10 Things You Should Know about Demons and Satan
Jesus came into the world as the incarnate Son of God to accomplish more than one thing and defeating the devil by tasting death was among them.
Articles on Culture
781 results found
What Did Jesus Teach about Homosexuality?
In a 2012 article for Slate online, Will Oremus asked a provocative question: Was Jesus a homophobe?
Infographic: You Have More Time for Bible Reading than You Think
If someone observed an average day in your life, how would they see you spend your time? How much do you devote to Bible reading?
What Does "Arsenokoitai" Mean?
That word is an unusual word. It’s a new word; we don’t know of any other instances of the word until Paul coins the word in 1 Corinthians 6 and 1 Timothy 1.
Does God Single Out the Sin of Homosexuality? (Romans 1)
While in recent years same-sex relations have been glamorized in some sectors of society, Jesus confirmed that God’s will for marriage has always been lifelong heterosexual monogamy.
Free Resources for Your Stay at Home during COVID-19
When many families are reorienting their lives and schedules around more time at home, we hope you will find these resources helpful in grounding you in the hope of the gospel.
10 Things You Should Know about the New Heavens and the New Earth
God will have the final victory over what God has made. It will not be discarded but rescued.
10 Things You Should Know about Sex
God created and has good purposes for sex in the context of marriage, and we don't always view it rightly.
7 Good Reasons to Leave a Church
Illegitimate reasons for leaving a church abound, but there are circumstances when it is right to make the painful decision to leave.
5 Questions about Homosexuality
When we choose to embrace sin, celebrate it, and not repent of it, we keep ourselves away from God and away from heaven.
8 Reminders in the Face of the Coronavirus Pandemic
These are strange days, days of fear, days of hysteria. In other words, days that simply bring all our latent anxieties up to the surface.
What Did Jesus Teach about Politics?
If we take the lordship of Christ in our lives seriously, then we should seek to apply that lordship to our participation in politics.
10 Things You Should Know about Scientism
We often fail in the church to teach people why to believe what they believe. And we often do not prepare our children to engage ideas in the culture.
How to Pray When You’re Feeling Depressed
During seasons of depression or anxiety, most of us find it hard to concentrate, we feel God is far away, and we despair of God hearing us or helping us.
10 Things You Should Know about Christian Hospitality
Hospitality is not always easy or comfortable, but it is worth it. Learn why.
The emergence of Islam and the Qur’an can be properly understood only within the larger context of the Bible and the monotheism of Islam’s two main predecessors, Judaism and Christianity.
10 Things You Should Know about the Sexual Revolution
The sexual revolution is simply one manifestation of a broader culture of what we might call expressive individualism.
What Does the Bible Say about Being Born Gay?
How to respond biblically to the question of natural-born homosexuality with grace and truth.
5 Lies Our Culture Is Telling Us
When it seems like we are living at ground zero of the Tower of Babel, when the whole world seems to have gone mad, we need to cling to Christ with courage.
An Open Letter to Those Nonchalant about Their Sexual Sin
Are you living in sexual sin and darkness? Find motivation and hope for lasting change.
Godliness with contentment is great gain. Read and be encouraged by Scripture on how not to covet after wealth and be glad in God.
Practice Hospitality, Especially during COVID-19
Christians know that the dread of death can only be met by the redemption in Jesus Christ, so we need to proclaim Christ into a COVID-19 world.
Should Drinking Alcohol Disqualify a Pastor from Ministry?
“Not a drunkard” means more than just “Knows how to toe the line and stay within the legal limits.” It implies a positive vision. It calls for men who are reliable, ever vigilant, “ready in season and out.”
Is the Bible’s Teaching about Homosexuality Offensive?
Jesus is sometimes caricatured as a prophet of free love, unconcerned about sexual ethics. But his teaching on sexual morality was consistently stricter than the Old Testament law.
Podcast: A Christian Doctor’s Guide to Thinking about Coronavirus (Bob Cutillo, MD)
A Christian doctor discusses the current coronavirus pandemic, explaining what's currently happening in the US and around the world and offering perspective on how we should think about this virus.
Should Science Inform Our Reading of Genesis 1–3?
What do we do if we find an apparent discrepancy between Genesis 1-3 and what modern scientists claim about the origin of the world?
10 Things You Should Know about the Danger of Media
Why do we seek spectacles? Because we’re human—hardwired with an unquenchable appetite to see glory.
A lot of misinformation exists related to abortion. Here are 5 common myths that many people—pro-choice and pro-life alike—often believe.
Were David and Jonathan Lovers?
That‘s a fair question, though it’s a question that would have been strange to anyone in the biblical world.
Who Killed the Prayer Meeting?
Behind our busyness and wealth is a philosophy called secularism, which doesn’t just deny God’s existence but denies the existence of any spiritual world.
What Does the Bible Say about Alcohol?
Paul’s words of caution about not causing others to stumble by what we do are a reminder that not everything that is morally right in itself is wise or helpful in every situation.
Training Our Kids in a Culture That Affirms Transgenderism
We must tell the truth about what the Bible teaches about gender. Among other things, the Bible is clear that there is a normative connection between biological sex and gender identity.
6 Lessons from Pride and Prejudice
Jane Austen's classic novel, Pride and Prejudice contains some poignant lessons for Christians. Learn more about how her characters can point us to the Gospel.
While we should be careful not to reduce gender to cultural stereotypes, we must realize that uprooting gender from biology effectively kills it. If gender can be anything, it ends up being nothing.
The Most Comprehensive Critique of Theistic Evolution Yet Produced
This groundbreaking book documents evidential, logical, and theological problems with theistic evolution, opening the door to scientific and theological alternatives.
5 Things Science Cannot Explain (but Theism Can)
The heart of scientism is the conviction that science can explain virtually everything. Let’s look at five things that theism can explain but science cannot.
10 Things You Should Know about The Pilgrim’s Progress
The classic tale of The Pilgrim’s Progress has been popular with readers through the ages because it is rooted in the truths of the Bible.
7 Tips for Sharing the Gospel with Teens
Before teens can actually explain the gospel, they must first know it themselves. Then they must know how to articulate it.
6 Ideas for Thinking about Halloween with Your Kids
Consider these six ways parents can help think through what to do with Halloween biblically..
2 Heated Cultural Debates the Bible Addresses
If we read the Bible carefully, we find that all of our modern cultural debates are addressed there.
I’d like to offer different advice than what you might hear elsewhere: “Do not follow your dreams. Do not march to the beat of your own drummer. And whatever you do, do not be true to yourself.”
5 Ways Stephen Hawking Was Wrong
Scripture is true in all that it claims, and when interpreted rightly, it harmonizes perfectly with the book of nature. The church had misunderstood this principle and used Scripture to silence science.
Why Do Christians Make Such a Big Deal about Sex?
The fundamental reason why Christians believe that sex belongs only in the permanent bond of male-female marriage is because of the metaphor of Jesus’s love for his church.
An Open Letter to Those Debilitated by Their Sexual Sin
If you feel debilitated by a past of sexual sin or by the ongoing presence of temptation, hear these words of comfort and encouragement.
An Open Letter to the Depressed Christian at Christmas
In the midst of a tough season, learn ways to carefully navigate the holidays while also contributing to your long-term healing.
5 Idols Revealed through Hardship
Lamenting the toppling of our cultural idols can reorient Christian exiles as to what King and what kingdom we were supposed to long for.
What Did Jesus Teach about Violence and Turning the Other Cheek?
J. Daryl Charles, Timothy J. Demy
Does Jesus’s teaching in the sermon on the Mount to “turn the other cheek” and not resist evil require pacifism on the part of Christians?
Infographic: What's Your Take on Singleness, Dating, and Marriage?
In May 2017, we asked our readers questions about their views on dating and marriage. In total, nearly 7,000 people filled out the survey, revealing some interesting insights into how we view (and pursue) marriage and dating today.
Should Christians Always Submit to the Government? (Romans 13)
Paul’s counsel in Romans 13 assumes a government acting within its God-appointed parameters. When it does not, other measures may be in order.
We come into this world as a danger to ourselves. We are naturally more discontented than contented.
A Proper Christian Response to Sexual Sin in Our Culture
Sexual desire is often one of the most powerful, powerfully creative, and powerfully catastrophic forces within human history.
What in the World Is a Worldview?: Part 1
James N. Anderson discusses what a worldview is.
10 Things You Should Know about Genesis 1–3
Human persons have deep significance. We alone among the earthly creatures are made in the image of God.
8 Ways We Normalize the Abnormal
God has made it clear that the norm for his children should be love. It is the thing that the listening and watching world should know us for.
6 Keys to a Rewarding Digital Detox
Our screens project images to us that are more attractive than our real lives, and that’s all by design. Lured in, we escape into our screens, get hooked, and find it difficult to escape.
10 Things You Should Know about People with Disabilities
When we find ourselves weak, broken, disabled, we find that God shows up in unexpected ways.
John Piper on Profanity, Crude Joking, and Using the Word “Dang”
Christians are called to high standards with the words we speak. On the tongue’s use and misuse of words, four general principles guide us.
What Should Christians Think about Same-Sex Marriage?
What’s the big deal about marriage? Why not let people have whatever relationships they choose and call them whatever they want? Why go to the trouble of sanctioning a specific relationship and giving it a unique legal standing?
A Christian Perspective on International Women’s Day
As the world takes a moment to applaud women and girls in various ways, may we Christians be the biggest champions, the loudest cheerers, and the most proactive supporters of women.
Why I No Longer Support the Death Penalty
In law school, I was a full-throated supporter of the death penalty, but I have come to the view that, as currently practiced in the United States, the death penalty is unjust as the Bible defines justice.
10 Things You Should Know about Money
Money is an accurate window on what is truly important to us.
Can a Christian Have Mental Illness?
Some Christians believe that Christians cannot have mental illness. If a professing Christian is depressed, anxious, or bipolar, they think it’s because they are not a real Christian, or it's because of unrepented sin.
Women in Society: The Challenge and the Call
Women are extremely valuable to society, not because of their own merits but because of the qualities God has given them to use on his behalf.
7 Bad Reasons to Leave a Church
Before you begin searching for a new church, consider these 7 reasons you shouldn't.
Infographic: What Does Your Church Mean to You?
We asked over 10,000 people to share their views of church. In this infographic, we present some of the interesting results.
10 Things You Should Know about the Church after COVID-19
In all the important ways, nothing has changed about church. We are still the people of God, gathered in the presence of God, to bring glory to God.
We May Be Confused, but God Isn’t
As much as we try to make sense of our lives, there are things that we simply aren’t able to understand.
What Did Jesus Teach about Money?
We keep telling ourselves that the next thing will be what satisfies us, but it never does.
An Open Letter to the Hesitant Church-Goer
Helpful reflections and encouragement for believers who are hesitant to return to church for a variety of reasons.
Are Israel and the Church Two Distinct Peoples of God?
Covenant theology is a blessing because whatever book of Scripture we find ourselves in, every part reminds us of other parts. The entire book is about God’s covenant with his people.
Do Exodus and Numbers Justify Abortion? (Exodus 21 and Numbers 5)
Some abortion advocates appeal directly to Scripture to make their case for elective abortion. But this argument is flawed on several counts.
Our value comes from God and he has good purposes for every role and circumstance he puts us in.
10 Things You Should Know about Love
Being a good steward of my time requires that I tune in to God’s heart and see the opportunities to love others that are all around me.
“Love is love” proudly pronounced that the lover's authenticity determines the love's integrity. Who can judge love? it asked. But does God define love, or do I? Is God love, or are my feelings my God?
5 Lessons from Shakespeare's Hamlet
Leland Ryken compels us to focus on both the content and the form of Shakespeare's Hamlet.
How to Pray When You’re Tempted by Sexual Sin
Sexual sin is a matter of the heart. When it comes to sex, we all need to say that the biggest problem in our sexual lives is us.
5 Ways to Ensure Our Souls Aren’t Strangled by Screens
The biggest deception of our digital age may be the lie that says we can be omnicompetent, omni-informed, and omnipresent.
3 Causes for Political Tension between Christians
Jonathan Leeman, Andrew David Naselli
What is going on when a disagreements affects your heart’s posture or hinders fellowship with another person in your church?
Podcast: Christians, the LGBTQ Community, and the Call to Hospitality (Rosaria Butterfield)
Rosaria Butterfield encourages us to engage our LGBTQ neighbors for Christ, highlighting how God used the radically ordinary hospitality of Christians to draw her to himself.
Infographic: The Common (Yet Neglected) Problem of Burnout
Are you experiencing burnout? Check out the infographic to learn more about the symptoms and causes of this common problem.
What in the World Is a Worldview?: Part 4
James N. Anderson goes into more detail about what a worldview is and what makes up a worldview
How Radically Ordinary Hospitality Changed Rosaria Butterfield’s Life
Rosaria Butterfield invites us into her home to show us how God can use “radical, ordinary hospitality” to bring the gospel to our lost friends and neighbors.
How to Biblically Defend the Sanctity of Life
We can approach discussions about abortion with evidence from the Bible, or just by using the facts of the universe about how a human life develops inside the mother's womb.
Resources Related to Abortion and the Sanctity of Life
In light of the recent ruling by the Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade, we wanted to highlight a number of resources that will help Christians to understand the truths of the pro-life position, to articulate that message, and to truly reflect on the sanctity of life.
