrawing from the world for...
Gospel/Good News
“The comprehension of the Gospel depends neither on mental abilities, nor on philosophical sophistication, nor on any other science, but...
Heresy
“Heresy comes from a Greek word that means “picking and choosing.” A heretic is someone who picks and chooses which parts of a religion...
Seeing
“People always seem to be thinking too literally, and Jesus is always moving them from the literal to the spiritual level—to seeing...
Community, Individualism, and How to Live
“So we see dramatized in Genesis the bitter “fruit” of an approach to the interpretation of spiritual realities that attempts to be...
Body and Soul (Unity)
“When a person first comes into being, his or her soul “has committed no sin” and therefore is only culpable for later transgressions....
Secularism
“The great tragedy of secularism is its reduction of all things to mere things. We are created to have right relationships with all...