Healthy Questions

Why do we keeping asking a question that was answered authoritatively? Got a phone call from a friend recently who had watch the CNN program "The Mystery of Jesus" - ( transcript here .) The show had provoked a number of questions about the basics of Christian faith, such as "Did Jesus' body go into heaven?" and "what happens to our bodies?" I read a few relevant scriptures that answered those questions for us, and we went on to talk about some related things. CNN has been trotting out this show for the last few years at Easter time. Good for ratings, I guess. However, this kind of program is a real shame. The only historical record we have of the life of Jesus is the Bible – specifically the 4 gospel accounts. These records pass the tests of historical reliability, are amazingly consistent with each other, are supported directly by the New Testament epistles, and indirectly by many other early Church writings. That being said, the question we sho...

Sometimes healthy questions receive bad answers. As I said before , Christianity can face the tough questions and provide deeply coherent explanations and answers. However, sometimes the answers given fall short; they are unsatisfactory. I came across this blog post recently , in which a Christian author, Wayne Jacobsen, defends his writings against various accusations, including heresy. This is not a critique of The Shack, but of his response. I know Wayne a little and have spoken with him on this subject. I won't detail our conversation except to say that, while it ended amicably, we still disagree quite strongly. His blog post grieved me and deserves a response. As he did not allow my response to be added as a comment to his original post, I will place it here. Apparently some folks had written some pretty critical things about the book, and Wayne felt it necessary to respond through his blog. He calls attention to critical reviews on Amazon.com, although it should be noted ...