John Piper on Theocracy, Igniting Revolutions, and Patriotism in the Church
Christ claims in every family, and in every business, and in every school, and in every church, and in every political party, and in every nation a superior allegiance, a superior love.
Suffering and Hope in the Time of COVID-19
In these circumstances, we may find ourselves wondering, Where is God? How can these things be happening if God is perfectly good and all-powerful? Can’t he stop them? Doesn’t he want to?
Unpacking “My Body, My Choice”
God alone is the potter. He alone knits cells together in the womb to form a baby human. He alone has the right to destroy or glorify the work of his hands.
An Open Letter to Christians Who Doubt
Just defining or describing the doubt helps me talk to God more pointedly about it. And in some instances, he gives me insight or perspective that alleviates (but not totally removes) the doubt.
10 Things You Should Know about Abortion
Does each and every human being have an equal right to life?
Why the Study of Ethics Matters for Everyday Christians
Why should we study ethics from a biblical perspective? Why should we collect and summarize the Bible’s teaching in a systematic way?
4 Questions about Headship and Head Coverings
What does it mean that the husband is the head of his wife? What is the covering? What “head” does the woman dishonor? What does Paul mean by “authority”?
Will Your Phone Dominate Your Life in 2018?
As another new year begins, let's examine our habits, including our relationships to social media and our phones.
5 Ways the Digital Age Is Transforming the Way You Think
Our work, education, relationships, and even worship are increasingly happening digitally. Our tendency is often to think of these technologies as just neutral “tools." But this is not quite right.
Was Violence against the Canaanites a Matter of Racial Prejudice?
Gregory Goswell, Andreas J. Köstenberger
It is impossible to ignore what is routinely viewed as the grave moral problem of the book of Joshua, namely, the action of the Israelites in exterminating the Canaanites.
Why It Matters What We Do with Our Bodies
We might think it doesn’t matter what we do with our bodies, but the Bible repeatedly and powerfully shows us this is not the case.
How to Grieve Racial Violence through Lament
Rather than allowing racial tension to drive a wedge between us or to frighten us into silence, lament can invite all of us on a journey toward seeking God’s grace together.
Christian, What Are You Watching?
For most Americans, media is the omnipresent backdrop of life. We generally give no more thought to it than we do to the air we breathe. But give thought to it we must.
Hospitality is not a gift unto itself, but a means through which other spiritual gifts are displayed: mercy, serving, giving, and evangelizing.
The Core Problem with Genetic Engineering
Children are not commodities to be bought and sold, or products to be manufactured, or objects to be designed for someone else’s use.
A Prayer for Racial Reconciliation
Divisions of mistrust and historical bias run deep. Without God, nothing will ever change. In our pain and our weariness, we know that only Jesus can change our hearts and unite the church.
The Birth of Narnia and Why Tolkien Hated It
Lewis found that his creative imagination was drawing him forward the way something magical drew the children into Narnia.
A Christian Doctor Answers Questions about COVID-19
Read answers to common questions related to COVID-19 from a Christian physician.
We may take it for granted that women are equally valuable as men. But that was not what people in Jesus’s day believed.
Should I Attend My Homosexual Friend's Wedding?
A thoughtful answer to a question that we all—sooner or later—may need to face, and how to honor Christ with our response.
7 Tips for Being More Productive
True productivity is not about results but about faithfulness. We are productive when we are walking in the good works God has prepared for us, whatever the results of those good works are.
What Is Divine Inspiration (and Why Does It Matter)?
The general line of argument is that if the Bible is divinely inspired, it must also be infallible because God would not lead his people astray.
When Marriage and Motherhood Become Idols
When we moralize marriage and motherhood, we inadvertently create a hierarchy in the church with the moms on top (the more children the godlier) and the singles without children on the bottom.
Podcast: The Heart of the Abortion Debate (Scott Klusendorf)
Scott Klusendorf discusses abortion and the current state of the pro-life movement, highlighting the biggest mistakes pro-life people make and responding to common pro-choice arguments.
Is Homosexual Orientation Sinful?
The Bible is somewhat ambiguous about orientation as such, only because that language is relatively new language. Here's what the Bible does say clearly.
Help! My Beliefs Are Viewed as Intolerant
As our world continues to speak about inclusivity, diversity, and tolerance, it can seem like Christianity is embarrassingly behind the times.
4 Ways Christians Can Navigate Cultural Confusion around Gender in the Coming Decade
The question of transgender identity looks set to be significant for Christians both in matters of public life and pastoral care for the foreseeable future.
For Packer, affirming biblical authority is meant not merely to provoke a debate but to give ethical direction to life.
How Is Love of Money a Root of Evil?
The root system of the love of money runs deeper and wider through the soil of the human heart than we tend to think.
10 Things You Should Know about Teenagers
Do teenagers confuse you? This article shares 10 things you should know about them.
Are Christians Free to Enjoy the Things of Earth?
There are two dangers that we can fall into with the things of earth: idolatry and ingratitude.
How to Pray for Your Teenager’s Sexual Purity
Ultimately only the Lord can provide the help our teens need, which is why parents like me must pray for their teenager’s sexual purity.
10 Things You Should Know about Apologetics
Apologetics is a means to an end: a means of helping people to live for Jesus.
The Fear of God Is the Antidote to Our Anxiety
Fear is probably the strongest human emotion. But it baffles us. When we come to the Bible, the picture seems equally confusing: is fear a good thing or bad?
3 Ways Men Can Love Their Wives in Real Life
Men, these three verbs describe freely given love: lead, sacrifice, and care. God holds you accountable for the spiritual welfare of your wife.
5 Questions about Mental Illness
Mental illness is an old problem; as old as the fall. Although God made everything very good, when sin entered, humanity—together with the rest of the creation—came under the divine curse.
Infographic: How Is Your Phone Changing You?
We surveyed 7,000 people about their phone usage habits—learn more about their answers in this infographic.
Why There’s No Such Thing as an Atheist
If what Paul says in Romans 1 is true, there is ultimately no such thing as an atheist.
You Become Like What You “Like”
Social media has become the new PR firm of the brand Self, and we check our feeds compulsively and find it nearly impossible to turn away from looking at—and loving—our “second self.”
10 Things You Should Know about Biblical Archaeology
Archaeology provides a vital avenue for understanding ancient everyday life.
Is it true that it's not just the messages that we find on the web that influence us but that it’s the web itself, the process through which the web puts us as we engage its powers?
10 Things You Should Know about Thanksgiving
Though Thanksgiving is not a traditional Christian holiday, it's deeply rooted in biblical principles. Learn more about this beloved American celebration.
Unrealistic standards of beauty are being pushed on us almost constantly by the media, and the cumulative effect is that it can leave us thinking about our bodies in a seriously distorted way.
Lament boldly reaffirms the trustworthiness of God. But, first we need to learn how to do it.
What in the World Is a Worldview?: Part 2
James N. Anderson outlines five reasons why it’s important to be worldview-aware.
Ours is not a time of great respect for authority. For most people, including many evangelical Christians, personal freedom and liberty are avidly pursued virtues.
Why Your Child’s Misbehavior Shouldn’t Be Your Next Social Media Post
There’s nothing new about parents talking about their child’s misbehavior, but there are some underlying pitfalls that you should consider, especially as the internet magnifies them.
Our occupation is what occupies us as we make a living. The word vocation originates in a word for “calling” and refers to what God has called us to do to fulfill his mission in our lives.
Vocation: My Choosing or God's Calling?
One aspect of the doctrine of vocation flies in the face of every self-help book and occupational seminar, every conversation about “your plans,” and every agonizing bout of decision-making.
Rest in God’s Faithfulness, Not Yours
God not only forgives your sins and guarantees you a seat in eternity, but welcomes you to a radically new way of living.
The Dying Away of Cultural Christianity
Cultural Christianity is on the decline, a reality that should not cause despair, but should actually lead us to hope.
12 Ideas You Must Embrace to Affirm Theistic Evolution
Explore the 12 details of Genesis 1-3 that speak to the nature of God's creation.
Abortion advocates are correct that the Bible does not specifically mention abortion. But what’s the best explanation for its silence?
Repentance for the Sake of Racial Reconciliation
To what extent can I help to rid even the smallest parts of sinful prejudice and racism out of my life for the glory of God?
Atheism and the Problem of Evil
Can an unguided world governed by mere chance provide any sort of objective foundation or absolute definition of “good”?
What the Bible Says about Women’s Physical Strength
Women's bodies are weaker because God made their bodies to be weaker than men’s bodies and that's what Peter's talking about in 1 Peter 3.
Help! I’m Feeling Anxious about . . . Everything
Let’s be honest, we’re all worried, aren’t we? The good news is that God knew this day was coming and has provided counsel for us to stop worry at its source.
5 Ways the World Would Be Worse without Christianity
Christians are instructed to “check their privilege” and “do the work” to repudiate Christianity’s toxic legacy. But what would the world really be like without Christianity?
5 Patterns of Biblical Manhood and Womanhood
The Bible may not give explicit instructions about men and women in the church, but it does reveal some patterns that ought to shape how we think of sexual differentiation and complementarity.
The star is doing something that it cannot do on its own: it is guiding magi to the Son of God to worship him.
Why Our Feelings ≠ Knowing God’s Will
Feelings are not meant to be our guide. That's the role of God's Word in our lives.
How to Stop Thinking about What People Think of You
Self-consciousness is really bondage to the question What do people think of me?
The Greatest Movement for Racial Diversity in All of History
Christianity is not declining contrary to many of our perceptions, whether we are secular or religious.
4 Cultural Factors That Contribute to Our Epidemic of Burnout
Diligence and discernment are necessary to combat these 4 cultural factors that contribute to burnout.
Seeing God’s Gracious Hand in the Hurts Others Do to Us
We need to know what Scripture says in general about God’s relationship to evil. Scripture declares that the Judge of all the earth will always do what is right.
Reclaiming Christmas Carols for Our Worship
In the midst of confusing, chaotic, and despairing times, carols give expression to the hope, peace, and joy we’re all longing for.
Jesus’s Love for the Marginalized of this World
We are inclined to give our attention to and serve those with influence and power, to praise those who wield influence in the world, but every person is made in God’s image and every person is significant.
Consensus is hard, especially in an individualistic culture where “have it your way” consumerism is the air we breathe. Sometimes it’s just easier to say, “You do you, I’ll do me.”
Did Anything Happen in 1776 besides That One Thing?
Beginning in northwestern Europe, economic growth began outpacing population growth, and more people found themselves getting richer than their parents. The world has not been the same since.
'Theistic evolution' actually can be a number of different distinct ideas because the term 'evolution' can have a number of distinct definitions.
Why Jesus Cannot Be One Truth among Many
Jesus claims rule over all of heaven and earth. He presents himself not as one possible path to God, but as God himself.
Does the Bible Condone Slavery? (Philemon 1)
Paul addresses a delicate matter in his epistle to the leader of a Colossian church.
Disguising Ungodliness as Righteous Anger
Christopher Ash, Steve Midgley
Sometimes our imitation of God slides, ever so subtly, into replacement of God. We do that thing that we do. We take his place, and soon it is our honor that we are concerned about.
What Does It Mean to Be Your True Self?
Expressive individualism, like a lot of things, captures something of the truth. Human beings do have an inner life, and that inner life is very important to who we are.
Most of us like to think we’re basically good people. We know we’re not perfect. We sometimes do bad things. But at heart, we think we’re pretty good.
5 Pieces of Advice for Discussing Gender Roles with Other Christians
We won’t be able to say everything in one conversation, and we certainly won’t say everything perfectly.
3 Things the Pro-Life Movement Needs to Do to Stop Abortion
Despite the bleak picture we see all around us, the pro-life cause is not nearly so bleak when our message is clearly communicated.
The Bible and the Religions of the World
Although the Bible nowhere discusses “other religions” as such, much in it is relevant to the subject.
Why the Secularization Hypothesis Is Fundamentally Flawed
As the world became more modern, more scientific, and more educated, sociologists thought the world was also becoming less religious, but is it true?
Nietzsche or Christ? Who Will We Follow amid Our Political Angst?
The days of rage are back. In the face of current social and political events, resentment may not be flooding the street (at least not yet), but it is raging at the level of the heart.
Social Media Is Discipling You
We are shaped by the winds that blow around us. In the age of the omnipresent smartphone, the wind that shapes us most is online.
10 Things You Should Know about Poetry
We should all learn the language of poetry. Here are ten reasons why.
How Christianity Gave Rise to Modern Science
Science actually got started in a very explicitly theistic—indeed Christian—milieu.
3 Core Beliefs of the Transgender Movement
The transgender revolution is sweeping. Deeper understanding of it requires us to consider three core beliefs that underly it and make it possible.
5 Questions about the Sanctity of Life
What does the Bible really teach about abortion and the sanctity of human life?
7 Reasons Why You Should Study the Book of Ruth
Ruth is a very old book. The events took place over three thousand years ago. Could it be relevant and helpful for your life? I think so.
10 Things You Should Know about Your Smartphone
How much do you really think about your smartphone? Here are 10 things you should know.
When the Supreme Somebody Became Nobody
It’s what the Lord Jesus took to himself that humbled him, not what he laid aside. It was in taking to himself humanity that he became nothing.
