Of course, every friendship will not contain the same depth of relational intimacy or commitment. Casual friends are inevitable and can be good, joy-filled relationships. However, my concern is that we use the term “friend” so willy-nilly these days that we have become unable to imagine something richer. There is a level of deep, biblical friendship that I fear has become totally lost in our modern, transient, superficially intimate context.
Kuehne (pronounced “Keen”) examines three different types of societies, which he labels the tWorld (t = traditional), iWorld (i = individual), and rWorld (r = relational). Specifically, he looks at how these three different worlds understand sexuality, along with related topics like anthropology, identity, relationships, and morality as a whole.
When I was in seminary, my professors taught me how to defend the faith. I learned how to navigate questions about the apparent contradictions in the Bible and how to respond to scientific and historical problems related to the Christian faith. I became skilled at proving Jesus’s resurrection and the superiority of the Christian worldview over other religious views. I studied the history of the Bible and could prove that it was true. I became an apologist—a defender of the Christian faith.
*The following post is by a friend of mine who wishes to remain anonymous. He's a conservative Christian who experiences same-sex attraction.
On April 25 at 11:26am, an earthquake with the magnitude of 7.8 rocked the country of Nepal. The damage has been mind boggling: 8.1 million in need of some form of humanity aid including shelter, medicine, medical aid, clean water etc.
The following post is part 7 of 10 in the debate between Jeff and me about homosexuality. In this post, I respond to Jeff's response to my opening blog on Monday.
What we debate is becoming less important in Christian circles than how we debate. To the ears of many, both in the church and out, Christians have collectively become clanging cymbals.
Something is wrong when I can sing a worship song to God and then turn to my wife with the same lyrics. Because, when I look at you, babe, “my heart turns violently inside of my chest,” and I feel like…
