Is Everything Sad Going to Come Untrue? Why We Need Eschatology Now More than Ever

In my opinion, some of the most overlooked portions of the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy are the chapters right after the final battle in The Return of the King.  In these chapters, Tolkien expresses a vision for cosmic renewal that closely mimics the one laid down in the biblical accounts themselves.

In Rev 21:5 we read, “And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Behold, I am making all things new.’”  God has declared that one day he will set all things right. Likewise, at the end of The Return of the King, Tolkien describes how evil has been vanquished and all things set …

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Want to Understand How Suffering Fits with the Sovereignty of God? Here’s a Great Place to Start

One of the perennial questions for all theologians (and all human beings) is “Why do we suffer?” And, “If God is good and sovereign, why does he allow suffering?”

While most of us have these questions, we don’t really have to deal with them until we experience suffering ourselves. This is when we discover whether we really have a “theology of suffering” that can deal with the hard parts of life.

And that’s the thing about the coronavirus. It forces all of us to answer the tough questions about suffering. We can no longer duck the issue.

To be clear, I am not talking about answers to the intellectual questions …

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How a “You do You” Culture Has Made Us Vulnerable to the Coronavirus

“You do you.”

Perhaps there’s no phrase that captures our current cultural moment better. Back in 2015, Colson Whitehead of the New York Times Magazine, lamented this phrase, arguing that it “perfectly captures our narcissistic culture.”

Indeed, it is hard to disagree. “You do you” embodies our culture’s commitment to personal fulfillment, self-actualization, and the dismissal of any truth claims outside of the self. It means we get to create our own realities, our own right and wrong, and, perhaps most importantly, our own meaning.

And if we are the creators of our own little worlds, then we are also our own little gods. And no one gets to …

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