Unpacking “No Creed but the Bible”
Many Christians may well have heard the phrase ”no creed but the Bible“ at some point. Is it a faithful and useful principle for guiding how we think about Christian truth and authority?
The Awkward and Essential Challenge of Christian Community
This new book calls us to embrace the uncomfortable aspects of Christian community, whether that means believing difficult truths, pursuing difficult holiness, or loving difficult people.
How Much Should Christians Care about the Environment?
God is committed to the earth and has given humans responsibility to care for it. This Biblical truth is foundational from the opening chapter of the Bible.
6 Ways to Find (and Protect) the Time You Need to Read Books
Reading is a discipline, and all disciplines require self-discipline, and self-discipline is the one thing our sinful flesh will resist.
Do We Live in a Post-Christian Society?
Our society may not be a happy Christian one, but that leaves the gospel room to speak, stand, and save.
We should admit up front that there are some decent reasons a person might have for being an atheist.
Music is a gift meant to bring glory to God; don't let it become an idol.
Churches should teach and disciple Christians how to critique the cultural ideas that are influencing people away from the faith.
The best self-care habits, not only for the Christian but for any human being, lead us back to our Maker and Savior.
Does “Love the Sinner, Hate the Sin” Still Work?
Christians who fail to note this shift are going to find themselves very confused by the incomprehension of, and indeed the easy offence taken by, the world around them.
Is Motherhood a Woman’s Highest Calling?
Marriage and motherhood are good and God-given gifts, but when we elevate any good gift to an ultimate gift, then it becomes an idol.
3 Things That Must Change in the American Justice System
The American justice system has an accuracy problem. And this accuracy problem is a justice problem—a biblical justice problem.
Why It Is Unloving to Preach #YouDoYou
If the ship is going down, it’s not arrogant to tell people the truth and point them to the lifeboat. It’s deeply unloving not to.
Today’s world has more and more information readily available, but less and less wisdom.
An Open Letter to the Hesitant Host
Are you busy? Are you important? Do you work on a tight schedule? Are your boundaries well-fortified?
Why We Desperately Need the Message of Revelation
In the midst of evil, in a world in which the Christian faith is under attack, we need hope and assurance that evil will not have the last word.
The question for each of us is: What is the one thing that is keeping me from giving everything to the kingdom of God?
Podcast: The Danger in Being a Self-Made Woman (Jen Oshman)
What does it look like to pursue real fulfillment in God, rather than in ourselves? And what's wrong with the self-obsessed, individualistic culture that dominates our world today?
Is The Song of Solomon about God's Love or Human Love? (Song of Solomon 1)
Although we are fallen and our sexual desires can easily be distorted and debased, there is still something “very good” about the desire for physical intimacy.
Help! I’m Struggling to Strike a Work/Life Balance
Work is not primarily a place to please our boss, help our customers, make money, or build a career. Work/life balance begins with a biblical view of work.
Scientific Evidence for the Personhood of Unborn Children
Alongside the biblical testimony about the personhood of the unborn child, scientific evidence also indicates that each child in the womb should be considered a unique human person.
Podcast: Making Sense of Transgenderism and the Sexual Revolution (Carl Trueman)
Why is our culture obsessed with gender identity and sexuality? Learn what history has to say about our modern times and how Christians can navigate this increasingly hostile issue.
The Crushing Obligation to Keep Doing More and More
I understand there are lazy people out there who need to get radical for Jesus. I also know people like me, people who easily feel a sense of responsibility, people who easily feel bad for not doing more
The Common Calling of All Women
Am I faithfully obeying God as his child by meeting the genuine needs of others, or am I pursuing self-actualization, self-fulfillment, or selfish ambition apart from him?
4 Issues Your Children Are Facing That You Never Had To
Andrew T. Walker, Christian Walker
Parenting in today’s culture can seem like boating into uncharted waters. The good news is that though the culture may throw us new challenges, Scripture speaks a better word to anchor our parenting.
4 Questions about Parenting and Screen Time
If we intend to teach our children how to appropriately enjoy, but not abuse, time in front of a screen, we must check our own hearts and habits first.
What Does It Mean to Be Pro-Life?
A biblical Christian ethic is concerned with the whole life. But the organizational priorities of pro-life organizations are necessarily narrow.
Retirement presents a new freedom to live your life according to your God-given priorities.
An Open Letter to the Sexual Sufferer
If you are a victim of sexual sin, God offers you true hope and healing.
We (Do Not) Hold These Truths to Be Self-Evident
We are inclined to see equality and human rights as universal norms. But in reality they are culturally conditioned beliefs that depend on fundamentally Christian assumptions about the world.
By the Spirit, We See the Cross
The bold and clear preaching of the cross materializes the spectacle of the cross before a congregation, for those with the faith to see it.
What Happens When the Governing Authorities Are the Wrongdoers?
Some wrongful convictions are merely honest mistakes, the tragic results of criminal justice administered by well-intentioned but finite humans. But some are not.
7 Commitments to Make before Using Social Media
Because of who human beings are by God’s design and their lofty place in God’s economy, we should always treat everyone with dignity no matter who they are.
Why Mentoring Is Better than Asking Alexa
In our digital age, it’s helpful to remember the importance of real-life relationships and the benefits of older believers in the faith who can offer us wisdom, presence, and pursuit.
Self-care has become a thing. The trend got traction by appealing to necessity—you can’t care for others if you don’t first care for yourself.
The Pros and Cons of a Global Economy
The global economy can be a little frustrating because globalization and the global economy are terms that mean different things to different people.
5 Myths about Your Personal Identity
These days, knowing who you are and being true to yourself are seen as signs of good mental health and well-being, and the keys to authentic living and true happiness.
Why Are Christians Told Not to Love the World? (1 John 2)
If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world— the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world.
Help! I Don’t Know Where to Start with Racial Reconciliation
Lament doesn't solve all the problems of racial disharmony. It’s not without risk. But it helps.
3 Advantages of Understanding Identity Politics
First of all, one thing that I'm very convicted of is that the history of identity politics—and understanding of identity politics—helps us to understand how we ourselves, as Christians, are often complicit in that.
Podcast: Why You Probably Need a Digital Detox (Tony Reinke)
Tony Reinke reflects on how to do a digital detox, why we should be careful with our social media habits, and what the massive success of the new Avengers film can teach us about our media saturated world.
3 Signs You're Idolizing Your Home
It can be hard to discern whether or not we're idolizing our work in the home. Unfortunately, the reality is that we often do. But there are a few questions we can ask ourselves that may help.
In a Divisive World Your Values Reveal Your God
The gospel is entirely relational. Christ purchased for us peace with God and, through that peace, peace with one another.
The Church’s Central Role in the Coming of the Kingdom of God
It’s not to the government, nor to any king or pope or any other ruler, but rather to the church that the keys of the kingdom of God are given.
10 Things You Should Know about Christmas
The primary purpose for observing Christmas is remembering Jesus’s birth.
The Church and Homosexuality: 10 Commitments
Of the many complexities involving the church and homosexuality, one of the most difficult is how the former should speak of the latter.
The true woman does not compartmentalize domesticity, nor does she reduce it to a set of behaviors.
An Open Letter to the Pastor Desiring Racial Reconciliation in the Church
Reconciliation—vertical and horizontal—is the goal of the good news. Gospel unity creates racial harmony.
C. S. Lewis’s Role in The Lord of the Rings
J. R. R. Tolkien always acknowledged that C. S. Lewis played a huge role in encouraging him to finish writing The Lord of the Rings, and was equally insistent that Lewis had no influence on the actual content.
Four Ways a Person Can Die in Their Sins
John MacArthur offers four elements from John 8:21–30 that show how a person can die in their sin.
We instinctively recognize that the solution to bad authority is seldom no authority, but almost always good authority.
What the Grand Canyon Teaches Us about Ourselves
Ninety-nine years ago today, Grand Canyon National Park was established after President Woodrow Wilson signed a Congressional act. Learn the invaluable lesson John Piper thinks this national landmark can teach.
John Piper on Gambling, the Lottery, and Fantasy Football
Fantasy sports are now a multibillion-dollar gambling industry in the United States, leading a young man to email and ask if a “rather modest” bet of twenty to fifty dollars per week is sinful.
One of the Most Misused Words Today
Appearing just under 1,000 times, the word “heart” is used in the Bible more than any other for the inner self.
Why Computers Can Never Replace the Human Brain
If we are not just machines, but spiritual beings as well, even the cleverest computer could never replicate the priceless and wondrous imago dei borne by every human.
What in the World Is a Worldview?: Part 5
James N. Anderson suggests five different ways to discern someone’s worldview.
While our collective declaration of “New year, new me” is powerful on January 1, it loses steam quickly. The second Friday in January is known as Quitters Day because so many of us give up by then.
Who Needs Dogma when Stigma Will Do?
Sliding into liberalism is when you no longer take the time or make the effort to define your terms.
Is Evangelicalism Today Truly Evangelical?
If evangelicalism is to have a future worthy of the name, we who would be people of the gospel must cultivate an integrity to the gospel, and on more than paper.
Assessing the Arguments for and against Physician-Assisted Suicide
In addition to arguments that can be made from the Bible against physician-assisted suicide (Ex. 20:13, “You shall not murder”), four additional arguments can be made against euthanasia.
3 Questions about Blessings and Curses
God’s design has always been for his people to experience the fullness of life in his presence—physically and spiritually.
5 Myths about Making Decisions
The sooner we learn to see decisions as a blessing rather than a burden, the more we will begin to experience the God-intended delight that comes with the decision-making process.
Does the Bible Offer Guidance for Contemporary Ethical Issues?
The Bible has much to offer believers as they seek to obey the Lord in every area of life, but it is not always as easy as matching one Bible verse with a problem.
Don’t Mistake Your Passion for Theological Precision
Many of us, even Christians, have little patience for rigorous thinking and little interest in careful definition.
What about Scholars Who Deny that the Bible Condemns Homosexual Practice?
It's just not accurate to say that what we are seeing now as expressions of homosexuality were completely unknown to the biblical authors.
Infographic: Do Women Need to Slow Their Pace?
We asked over 6,000 people to share their experience with stress and burnout. In this infographic, we present some of the interesting results.
Win the Next Generation with Love
The evangelical church has spent far too much time trying to figure out cultural engagement and far too little time just trying to love. If we listen and are curious about people, we will be plenty engaged.
An Open Letter to the Pastor in a Post-Christian World
Though we are in post-Christian times, when the culture is becoming increasingly secularized, Christianity is far from “over.”
Was Shakespeare a Christian Writer?
Leland Ryken encourages us to look at the Christian elements present in Shakespeare's plays.
Norman L. Geisler, Frank Turek
Many non-Christians take a “blind leap of faith” that their non-Christian beliefs are true simply because they want them to be true.
What Does Radically Ordinary Hospitality Look Like?
Those who live out radically ordinary hospitality see their homes not as theirs at all but as God’s gift to use for the furtherance of his kingdom.
Woman: You Will Become What You Behold
If we spend our time gazing only on lesser things, we will become like them, measuring our years in terms of human glory.
3 Ways the Internet Itself Resembles Pornography
It is not just that much pornography can be found online. It is that the web, by virtue of what it is, is intrinsically pornographically shaped.
How to Guard against a Self-Centered Relationship with Jesus
Often without warning or intention, the drive to know ourselves becomes all-consuming. It’s impossible to not be affected by the age of self in which we currently live.
How Is the Sexual Revolution Affecting Women and Girls Today?
Especially for girls and women, we have been told to believe that we're only as valuable as we are sexy or sexualized, and that we are something to be consumed.
The advice to listen to your heart is not only common, but it has also been exalted to a sacrosanct place of moral authority in our culture.
Christians have a role to play in joining with other believers to demonstrate a counter-cultural message about the sanctity of human life.
4 Ideas to Help Us Make Better Use of Our Time
God is the one most interested in you and me using our time well. He isn’t looking down from heaven waiting for us to throw our lives away in order to punish us.
10 Things You Should Know about American Criminal Justice
American founders understood that the power to criminally punish was enormous and the emotional outcry to solve a crime could lead authorities to run roughshod over the rights of the accused.
The Lord’s Work in the Lord’s Way
If we try to influence the world by using its methods, we are doing the Lord’s work in the flesh.
What I Learned in My Season of Depression
God, in his love and wisdom, chose this very specific trial for me.
7 Checklist Items for Your Next Church Search
Consider these seven key items to look for and prioritize when you embark on your next church search.
Feminine Beauty and Masculine Strength
What do we say to our sons and daughters who ask, “Daddy and Mommy, what does it mean to be a man or a woman?” Tell them they are made in the image of God and for union with Christ.
What Does God Have to Do with Math?
What does God have to do with mathematics? The two subjects have everything to do with each other.
Loving Others through Political Difference
Jonathan Leeman, Andrew David Naselli
What is wisdom? It’s a capacity of mind that combines the fear of the Lord with the skill of living in God’s created but fallen world in a way that yields justice, peace, and flourishing.
A Mistake Christians Make regarding the LGBTQ+ Movement
For Christians, our identity is not rooted primarily in our feelings or desires, be they sexual or otherwise. Our identity is to be rooted by the fact that we are created in the image of God and united to Christ.
5 Myths about End-of-Life Care
Few things halt conversation as quickly as the topic of death, yet the stewardship of our God-given lives matters until the very end.
An Open Letter to Women Straining under the Burden of Expectations
Are you worn down by the weight of the countless roles and expectations in your life? Are you feeling the pressure of doing more and striving harder to please the people around you?
11 Criteria for Judging the Arts
How are we to set about the task of testing everything and holding fast to that which is good?
Does Singleness Require a Special Calling?
Many Christians have taken “the gift of singleness” to mean some special capacity to cope with it. But there are a number of problems with this way of thinking.
What Is Burnout and Why Is It So Dangerous?
Burnout is physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual exhaustion and breakdown. It is usually caused by living at too fast a pace, for too long, doing too much.
Cultural Singleness vs. Christian Singleness
What Christians mean by singleness is often very different to what our secular friends mean by singleness.
How Should Christians Share the Gospel with Practicing Homosexuals?
You preach the same gospel that you would preach to someone who is not in the homosexual lifestyle.
The Top 2 Archaeological Finds of All Time
The Holy Spirit, through time, has preserved a couple of key archaeological finds. Learn about two of the most important.
The Right (and Wrong) Way to Be True to Yourself
You’re no longer worshiping the god of this age. You have the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. This is what’s true of you.
Should Same-Sex Marriage Be Legal?
This is an issue about which Christians should not be indifferent.
Understanding Teen Anxiety and Depression
One of the best things we can do for our teens is to explain to them that many teens suffer in the same way.
Tips for Students Facing Doubt in the Real World
When facing doubts and fears, the last thing you want to do is isolate yourself and struggle alone.
Many Worlds and Many Gods: An Excerpt from "Mormonism Explained"
Mormonism also believes that these innumerable worlds or kingdoms were also inhabited by gods.
Can Humility and Social Media Coexist?
We cannot stop the incessant screaming and scrambling that is the internet. But we can try to reduce our own involvement in the problems and do whatever we can to contribute to a healthier culture.
What in the World Is a Worldview?: Part 3
James N. Anderson gives four specific reasons why it is beneficial for Christians to think in terms of worldviews.
Why the Christian Faith Is Fundamentally . . . Uncomfortable
The very nature of Christian faith is uncomfortable—especially in today's world.
An Interview with Andreas J. Köstenberger and Thomas R. Schreiner
Andreas J. Köstenberger, Thomas R. Schreiner
This is an interview with Andreas J. Köstenberger and Thomas R. Schreiner, co-editors of Women in the Church: An Interpretation and Application of 1 Timothy 2:9-15 (3rd edition).
Despairing Over the Culture? There's Still a Reason to Get Out of Bed Tomorrow
Is the world so intent on dismantling what it means to be a human being that society is doomed to collapse, or at least committed to shunting Christians and Christianity to its far margins?
How (and How Not) to Discuss Doctrinal Differences
Divisiveness belongs to the works of the flesh. Believers who walk by the Spirit must address their doctrinal differences in the fruit of the Spirit.
Why the Physical Earth Matters to God
When we fail to value creation, we fail to honor the God who made and sustains it.
Take a Bold Stance against the Commonality of Porn
What if not just one man but a whole generation of men takes a bold stand against the new slave trade of our time—pornography?
Maximus the Gladiator and Jesus the Christ
Just as Maximus was not just a gladiator but the ultimate Gladiator, the Gospel authors claim that Jesus is not just a king, but the King.
How to Help Those Who Believe the Prosperity Gospel
How do we help our family members, friends, coworkers, or even fellow church members who are swept up in the prosperity gospel? Here are a few simple ideas.
Faith, Freedom, and the Founding Fathers
The Founding Fathers understood very well the relationship between one’s world view and government.
Men: Don’t Neglect These 4 Key Spiritual Disciplines
Godliness requires discipline. Here are four categories to commit to growing in.
How Should the Church Confront Social Injustice?
We need to hear the voice of Dr. Francis James Grimké as he beckons us to both reform the church, leadership, and our society with the gospel of Jesus Christ and Christian witness.
A Trial Lawyer Answers the Most Searched Questions about the Criminal Justice System
Matt Martens is a trial lawyer in Washington, DC who has spent most of his career in criminal law. In this video, he offers clear and candid answers to some of the most searched questions about criminal justice.
Teach Your Kids Their Identity before the World Does
What do you want to be when you grow up? Who are you? It’s one of the most fundamental questions of life. And the answer our culture has come up with is very far from the truth.
DNA 101: How It Works and Why It's Astounding
The ultimate question in the origin of life is the question of where information comes from.
An Open Letter to the Christian at a Secular College
Whenever we start doubting our faith, it’s usually because we’ve come to believe something else in its place.
Podcast: Practicing Hospitality in a Pandemic (Rosaria Butterfield)
What does it look like to embrace the call on all Christians in a time where we're limited in unprecedented ways?
What to Say to Someone Who Has Had an Abortion
There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ—including those who have had an abortion.
Help! My Faith Is Being Opposed in the Classrom
Conflict can be an opportunity to be salt and light, particularly in academic settings.
What value can we gain from fictional literature?
What Does It Mean to Be Blessed?
Just like themes such as law, sacrifice, and covenant, the theme of blessing must be understood within the full biblical story, if it is to be understood biblically at all.
With a Christian perspective, we can see the economy as a social web that God has created for people to serve each other with their work.
Bible Q&A - What Does the Bible Say About Swearing?
Dane Ortlund shares what the Bible says about swearing.
What Christmas Carols Get Right (and Wrong) about the Star of Bethlehem
Most of us love our Christmas traditions, especially singing the old, familiar carols. From time to time, however, we might well wonder about the correctness of some of the things we’re singing so gustily.
Podcast: Preparing Our Kids for a Post-Christian World (Rebecca McLaughlin)
Rebecca McLaughlin discusses what it looks like for parents to prepare their teens for a life in a post-Christian world, reflectong on kids' propensity to ask hard questions and why that's a good thing,
Of course, every Christian faces difficulty—Jesus called us to a life of carrying our crosses as we follow him. However, the challenges of those in pastoral ministry are often more acute.
Why Moralistic Therapeutic Deism Is a Dead End
It's very easy to shelve God and decide we don't really need him. We just need to believe in ourselves, to invent who we are and what we want to do.
Don't Let the Culture Train Up Your Children in the Way They Should Go
We need to be intentional about catechizing our kids with what is truly good, truly beautiful, truly life-changing, and life-saving, and God-glorifying.
Why Jam-Packed Schedules Can Be Dangerous
It’s safe to say that on a typical day for most of us, our responsibilities, requirements, and ambitions add up to more than we can handle, whether we admit this or not.
A Parent’s Guide to Talking with Kids about Technology
Andrew T. Walker, Christian Walker
All of life in the digital age is presenting us with a dizzying array of possibilities for where we spend our time, how we understand who we are, and how we perceive the world around us.
How Faith in Christ Alters Our Perspective on Death
There are two main points in which Christian faith should differentiate how we approach end-of-life care.
Is Productivity a Godly Goal or an Unhealthy Obsession?
Let’s understand productivity correctly—as making the best use you can of the resources God has placed in your hands—and use it as a means of serving our Lord and the people around us.
Podcast: The False Messages Facing Women Today (Lydia Brownback)
What messages are Christian women hearing and imbibing from culture, and what does the Bible have to say?
How Husbands Can Protect Their Wives from Burnout
Sometimes, the men are having their day off, but the wives are still doing what they do every other day of the week.
How Social Media Worsens Theological Divides
Rather than rushing to refute every theological misstep, we must exercise patience and grace toward those who disagree with us.
Unpacking “Separation of Church and State”
The notion of the separation of church and state is a comparatively recent phenomenon, as part of the American experiment in republican government.
The Nature of a Woman's Nurture
In the midst of life's complexity, what does it mean for a woman to nurture?
The (Anti-Christian) Moral Absolutes of Our Culture
We live in a time of high moral obligation. The question is who gets to determine what those obligations are?
3 Reasons We're Addicted to Digital Distraction
Author Tony Reinke explains how we use digital distractions to escape people, situations, and thoughts that make us uncomfortable.
Does God Care about Gender Identity?
In this video, Samuel D. Ferguson carefully walks through the core beliefs of the transgender movement, comparing them with fundamental truths expressed in Scripture.
What the Early Church Can Teach Us about Living in This Strange New World
Traditional Christians are typically those who take history seriously. If only we might be able to return to ancient worlds, we tell ourselves, all might be well.
Christian Hope Changes Everything
We can rest because our choices don’t actually have the final say in any sphere—God has the final say.
Double listening . . . is the faculty of listening to two voices at the same time, the voice of God through Scripture and the voices of men and women around us.
How to Help Your Teens Use Their Phones for Good
How can you help your teen wield their technology for good purposes, while avoiding the inherent dangers?
What John Stott Learned about Theology from Bird-Watching
Stott’s obsession with the snowy owl was more than a charming eccentricity. It reflected some important themes in his theology.
How Books Help Us Connect in Ways the Internet Doesn’t
We sometimes characterize the digital age as a “post-literate” age, where images and video have taken over the place that written words used to occupy.
The Surprising Limits of Natural Selection
The mechanisms that theistic evolutionists propose are the means by which God created are themselves demonstratively not creative. That’s a big problem—a scientific problem.
God Is the Origin and Author of Beauty
We live in a culture that is obsessed with image, and every day advertisements bombard us with promises to deliver beauty and happiness.
Discard Christianity, Discard Human Equality
Saying that the Bible undermines the idea of human equality is a bit like saying that England undermines the English language.
A Brief Intro to the Origins of Humanity
One of the hot spots in the perceived conflict between science and Christianity is around the question of how human beings came to exist.
Before You Gather, Mourn Your Sin
In our avoidance of sadness, we often numb ourselves to death with entertainment. Perhaps what we’re running from is not just sadness; perhaps we’re running from ourselves.
How Much Control Do You Have Over Your Health?
There's much that we can do to have influence over our health, but in reality, we have no control at all.
We each have a blink. We can waste it in sinful busyness or laziness or discontentment or distraction. Or the gospel of Jesus Christ can change how we spend our time.
When Jesus walked the earth, he wasn’t afraid to touch hurting people. He drew people in close. He met them empty and left them full and turned everything upside down.
How the Bible Talks about Corporate Responsibility and Repentance
Do we share some responsibility for the sins committed by those who were part of the same immediate family? What about the same religious family?
3 Threats to Deep Relationships
What makes deep relationships so uncommon and challenging today?
Be the Teen God’s Calling You to Be
There’s only one way for teens to find purpose, meaning, and joy. Only one message that has the power to change the life of a teenager.
Why Higher Education Needs to Know Its History
The richness of the Christian tradition can provide guidance for the complex challenges facing Christian higher education at this time.
Help! I Don’t Know How to Bring My Faith to Work
Like all working people, Christians must deal with deadlines, difficult people, and office politics. How should a Christian approach life at work?
Is leisure something we really need? As Christians, we perhaps struggle with the concept, but it is vitally important.
10 Things You Should Know about Physician-Assisted Suicide
Throughout a believer’s life, there may be a continuous struggle to submit to God’s control. But when my earthly life comes to an end I want to be fully surrendered to God and be able to rest in Jesus.
12 Notable Quotes from 12 Ways Your Phone Is Changing You
Technology is not itself bad, nor is it innocuous. Though we’re not all aware of how we are being changed by our digital habits, we are being changed nonetheless.
Is “Mental Illness” a Helpful Label?
Labels can be helpful in beginning to describe or define what we are talking about, but labels can also cause difficulties.
Thoughtful reading is becoming a lost art. Artful reading is dying. Many people believe it’s drawing a final breath on its deathbed.
The Origins of the Self-Esteem Movement
People threw off the shackles of the church and the state and they began to look inward. They began to look to themselves for what is true and what is real.
Encouragement for Parents in Our Sexually Confused Culture
The world has been transformed and the influences in our children's lives are pervasive, profound, and powerful. Parents need to be aware of that.
How Christians Can Guard against the Cultural Milieu
To any Christian who is starting to be persuaded by the arguments of the LGBTQ+ movement, I would suggest these things.
Should Our Sexual Desires Determine Who We Really Are?
Sigmund Freud argued that who we are at the most fundamental level is our sexual desires. And, of course, once you start arguing that, then two things happen.
Is Protestantism Still at Odds with Catholicism?
The Roman Catholic church and Protestant churches continue to disagree on the principle of how is one made right before God.
Why Christians Should Study Ethics
Questions of right and wrong aren't always straightforward for people today.
You Don’t Get the Church You Want, but the One You Need
Collin Hansen, Jonathan Leeman
You have many reasons not to go to church. That’s why we see this moment in history as an opportunity to rediscover church.
Suffer the Loss of What Has You in Its Grip
Lent calls us to remember once again that sin reduces us all to idolaters somehow, someway.
How Does God's Love in Christ Relate to Islam?
How do we bear faithful witness to the love of God in Christ to our Muslim friends?
9 Notable Quotes from Coronavirus and Christ
The only firm foundation we have in an unpredictable world is the rock of Jesus Christ.
Humanism: You Will Be Like God
James Montgomery Boice explains the dangers of secular humanism.
Why Archaeology Can’t Prove the Bible (and Doesn’t Need To)
David W. Chapman, John D. Currid
In this video with Drs. David Chapman and John Currid, editors of the ESV Archaeology Study Bible hear why archaeology isn't needed to prove the Bible true.
5 Ways Pastors Can Care for Those Struggling with Sexual Identity
Pastors face a tough calling today. Caring for those struggling with LGBTQ+ issues is not easy. Here is some encouragement.
Is the Church the Answer to Poverty?
The church is the answer to real, deep poverty because it is the gospel that reconciles us to God and takes away our shame.
We Forget Just Why We Live in a WEIRDER World
The rate of change in the last two centuries makes the past feel much further away than it actually is, which inclines us to fawn over the future, and either patronize the past or ignore it altogether.
Food played an important role in the life of Jesus and continues to be an ingredient in our enjoyment of God's goodness.
End-of-Life Comfort Measures: A Realistic Assessment
In the right circumstances, modern critical care saves lives. Yet medical technology harbors a dark side.
Remembering Christ’s Power in Weakness in the Life of Billy Graham (1918-2018)
Billy Graham died today, after a faithful and Spirit-led life and ministry. We celebrate his legacy, and his weakness through which God to move so powerfully.
Podcast: A First Step toward Racial Reconciliation (Mark Vroegop)
How does the biblical practice of lament offer Christians from different backgrounds a common language for productive, God-honoring conversations about race?
Amaze the Next Generation with God
I beg of you, don’t go after the next generation with mere moralism. The gospel is a message not about what we need to do for God but about what God has done for us.
11 Practical Ways to Reduce Digital Consumption
If we can get digital technology under control, we will do so much better—physically, intellectually, relationally, vocationally, educationally, financially, emotionally, and spiritually.
Can We Reshape Ourselves into Whatever We Want?
The idea of self-creation, that we can shape our essences by acts of will, is deeply embedded in the way we now think.
Help! I Don’t Know How to Answer My Kid’s Tough Questions
Rather than seeing our cultural challenges today only as obstacles for our kids, I’m increasingly convinced they’re opportunities to do three important things.
4 Strategies to Help You Wait Better
I’m sure you’d like to move from anxiety to faith-filled, hopeful waiting. How do we make this practical? Let me give you a fourfold strategy from Psalm 25.
An Open Letter to the College Student Facing Weighty Decisions
The further into college you step, the more you realize that what you thought was the destination is really only an incredible depot for decisions.
Advice for Wisely Navigating the Internet
Wisdom is knowing where you're going and sticking to that. Foolishness is straying off the path, being susceptible to people on the periphery calling for your attention.
The Collapse of the Secularization Hypothesis
It has long been assumed that the rise of modernity will be accompanied by the decline of religion, but the scholarly consensus today rejects the secularization hypothesis.
A Diagnosis of Our Culture's View of Sexuality
We've lost the ability to talk about sex and gender, asking sex to be what it was never meant to be.
5 Myths about the Pro-Life Movement
To position ourselves for eventual political victory resulting in legal protection for unborn humans, we must engage the public with a persuasive case for life that confronts abortion at the worldview level.
Podcast: Is Singleness Superior to Marriage? (Sam Allberry)
Culture often idolizes romance and intimacy. In this episode of The Crossway Podcast, Sam Allberry offers insight on the value and unique gifts of singleness.
Is There a Distinctively Christian Approach to History?
How should we think and write about history? How should we read critically the historical accounts of the past? How should each of us think about personal history and the history of relatives and friends?
Counseling Fallen People Based on the Bible’s Teaching on Sin
One of the ongoing problems in the counseling world is that there is no grand unifying theory that explains what is ultimately wrong with people. This is not a problem for Christians.
5 Myths about the Relationship between Science and Faith
The dispute between the church and Galileo sowed the seed for the apparent divorce between science and faith.
Quiet is a means of God’s grace. Why does it make us so uncomfortable?
It’s at the cross that we lay down our indifference and our fears about the work set before us in shepherding eternal souls in favor of full investment and commitment to the job.
How to Pray for the African Church
Major news outlets in the world tend to concentrate on the economic poverty and social deprivation that characterizes much of Africa, but then many believers miss what God is doing in his church across the continent.
An Antislavery Message from 1776 by the Nation’s First Black Ordained Minister
It is evident, by ocular demonstration, that man by his depravity has procured many corrupt habits that are detrimental to society.
12 Notable Quotes from Confronting Christianity
The gospel challenges some of our culture’s deepest beliefs and can prompt a lot of questions, yet we are called to make a defense for our hope.
Why We Can Be Hopeful about the Pro-Life Movement
There are reasons we can be hopeful about the pro-life movement. Hear why Russell Moore thinks so.
Practicing Thankfulness during a Pandemic
There is a kind of thankfulness that is grateful not only for what isn’t but for what is. The Bible doesn’t exhort us merely to be thankful in everything, but for everything.
Innovation Exists by God’s Design
Innovators—both virtuous ones and nefarious ones—are created by God. Scripture protects us from the myth that God is trying his best to stifle and subdue the unwieldiness of human technology.
Heroes, Dragons, and Other True Myths
In our disenchanted age we have made tales of the supernatural synonymous with falsehood. It should not be so. Every myth is a shadow cast by the light of truth.
A Movie So Good It Will Ruin You—Would You Watch It?
Do we have the ability to keep ourselves from entertainment unto death?
Why Philosophy Matters for Christians
Philosophy matters for Christians because many of the debates are about the "big questions" of human existence.
The Church Should Mind Its Spiritual Business
The calling, or mission, of the church as the church is to proclaim the gospel to the ends of the earth, not to be another merely (or even chiefly) political, social, or economic institution.
The Mission of Your Church Will Shape How You Think
A church’s mission impacts what kind of church you will join. Different churches will shape your conscience, your spiritual life, and your worship differently.
The word submission is loaded with a powder keg of emotions. We live in a culture more accustomed to questioning authority than submitting to it.
What qualities does something possess in order to merit the title classic?
3 Musts before You Hit “Reply”
A commitment to wholesome talk isn’t first a commitment to a restricted vocabulary but rather to change at the level of the thoughts, desires, intentions, and choices of the heart.
How Professors Can Integrate Faith and Learning
Christian scholars must demonstrate a deep humility before a sovereign God before they can learn anything.
Does the Gospel Need a Feminist Rescue?
Men and women and children are to conduct themselves in accordance with a pattern. A woman’s personal gifts do not take priority over the design pattern that God established in the garden.
Life is a war for glory. Even those of us who have rested in Jesus to bring an end to our battle for glory still fight skirmishes in which we feel our reputations are at risk.
The Most Shocking Story We've Ever Heard
You will never find anything so shocking, so strange, so weird and spellbinding as the story of the incarnation of the Son of God.
What's the Difference between Tolerance and Recognition?
Tolerance is that I'll allow you to live in society, but I'm not going to fully approve of you. Recognition involves full approval.
To Be a Woman Is to Be Fully Human
Being a woman means being human. And this is good news.
How to Commune with Christ on a Crazy Day
How should you think about, and engage in the “spiritual disciplines” when God’s good, but often inconvenient, sovereignty has you reeling?
Justice Denied Is Love Denied
You have heard it said that justice delayed is justice denied. But I tell you that justice denied is love denied.
Perhaps one of the greatest misunderstandings concerning the Christian faith is that God is only concerned with “good people.”
When the eternal Son of God became flesh and dwelt among us, he crossed an infinite chasm.
Is There Such a Thing as Race?
It is a healthy sign to wish that the term “race” did not exist. It has not served well to enhance human relations.
The Beauty of God’s Hierarchical World
Lewis insists on something that is radically out of step with the modern world.
A Parent’s Guide to Talking with Kids about Gender
Andrew T. Walker, Christian Walker
Remember that you want to be the first person to have the conversation with your child to be able to lay the biblical foundation. Otherwise, culture will form the foundation for you.
Only God Sees the Whole Elephant
The Bible itself says that there are things God hasn’t revealed anywhere. But the God who has revealed himself through the Bible is not a God who hides.
What is God's Ultimate Purpose?
Do you want to ponder a question that has roots that stretch so far back into eternity past that we will never come to the end of them? How about this: What is God’s ultimate purpose?
The Depressing Dead End of “Your Truth”
Your truth. Those two words are so entrenched in our lexicon today that we hardly recognize them for the incoherent nightmare that they are.
How Christianity Transformed Our Understanding of History
According to Herman Bavinck, the very understanding of history itself was transformed by Christianity.
If the Bible is telling us the truth about reality, then the universe we live in was created primarily with marital romance in mind.
Making Every Issue “Your Thing” Is Impossible
In this digital age we have access to millions of people's hopes, dreams, fears, pain, and suffering. Shouldn't we be doing something about all of these problems?
God's Intention Was a World Full of Diversity
Where do our differences come from? How should we think about them? And what do we do with them when we meet them? To answer those questions, we need an origin story.
The world tells mothers that they can do it all and have it all, but that they need not give their all.
For Christians, the start of a new year arrives with reminders afresh of the glorious promises that God has made to his people through the Bible.
How to Incorporate Biblical Archaeology into Your Preaching
Is there a connection between archaeology and preaching? Do the two relate? What is there point of intersection?
Help for Thinking Wisely about Health Care
Health care, while being a good gift from God, actually becomes unhealthy when we rely too heavily upon it.
Beware These 4 Common Threats to Your Contentment
Culture is like a big magnet, it’s pulling on us and around us.
The Only Solution to World Poverty
After extensive research in both economics and biblical ethics our conclusion is this: poor nations must somehow produce their own prosperity, and it is possible for them to do this.
Why You Need a Sabbath from Your Tech
The human body is remarkable in similarities to an efficient machine, but we are physical beings with finite limitations and eternal souls.
5 Ways the Church Makes You Wiser
Church can be an indispensable source of stability and growth; a treasure trove of communal and Spirit-infused wisdom that we’d be foolish to neglect.
A Christian’s Perspective on Economic Downturn
Discipling people for the new economy is a major challenge. But our gospel is big enough, and our God is strong enough.
How Creativity Can Fuel Your Worship
If God created us in his likeness, wouldn’t he make us with creative minds and hands? What if engaging in creativity could draw us into deeper worship of our Creator God?
3 Battles Your Teen Faces Every Day
Teens must stand up against the untruths they hear from culture and from within themselves.
Why the Mission of the Church Is Spiritual and Not Political
The church is a spiritual institution, and its core of agreement builds upon truths that transcend the more ephemeral matters that concern politics.
How Consumerism Trains Us to Devalue the Past
What has consumerism got to do with rejection of the past? Consumerism is predicated on the idea that life can be fulfilling through acquiring something in the future that one does not have in the present.
Joanne J. Jung, Richard Langer
These statements about leadership are endorsed by our culture, but may not be true. In fact, these statements may even be harmful to individuals and organizations and the missions they pursue.
The Believe-in-Yourself Gospel
We’re a generation that has been raised on spiritual fast food, and we’re sick. It’s time for us to sit down at the table, linger, and sup on the feast the King has for us.
Podcast: Sexual Confusion, Cultural Lies, and Our Christian Witness (Rosaria Butterfield)
Rosaria Butterfield responds to many of the most common claims and arguments that we often hear related to gender and sexuality today. She also answers tough questions that many of us may encounter.
An Open Letter to the Student at the Start of a New Semester
How do we faithfully approach a new semester as Christian students? How do we steward our studies well and honor Christ?
How Being Honest about Death Brings Hope
We live with more detachment from death than in any other time and place in history.
John Piper on Instagram, Superficiality, and Online Fame
Influence is not wrong. Seeking to influence others is very Christian. But many Christians now set out to become social-media “influencers.” When does this become fame-seeking?
Carolyn Mahaney, Nicole Mahaney Whitacre
We don’t have to accept our culture’s ever-changing and ever-more-tyrannical definition of beauty.
Is War Inherently Unjust and Immoral?
J. Daryl Charles, Timothy J. Demy
J. Daryl Charles and Timothy J. Demy discuss whether or not war is inherently unjust and immoral.
An Untethered Identity Is Dangerous
The way that our world shapes and steers us on that quest for identity can be dangerous because it’s often without reference to God, without being anchored in his Word.
The Role of Technology and Media in the Sexual Revolution
Technology and the media have played a significant role in the triumph of the sexual revolution—specifically in terms of the LGBTQ+ movement.
If a classic possesses the qualities that people ascribe to them, we know that we want them in our lives.
The allegation is that we should no longer believe in souls because science has solved the problem of consciousness, leaving nothing for souls to do.
The Most Powerful Force of Transformation in the Universe
Grace is the most powerful force of transformation in the universe. The incalculable transforming power of grace should never be minimized or doubted.
Podcast: Thinking Biblically about Transgenderism (Denny Burk)
How should Christians think about transgenderism, and how should we talk to our kids about it? What does the Bible teach on gender and sexuality?
Podcast: How Should Christians Navigate Political Disagreements among Friends? (Jonathan Leeman)
How should Christians think about political disagreements within the church and how much should politics be shared from the pulpit?
If this life constitutes the entirety of your existence, then you absolutely must maximize your enjoyment. You must never miss an opportunity for fun and pleasure.
What Parents Can Learn from Children’s Books
In many respects, and certainly in spiritual matters, we are all weak and inadequate, and we need to face it.
Does Evangelicalism Have a History?
If evangelicalism really is “mere Christianity,” how could it be anything but the oldest orthodoxy of the apostles?
Unpacking “Look inside Yourself”
Knowing who you are and being true to yourself has never been more important. They are seen as signs of good mental health and well-being and the keys to authentic living and true happiness.
Make a Change from Me-ology to Theology
Me-ology prizes you and me. Theology prizes the God of the universe who holds everything together.
Christian: Are You Imbibing Our Culture’s View of Love?
With culture and history both shaping our definitions, where are we learning love from?
Podcast: If You Don’t Catechize Your Kids, the World Will (Kevin DeYoung)
Kevin DeYoung talks about how Christians (parents and non-parents alike) can help children to trust Jesus, embrace the Bible, and love others—even those with whom we disagree.
As we move through life, the world just constantly dupes us into believing a false story. Our heads and our Bibles might tell us, “God willing,” but we are immersed in the oxygen of the world, which says, “Me willing.”
Act Like the Human that You Are
C. Everett Koop, Francis A. Schaeffer
People are special and human life is sacred, whether or not we admit it. Every life is precious and worthwhile in itself—not only to us human beings but also to God.
Help! I’m Struggling to Accept the Bible’s Teaching on Men and Women
The Bible reveals the nature of masculinity and femininity by describing diverse responsibilities for man and woman while rooting these differing responsibilities in creation, not convention.
Podcast: Is Christianity on the Decline? (Rebecca McLaughlin)
Secular culture often takes issue with various beliefs held by conservative Christians. In this episode, Rebecca McLaughlin responds to two of the most common.
Tossing Out Beliefs When They Don’t Spark Joy
What’s fascinating (and saddening) is that there seem to be many Christians, particularly in the affluent West, who think of theology, or doctrine, the way Marie Kondo thinks of clutter.
4 Assumptions Made by Anyone Reciting a Creed
My conviction that creeds and confessions are a good and necessary part of healthy, biblical church life rests on a host of different arguments and convictions; but, at root, there are four basic presuppositions.
What’s Fueling the Sexual Revolution?
What makes the sexual revolution remarkable is that the transgression of boundaries has now become effectively normative within society.
How Culture Can Warp Our View of God's Love
Because of the way that our culture tends to think of love, being told God loves you can fail to land on us with the beauty and significance that it should.
The Demise of the Deified Self
Truly, we are lost in a darkness of our own making, and we got here by dethroning God and enthroning ourselves. We’ve deified ourselves. And it’s led to our demise.
How to Defend Pro-Life Views in 5 Minutes
Suppose that you have just five minutes to graciously defend your pro-life beliefs. Can you do it with rational arguments?
John Piper’s Prayer for the COVID-19 Pandemic
Grant recovery. Grant a cure. Deliver us—your poor, helpless creatures—from these sorrows, we pray.
Why You Can't Have Science without Philosophy
What in the world philosophy has to do with science? The answer to that is very important for Christians to understand.
The Structural Abortionism That Remains after Roe v. Wade
I cannot forecast accurately the changes that will come in the first post-Roe decade. I can, though, list some fundamental things that will still apply.
The Pros and Cons of Being Rich
“Wealth is wonderful and makes us wonderful.” That’s the message the media bombards us with every day. No wonder so many of us want to be rich.
Social Algorithms Are Today’s “Lady Folly”
Algorithms lure us into constant distraction by putting “suggestions” into our minds, waiting to pounce and consume our attention.
Podcast: Womanhood and the Bible (Abigail Dodds)
We need kindness and grace when discussing womanhood—even with those within the church. In this episode, Abigail Dodds offers wise, biblically based advice.
10 Things You Should Know about Political Elections
The Bible tells us to obey the governing authorities. What does that look like?
Why Hospitality Is for All Christians
Radically ordinary hospitality—those who live it see strangers as neighbors and neighbors as family of God.
Who Caused the Divorce of Science and Faith?
The dispute between the church and Galileo sowed the seed for the apparent divorce between science and faith.
Reclaiming Psalm 139 from the Clutches of Coffee Cups and Picture Frames
Psalm 139 is more than just fodder for t-shirts, coffee mugs, and picture frames.
Are You Experiencing FOMO (Fear of Missing Out)?
Because of Christ's assurance of salvation to all believers, we don't need to fear missing out on eternity.
Is “Be True to Yourself” Good Advice?
You don’t need to look far today to notice that personal identity is a do-it-yourself project. People think about themselves constantly, it seems, and with high expectations!
Why are so many people so unhappy in so many different circumstances?
Rich communities can be harder to reach because wealth and comfort tend to make people think that they’re invincible.
Does Christian Education Need to Be Reclaimed?
If education is the whole process of personal development, then the dismal news is that Christian education is in crisis.
In spite of C. S. Lewis’s fame, several myths have attached themselves to him which might give an unbalanced view of the man who wrote the Chronicles of Narnia.
Why Listening to a Podcast Is Not a Substitute for Going to Church
Going to a church has many benefits. If you are physically able to attend a church, you should make it a priority.
When ‘I Don’t Know’ Is a Good Answer and When It’s Not
It’s vital that everyday Christians are speaking into nuanced cultural issues from a biblical perspective.
What Do They Know? Learning From "Secular” Leaders
When God speaks through his world, we call it general revelation or common grace.
The Importance of Books in Christian History
From ancient times, books have had a profound and mysterious power to move us. We find this in every culture and in every time period.
10 Things to Consider before Retiring Early
Early retirement may sound attractive—but be careful. There are several things to consider before you choose to retire voluntarily, since work may be more valuable to you than you realize.
Glenn Harrington: Be Truthful, Not Original
In this six-minute documentary of artist Glenn Harrington, learn what inspires his paintings and how he interprets God's creative power in the natural world.
The Logical Contradiction at the Heart of Theistic Evolution
Theistic evolutionists accept that the theory of evolution is an unguided process. But then they say that God somehow guided the process. That’s why they’re theistic evolutionists.
Everyone Has a Worldview, and Almost No One Has a Worldview
J. H. Bavinck makes the paradoxical claim that worldview is both everywhere (“Everyone has a worldview”) and nowhere (“Almost no one has a worldview”). How can both these statements be true?
Can We Really Claim to Be Well?
Wellness is much more than physical health and freedom from distressing symptoms. Wellness involves the whole of our being, which includes six distinct areas.
Why Study the Books of 1–2 Peter?
Into a historical moment when many Christians feel disoriented, 1–2 Peter helps us recenter our hope on Christ.
4 Ways Baseball Fuels Supernatural Joy
How does my natural joy in baseball become a supernatural joy in God? That’s the question Christian Hedonists ask.
9 Ways Emotions Play a Role in Theological Diversity
Because human beings are complex creatures with reason, will, and emotion, no reductionistic scheme can explain why we reason or why we dissent the way we do.
Why Seek the Truth? The Achilles’ Heel of Free Thought
Atheists and agnostics insist we pursue the truth about reality—even if the idea of a meaningless universe frightens and depresses us. We ought to face facts and accept reality as it is, not as we want it to be.
A really intriguing thing, which goes against the notion of expressive individualism, is the fact that we live in shared stories.
10 Things You Should Know about the Spirituality of the Church
True unity is what we want. This is achieved only together with true diversity. Uniformity is never the biblical pattern. Unity is, and unity, as we see perfectly manifested in the Undivided Trinity.
Help! I Don’t Know How to Rest Well
Be honest with yourself. Are you perhaps traveling too fast and trying to do too much—thereby violating the concept of Sabbath on a weekly and daily basis?
Church, State, and the Authority of Jesus
Imperium means supreme power or absolute dominion, and it gets at the idea of where the buck stops in a society.
The Song of Songs: A 7-Day Devotional
Through this video devotional, beging to grasp God’s vision for love and marriage by working through the Song of Songs.
Allow us to introduce Paolo Sarpi, a contemporary of Galileo, and the most formidable adversary of the Counter-Reformation in Italy.
Podcast: A Realistic Approach to New Year’s Resolutions (David Murray)
David Murray talks about what it should look like to work hard to establish good habits while also relying on God’s grace and power.
Andreas J. Köstenberger, Alexander E. Stewart
Christians know that Christmas is all about Jesus (or at least it once was all about Jesus), and we want it to be all about Jesus again.
Technological Progress Must Honor God’s Design for Our Bodies
We may eventually modify our bodies in ways that are helpful and necessary. But we will never reach a point where the human body is a disposable machine.
Immigrants: Legal, Illegal and the Old Testament Law
This article originally appeared on Crossway's blog in June 2010. In light of the recent protests related to the immigration reform bill currently stalled in the House of Representatives, we thought our readers might once again benefit from this post that explores how to think biblically about this divisive issue.
How to Pray When You’re Feeling Anxious or Depressed
During seasons of depression or anxiety, most of us find it hard to concentrate, we feel God is far away, and we despair of God hearing us or helping us.
What Good Self-Esteem Can’t Do For You
Having self-esteem doesn't solve all of our problems, because underneath it, we know our weaknesses and we know our sin.
The Problem with Manufactured Femininity
There is no ideal standard of a woman that we are supposed to achieve apart from the virtues found in Christ himself.
Podcast: Are You Aware of Your Own Blind Spots? (Collin Hansen)
What problems with our lives, priorities, and even theology do we not recognize? What would it look like to wake up to our own blind spots and to lovingly engage with those with whom we disagree?
Advent Is for Looking Forward and Looking Back
During Advent we look back, thinking how it must have been, waiting for the promised salvation of God, and we look ahead, preparing ourselves to meet Jesus at his Second Coming.
I’ve Heard It Said That Abortion Is Healthcare
Women Need Support I’ve heard it said that “abortion is healthcare.” I think I understand the sentiment behind that declaration. I do have friends who are involved in the pro-choice movement and even in providing …
Why We Need a Paradigm Shift about Money
We need a brand-new way of thinking about money, a way that is rooted in the gospel story and its narrative of the lavish grace of God.
How to Stay Focused in a Distraction-Filled World
We have our phones that open a thousand possibilities for us to do a thousand different things at every moment of every day. But God has set good works for us.
In the rare moments when we catch broad attention from our social media presence—whether through our images or tweets or memes—we become the star.
Podcast: Roe v. Wade Has Been Overturned. Now What? (Scott Klusendorf)
Scott Klusendorf talks about what the Supreme Court's ruling means for the pro-life cause and how it should impact how we, as Christians, seek to advocate for the lives of the unborn in our communities.
Podcast: We're in a Strange New World. Now What? (Carl Trueman)
Carl Trueman explores the history of Western thought with the view of answering two simple questions. How did we get here? How should the church respond?
3 Pieces of Advice for Teens about to Start High School
In the long run, your friends have an enormous influence on you, so you need the right kinds of friends.
When the Tyranny of the Urgent Invades Missions
We're living at a time in global missions today where the gospel and faithful ministry are threatened because we often sacrifice the important for the immediate, the best for the most pressing.
12 Practical Ways to Be on Mission This Halloweeen
Halloween offers opportunity to engage in new relationships or to revisit old ones with missional intentionality.
Why You Need Faith to See God’s Glory
The supreme spectacle of the cross brings a cosmic collision with the spectacles of this world. And we’re in the middle.
Is Your Check Engine Light On?
Are you experiencing any warning signs of burnout? This articles tells you what signs to look for.
We live in an angry world, and most of it is obviously destructive. But anger is not intrinsically evil, essentially evil, or necessarily evil.
3 Ways the Internet and Social Media Benefit Wisdom
In what sense are the Internet and social media potentially valuable for wisdom? We know the many downsides to online life. What are the upsides?
The Sacraments Are a Christian’s Answer to Questions of Identity
Put differently, being in Christ is our primary identity as Christians. This is true because Jesus Christ, the Son of God incarnate, is the God-man
8 Theses on Christians and Twitter
This month, Twitter celebrates its 12th anniversary. Short, pithy, snarky statements are the currency of Twitter, but, how should Christians engage?
How Puritan Women Are Misunderstood Today
You don't have to agree with Puritan women, but it does mean that you have to allow them to tell their own stories in their own words before you start to interpret them for yourself.
The Cultural Misconception of Blessing
We are all familiar with the hashtags around social media. The word blessing gets thrown around a lot, so people have an idea of what they think blessing means.
Podcast: Distinguishing Christmas Tradition from Truth (Andreas Köstenberger)
Andreas Köstenberger explores how to distinguish fact from fiction when it comes to the Christmas story, discussing the real date of Jesus's birth, the wise men and the star, and key Old Testament prophecies and allusions surrounding the incarnation.
Introducing the ‘Reactivity’ Podcast with Paul Tripp
Join Paul Tripp in this new podcast as he encourages Christians to think wisely about their social media interactions and to be a beacon of light in an age of toxicity.
Get Your Feet Out of Death’s Path and Live
May this generation turn from the greatest of wickednesses, the placing of any created thing in the place of the Creator, getting its feet out of the paths of death so that it may live.
This Day in History: John Stott Was Born
On this day in history John Stott, one of the most influential Christian leaders of the twentieth century, was born. This year marks the centenary of his birth.
The Resurgence of Reformed Theology among African Americans
There are encouraging indications that Reformed theology is being embraced by an increasing number of African American Christians today.
10 Reasons Joy Brings Christ to Our Culture
How can Christians help their neighbors live more like God wants and resist the decay of our culture?
Is Christianity Bad News for Women?
The true Christian faith elevates, cherishes, protects women. Women are drawn to it. Our God created us imago Dei, and his desire is that each life will be cherished and protected.
Clothed in Christ and Unashamed
Body shame is the feeling that your body with its imperfections is something of which to be ashamed—something you wish you could hide or change.
Are Love and Authority Mutually Exclusive?
But authority in creation and authority and redemption actually work together—for good.
The Self-Forgetfulness of Real Love
This universe of self-love is collapsing in on itself. It’s like a black hole that shrinks itself into a smaller and smaller space.
What Studying Old Conflict Can Teach Us
We seem to live in a world of increasing polarization in which the members of warring tribes address each other with remarkable vitriol in the online environment.
Help! I’m Supposed to Be the Perfect Child, Student, and Christian
We live in a culture of impossible expectations. Teens are under incredible pressure to succeed on a number of fronts. All these impossible expectations lead to an inevitable sense of failure and shame.
Help! My Teen Struggles with Self-Image
From its beginning, the self-esteem movement has been crushing. And the movement hasn’t dissipated over the last generation or two, it has only intensified.
Why Christians Should Read Shakespeare
Leland Ryken explains why more Christians should read or view Shakespeare than currently do.
Podcast: Why You Shouldn't Feel Bad about Enjoying the World (Joe Rigney)
What does it look like to love God and enjoy this world? Are the two in contention with each other?
Why Planned Parenthood and the Kingdom of Christ Are at Odds
every believer is called to recognize Jesus in the face of his little brothers and sisters.
The Economy Is about More than Money
The economy is a system of choices we make about all of our resources. Every choice we make is an economic choice.
The Key to Happiness Is More Stuff . . . Right?
Our contentment is unshakeable when it is rooted in our unchanging God.
Why Is Teen Anxiety on the Rise?
What factors contribute to the rise of anxiety in teenagers today?
Blind Spots Quiz: What's Your Blind Spot?
Learn more about the book | Download a free excerpt
The Why behind Rapid Cultural Shifts in Gender Politics
Christians are often prone to focusing on symptoms rather than looking at underlying causes.
Jesus said that it is out of the overflow of the heart that the mouth speaks (Luke 6:45). What comes out of your heart displays what’s in it and what has captured it.
Free Download: Printable Verse Cards Tracing God's Unfolding Grace
Download these free printables for memorizing and meditating on God's word.
Podcast: Why Your Physical Body Matters to God (Sam Allberry)
Sam Allberry talks about the eternal significance of our physical bodies, how it relates to our identity, and why our bodies matter here and now.
Money will either bless you or curse you. It will be a tool in the hands of a God of grace, or it will be a doorway to bad and dangerous things.
Rejecting Theistic Evolution ≠ Embracing a God of the Gaps
A God of the gaps argument is an argument that has a formal, logical structure. Logic is known as an argument from ignorance—an informal fallacy.
A Key Difference between Social Conservatism and Political Conservatism
I am a political conservative myself and I’ll fully admit that there are aspects of political conservatism today that gain acceptance under the umbrella of political conservatism that I am wary to adopt.
How the Anglican Communion Addresses Neo-Paganism
Any discussion of Anglicanism in our present context must include the rise of neo-pagan Anglicanism in many Anglican churches around the world, especially in the West.
The Counterintuitive Nature of Authority
Authority can be dangerous. But, if used rightly, it can also be a blessing.
Spiritual Authority in an Anti-Authoritarian Age
God-appointed church leadership is for our good, stability, health, and protection.
The Economy’s 3 Essential Ingredients
Economists are looking at things that people have to make trade-off decisions about. That includes material resources, time, and relationships.
3 Losses of an Illiterate Culture
Glenda Faye Mathes, Leland Ryken
The decline of reading has impoverished our culture and individual lives. We have lost mental sharpness, verbal skills, and ability to think and imagine.
How Lament Can Help with Racial Reconciliation
When we don't know what to say, lament can become a really helpful language to use.
How to Guard Against a Self-Centered Relationship with Jesus
Often without warning or intention, the drive to know ourselves becomes all-consuming. It’s impossible to not be affected by the age of self in which we currently live.
10 Things You Should Know about Cultural Identity
From its opening pages right through to the end, Scripture attests to the importance of peoples in God’s purpose for humanity.
The common good is such an important concept because it helps us understand that when we are pursuing the welfare of the city, we're not looking out for our self-interest alone.
The Church’s Role in Racial Reconciliation
The church has a vital role to play in reconciliation between people of different ethnicities. It actually goes to the essence of what it means to be a Christian.
Culture is more than just what we believe and what we do; it is also our whole framework for comprehending the world, for making sense, or trying to make sense, out of life.
The Fundamental Decision We All Must Face
You can either put God at the center of the universe in your heart or you can put yourself or something else there.
Mormonism and Christianity advocate two deeply contrasting and conflicting worldviews.
In an Outrage Culture, Choose Respect
We would do well to remember that behind the social media post is someone who was formed by God to bear his likeness.
Podcast: Trauma, Pain, and Loss: A Doctor’s Story of Faith and Healing (Katie Butler)
Kathryn Butler discusses her work as a trauma surgeon working in the ICU, sharing what it was like to be inundated with life and death situations day in and day out.
All the Very Best Stories Lead Us to Hope in the Darkness
Stories, it seems, can remind our kids that in Christ, morning will always come, no matter how deep the darkness.
Joanne J. Jung, Richard Langer
Followership, like leadership, is prone to misunderstanding. Unlike leadership, however, followership has few (if any) positive perceptions in contemporary culture.
Podcast: Can Christians Embrace God and Science? (Brad Sickler)
How can Christians embrace God and science? Must the two be separated?
Will the Next Tech Upgrade Satisfy the Longings of Your Heart?
The spiritual dilemma of the tech age is deep because our modern economy is built on the false promise that new innovations are the key to satisfying the heart’s longings.
Why Catholic Philosopher Robert George Matters to Protestants
With a career spanning over thirty years and who presently holds the title of McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence, Robert P. George is one of the world’s most prominent and respected public intellectuals.
Being Constantly Online Has Changed Us More than We Think
When you ask, How could being on the internet so much be shaping us?, the real answer is, How could it not be shaping us?
Learn more about German designer and illustrator, Peter Voth, and his work on the ESV Single Column Journaling Bible, Artist Series.
Podcast: Confronting the Idols of Body Image, Sex, Abortion, and Motherhood (Jen Oshman)
Jen Oshman discusses the many empty promises that the culture of the modern world makes that run counter to the clear teaching of Scripture and God's good plan for us.
Is Propositional Revelation Nonsense?
There are two ways to consider the question of propositional revelation and infallibility. Until the first is in place, the second cannot be sensibly pursued.
12 Notable Quotes from Enough about Me
Self-care may produce happiness and temporary relief from stress or hardship, but real joy comes when we stop serving ourselves and find meaning and purpose in something outside of ourselves.
The fifth “ism” that has formed contemporary culture as we know it is pragmatism, a philosophy that measures truth by its utilitarian value.
Only one Comforter is great enough: the infinite-personal God who exists—that is, the God of Judeo-Christian Scripture. Only He is the sufficient Comforter.
Identifying Devotional Gems in Unexpected Places
In compiling my anthology, I worked hard to find devotional riches in unexpected places. Many of the authors would doubtless be surprised by what I chose for devotional purposes.
Give Yourself to Prayer This Lenten Season
Lent could be one of those seasons where you take time to meditate, examine, and consider. Here are four categories that can organize this season of worship for you.
A Parent’s Guide to Talking with Kids about Political Engagement
Andrew T. Walker, Christian Walker
Andrew and Christian Walker talk through some basic biblical, theological, and philosophical principles related to political engagement that every Christian parent should know.
3 Ways Youth Leaders Can Help Parents
Many youth pastors are young, but they still have valuable insights on teenagers that can be of great help to parents.
10 Devotional Treasures from Surprising Sources
Among the classics of devotional readings, we find that great devotionals often sprang from unexpected and even unintended origins, as the following list of ten surprising sources shows.
Does Theistic Evolution Lead to Open Theism?
Not all, but certain forms of theistic evolution theologically lead to the open theism perspective.
Obsessed with Our Own Biography
Telling your own story is at the heart of expressive individualism. It is possible today to document your life story in considerable detail and publish it widely on a daily basis.
As the election season nears its end, we are left wondering how to process it all, and what the Bible has to say in times like these.
Podcast: The Graduation Speech You Won’t Hear This Year (Kevin DeYoung)
Kevin DeYoung argues that the last thing that God wants us to do is be true to ourselves, at least when it comes to our natural selves.
The Everyday Object Biblical Archaeology Depends Upon
Archaeologists get very excited about pottery as very few people elsewhere in the world do.
Learning to Live a Grace-Paced Life: An Interview with David Murray
Justin Taylor sits down with David Murray to discuss his new book.
Think about it: a woman’s sphere of influence today is far more diverse and extensive than ever before.
Our culture's understanding of freedom says when you break from the oppression of an external force, then you’re free to be who you want to be.
Podcast: The Dehumanizing Habits That Social Media Has Normalized (Paul Tripp)
Paul Tripp discusses how we as God’s people should think about the reactive culture in which we live and how to make sure we're not part of the problem.
Is Science the Only Source of Absolute Truth?
Is it scientifically accurate to say that “Science is the only way to get to absolute truth about reality"?
7 Notable Quotes from Surviving Religion 101
The college years can challenge your faith and belief in the Bible, so it’s important to equip yourself to engage secular challenges with intellectual honesty, compassion, and confidence.
Favorite Christmas Traditions from Crossway Kids’ Book Authors
Read what the authors of Crossway kids' books had to say about their favorite Christmas traditions, and perhaps even find inspiration to incorporate new traditions into your own celebrations this year.
Why We Can’t Lament without Listening
When it comes to loaded subjects like racism or ethnic tension, too often believers fall into the familiar ditches of denial or despair.
Podcast: We're Thinking about Technology All Wrong (Tony Reinke)
Tony Reinke considers what the Bible has to say about human innovation and the things we create and why Christians are often so attracted to tech dystopianism, the future of AI, and more.
8 Notable Quotes from What Does the Bible Really Teach about Homosexuality?
God’s word addresses how we, as Christians, should think about sexuality and offers us hope and wisdom for navigating today’s cultural landscape with humility and grace.
How to Foster a Gospel Culture
Gospel doctrine creates a gospel culture. The doctrine of grace creates a culture of grace.
2 Responses to the World's Brokenness
If you mourn the fallenness of your world rather than curse its difficulties, you know that grace has visited you
Lament: An Open Door for Racial Reconciliation
Most Christians are not sure what to do about racial reconciliation. There are some whose hearts are sinfully closed, but I think most Christians simply lack the tools.
Nearly every few weeks, it seems, another female celebrity is either claiming feminism for herself or renouncing feminism as an unnecessary ideology for women today.
Podcast: Why Is Our Culture So Obsessed with Identity? (Brian Rosner)
Brian Rosner talks about how our cultural obsession with identity impacts us as Christians and how we should think about that through the lens of the Bible.
Why We Feel So Tired and Confused by What We See Online
The internet makes no distinction between what is relevant to us or what is not relevant to us, what is part of the life that we’re supposed to live or what doesn’t really matter.
Why Every Serious Atheist Should Be a Moral Nihilist
Every consistent atheist ought to be a moral nihilist.
The Solution to Our Beauty Crisis
The truth of the gospel is the only answer to our beauty crisis.
An Interview with Vern Poythress
Crossway talks with Vern Poythress about his newest book, Chance and the Sovereignty of God: A God-Centered Approach to Probability and Random Events.
Can Media Be Effective for Christ?
If contemporary Christians wish to transmit a meaningful gospel to a world awash in meaningless media, then they have a dual dilemma to confront before they can hope to proceed successfully.
We Need a Theological Framework for Racial Reconciliation
It’s really critical that the Bible and theological categories inform the racial reconciliation conversation lest culture and politics become where we start from.
R.C. Sproul on Human Tragedies and Divine Purposes
R. C. Sproul shares how human tragedy has a divine purpose.
Yoda and Our Search for Wisdom
The reason we have a hard time talking about wisdom is that we have a very misguided notion of what it is.
Practically Caring for Others in the Midst of COVID
It behooves us all to reach out and stay connected with people who are working in the hospital right now.
God Offers Christians a Better Way to Measure the Fruitfulness of Their Lives
We get into trouble when we start to measure our self-worth and how the Lord sees us by how much we got done, by what we can check off our list, and what we can accomplish.
3 Practical Ways to Cultivate Gospel Fluency
It's important to speak the gospel in a community who can speak it back or reflect on what they're hearing.
Preview: The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self by Carl Trueman
Enjoy a special two-hour preview of The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self by Carl Trueman on The Crossway Podcast.
16 Ways Pastors Can Work for Unity in Politically Divisive Times
Jonathan Leeman, Andrew David Naselli
In an increasingly anti-Christian culture, what’s important is how we respond to those who vote or believe differently, to learn how to make at least some space for them, and to encourage charity and forbearance.
Podcast: What Keeps You from Going to Church? (Jonathan Leeman)
Jonathan Leeman discusses the vital importance of in-person church fellowship, how we can and should prioritize involvement with the people of God in a local church—especially after a year like 2020.
What Is the Secret to Reaching the Next Generation?
What we need to do is keep doing the same things that Christians in every age have been called to do: make disciples, love one another, speak the truth, be kind, and ask good questions.
6 Signs You Might Be an Accidental Feminist
An accidental feminist is a woman who does not personally identify as a feminist, and in fact, may actually have no use for the term.
Video: J. I. Packer on Taking God Seriously
J. I. Packer reflects on this "undernourishment" that many Christians suffer from, challenging us to take our faith and God's Word seriously.
Why Unborn Children Have the Right to Governmental Protection
We have laws against murder because people agree that murder is wrong, and so there are moral standards that underlie many, if not all, of our current laws.
Materialism: The Material Girl
A fourth “ism” which is part of the “pattern of this world” is materialism.
Why You Should Enroll in Wisdom University
The primary reason people drop out of Wisdom University is peer pressure—the influence of others in the same social group or age group.
What Bible Reading and Eating Have in Common
Devotional Bible reading is vital for every believer in the same way that eating is vital for every human—it's just the way you're nourished. It's what you do to get stronger and grow.
Why Beauty Is a Problem without God
I think in a way, for somebody who has not yet surrendered to Jesus Christ, beauty is a problem because beauty is so evident in this world, and it awakens a desire for eternal things.
When Did I Get a Right to Life?
Some say that just because we exist as human beings at the embryonic/fetal stage doesn’t mean we have the same rights, including a right to life, at every stage of life. How should we respond to this?
Maybe in every story is a thread that the human heart that can’t give up the belief that one day, true love will come along.
One great temptation of singleness is an unrelenting self-focus. We need to be reminded to look outside of our circumstances and ourselves.
Preview: What God Has to Say about Our Bodies by Sam Allberry
There’s a danger in focusing too much on the body. There’s also a danger in not valuing it enough.
The Hollow Promise the Internet Makes to Lonely People
The web is preaching to our hearts that you can be anything and you can do anything, and you don’t have to accept the life of the world or the truth that God has put in your life.
Why Land Is More than Real Estate
After the resurrection of Jesus, God sends the Holy Spirit, who fills not just Israel, but the whole earth with his glory.
The Sabbath: A 5-Day Devotional
What does it mean to take a Sabbath? Does this Old Testament law even practically apply today?
A Personal vs. Private Relationship with Christ
As we've prioritized our personal relationship with Christ, we've also privatized it.
Jesus was forceful about the issue of ethnocentrism, the conviction or the feeling that one’s own ethnic group should be treated as superior or privileged.
The notion of proof is multifaceted. It is often assumed that it is illegitimate to assert anything not susceptible to a strict proof.
The Most Significant Edit to the Declaration of Independence
Franklin read Jefferson’s draft which said, “We hold these truths to be sacred and undeniable,” and he crossed out “sacred and undeniable” and replaced it with “self-evident.”
Christianity was a multiracial, multiethnic, multicultural movement from the beginning.
Misunderstood Christian Classics
The way to get attention and be mainstream in the secular establishment is to debunk what has been accepted as true for centuries.
G.K. Chesterton said that "life is as bright as diamond and as brittle as a window pane." Our lives and health are beautiful but fragile, and we need to cherish them.
#yourewrong - Our Problem with Self-Righteousness (Reactivity Episode 3)
Paul Tripp talks about the self-centeredness and self-righteousness that work together to deceive us into believing we’re always right and about the humility that cures this selfishness and radically changes us.
Why I Care about Women's Issues
In an increasingly pro-women society, you can’t even watch the Super Bowl anymore without seeing media campaigns elevating the dignity and worth of women.
A Personal vs. Private Relationship with Christ
As we've prioritized our personal relationship with Christ, we've also privatized it.
The Third Dimension of Writing: Bret Lott on Saying Exactly What You Mean
Brett Lott discusses the third dimension of writing.
3 Moral Principles to Consider Related to Reproductive Technology
Modern medicine can be used to overcome many diseases and disabilities today. We should view this as a good thing, and as something for which we can give thanks to God.
A Marvel More Fascinating Than Your iPhone
No one could pick up an iPhone or a smartphone of any kind and think that it was an accident. Learn about something that's infinitely more complex.
The Wisdom of God-Centered Rhythms in a Me-Centered Age
When every moment of our iWorld existence conditions us to celebrate the self, the church boldly celebrates something bigger, grander, and more compelling.
Podcast: Teaching Your Kids the Real Meaning of Christmas (William Smith)
William Smith offers parents simple advice for viewing the holiday season as a special opportunity to point our kids’ hearts to their Savior.
Secularism: The Cosmos Is All That Is
Secularism, more than any other single word, aptly describes the mental framework and value structure of the people of our time.
How to Be Fluent in the Gospel
We live in a day and age where people are asking questions, but often we don’t have the answers.
You Are More Than Your Twitter Bio
What does the way you introduce yourself say about how you see yourself, about where you find the source of your identity?
Redeeming Singleness: Q & A with Barry Danylak
Barry Danylak shares some of the main points of his book, Redeeming Singleness.
Why Christians Should Encourage Consistent Atheism
times when I actually encourage unbelievers to continue in their error, in fact to do so more.
Should We Seek to Burn Out for Jesus?
It is wise to pace yourself, even in ministry. Establish healthy limits for yourself and trust God to make your work fruitful.
Human Dignity: A First Principle
We are made in the image of Jesus the Messiah. This is real ground of human dignity.
Podcast: Why You Can’t Stop Looking at Your Phone (Samuel James)
Samuel James sets forth a distinctly Christian theology of technology, one that is profoundly realistic about its power, both for good and evil.
Answering Kids’ Hardest Questions: Can I Choose to Be a Boy or a Girl?
Andrew T. Walker, Christian Walker
When we are approached with questions like that, the first thing we want to do is go to Genesis 1. And when we look at Genesis 1, we see this notion of creation order.
Podcast: Are Christians More Divided Now Than Ever? (Rhyne Putman)
How should Christians think about theological diversity and gracefully disagree within the body of Christ?
Finding Rest in a Restless World
It’s easy to settle for a subhuman life. Despite all our efforts, achievements, and success, many of us discover each night that our hearts don’t rest.
On a Mission to Prove Ourselves
The people of this world are on a mission: a mission to prove themselves.
The Difference between Gospel-ish and Gospel Fluency
To become truly gospel fluent is to be able to listen to somebody well enough to hear the real longing or hurts that they're dealing with.
Is the world so broken that God will abandon it, and we will need to find a home elsewhere?
I’ve Heard It Said That Feelings Follow Actions
Though our feelings are part of God’s created design for us, they still need to be subjected to God’s word and to what is true.
The Continued Relevance of Carl Henry’s ‘Uneasy Conscience’
What’s striking now is how contemporary and pressing the issues still seem, though raised by Henry back when “baby boomer” referred to youth and the future.
Don’t Put Science in a Straightjacket
There are actually ways that certain scientific assumptions can impede the scientific search for truth.
2 Good Reasons We Should Read beyond the Bible
We want to read more than just the Bible because from the earliest time that words were recorded, civilization has been having this ongoing conversation.
Podcast: What's Happening to Evangelicalism? (Michael Reeves)
Michael Reeves discusses the term “evangelical,” the different ways it’s used in our culture today, and how we should respond to the cultural baggage often associated with the term.
How to Cultivate a Culture of Adoption
When we adopt—and when we encourage a culture of adoption in our churches and communities—we’re picturing something that’s true about our God.
The Great (American) Commission - Part 1
This is the first post ([part 2]http://www.crossway.org/blog/?p=35254), part 3) in a 3-part series by Tim Keesee on the role of American missionaries in the 21st century.
James Montgomery Boice writes about the difficulty of relativism.
What Does Gospel Fluency Look Like in Action?
Listen and pay attention—the Lord will give you the right words to bring the gospel to a non-Believer in a way that meets their needs and fulfills their longings.
Podcast: How to Respond to Common Arguments against Christianity (William Lane Craig)
William Lane Craig discusses how to respond to common arguments against Christianity that we often hear but may not know how to respond to.
What is my vocation? How do I find one? Or, as the self-help books put it, how do I find the vocation that is right for me?
What Women Wish Men Knew about Beauty
Men who take the time to understand the pressures women face will be able to help them resist the lies from our culture and pursue a biblical vision of beauty.
What Makes Evangelicals Different?
What is it that separates evangelicals from the rest of the world, even some other branches of Christianity? The fundamental dividing line is the belief in the inerrancy and authority of Scripture. Why does it matter if we believe this or not?
I’ve Heard It Said “You Are Enough”
You are enough in that God has made us with limitations. God made us to be unique, so God has made us in a specific way, and we don’t need to strive to be like others. But we’re not enough.
Has Our Society Lost Its Vision of What It Means to Be Human?
These moral universes are irreconcilable. They’re impenetrable. We are unable to reason together on even the most basic essentials necessary for the common good.
Living in God's Two Kingdoms - A Vision of Christianity and Culture
In his new book Living in God's Two Kingdoms, David VanDrunen suggests an alternative "two kingdoms" model for cultural engagement.
What Star Wars Can Teach Us about History
Thomas Andrews and Flannery Burke suggest that the opening sequence in the Star Wars films reminds us of the importance of historical context.
God loves beauty, and he gives it to us as a gift. He is the source of beauty, and he is beauty himself.
Does America’s History Reveal a Common Consensus on Abortion?
Knowing abortion is murder is not something that is just a result of modern technology. It has been the common sense of people in America for centuries.
Entertainment and the Christian Novel
People love to read stories—and any fiction writer who forgets that fundamental human motivation is in danger of becoming unemployed.
Opening Windows to Christ’s Kingdom
More than forty years have passed since I first traveled across the world and what drives me now are the glimpses of glory I get as I follow my King in the power of His rising.
Preaching an Objective Message in a Subjective Culture
When we think about following Jesus today we are aware that our culture’s attitude to truth has changed.
What Modern Atheists Could Learn from David Hume
One of the most important things that modern atheists can learn from David Hume is the limitations of sense perception and reason.
Podcast: Inherent Dangers of the Information Age (Brett McCracken)
Brett McCracken discusses what it looks like to pursue true wisdom in a noisy and confused age.
3 Ways Wisdom Is Threatened in the Information Age
In our modern world, we're overwhelmed by information: too fast, too much, and too self-focused. And, it's crowding out our ability to think deeply.
Of course, everybody knows that movie is not true a true representation of the field, but it also kind of shapes the way that we think of archaeology.
Body Image, Health Care, and the Incarnation
When God chose to come to the world embodied in Jesus Christ, he accepted life with all of its limitations.
Know a Victim of Sexual Assault? What to Say and Not to Say
Justin S. Holcomb, Lindsey A. Holcomb
Justin and Lindsey Halcomb share what you should and should not say to a victim of sexual assault.
Homer, 'Breaking Bad,' and the Eternal: Part 1
What does this have to do with theology and the Christian life? Turns out, quite a bit.
Love Emojis and a Taste of Reality
Behind the exclamation points and cupids lie all the normal stuff of everyone’s life: sickness, heartbreak, rejection—and loneliness.
Scott Klusendorf on Embryonic Stem Cell Research
Scott Klusendorf discusses the controversy of stem cell research as it relates to the pro-life position.
The Danger of Thinking Science Alone Leads to True Knowledge
If you limit knowledge to science, then you must see if all of the important questions of life can be answered by science.
Podcast: Were the First Christians Socialists? (Greg Forster)
How should believers think about the global economy and what practical difference should our beliefs make in the way that we spend and live?
Why “Going Our Own Way” Is a Burden, Not a Freedom
We often hear the encouragement to go our own way or blaze our own trail. In a lot of ways, that sounds like freedom. But without Christ, it’s actually bondage.
Homer, 'Breaking Bad,' and the Eternal: Part 3
Human narrative always deals with the problem of evil—without it there would be no stories at all.
The Problem with Human-Centered Morality
Is moral value whatever we say that it is?
The Super Bowl, as are other large sporting events, is also a magnet for sex trafficking and child prostitution. It is possibly the largest sex trafficking event in the US.
The Truth About Sexual Assault
Justin Holcomb shares some important statistics related to sexual assault in our country and around the world.
If a classic is a work that possesses the qualities that I ascribed to it, and if there are good reasons why some of our reading should be reading the classics, then how should we go about our reading of them?
Myths and Facts About Sexual Assault
Justin S. Holcomb, Lindsey A. Holcomb
Justin and Lindsey Halcomb answer myths and facts about sexual assault.
Guest Post: Keeping Christmas with Martin Luther
Salvation comes in and by and through an infant Son. This is more than a paradox, this is a miracle.
Deciphering the Fallacies of History
Carl Trueman examines history and the common foibles that go into it.
The Great (American) Commission - Part 3
This is the third post (part 1, part 2) in a 3-part series by Tim Keesee on the role of American missionaries in the 21st century.
A New Generation of African-American Christians
The church needs the light of the truth that is the glorious and biblical doctrines recovered during the Reformation.
Homer, 'Breaking Bad,' and the Eternal: Part 2
You can make more money, if you have some time and a work ethic. But can you make more time just because you have money?
How does "God's glory in salvation through judgment" relate to the moral, ethical, social, economic, and political issues in our culture?
The Great (American) Commission - Part 2
This is the second post (part 1, part 3) in a 3-part series by Tim Keesee on the role of American missionaries in the 21st century.
Podcast: Answering Common Questions about Mental Illness (David Murray)
David Murray responds to questions regarding anxiety, depression, and other forms of mental illness and also offers advice on differentiating between normal feelings of sadness and something more serious.
Q&A: Michael Reeves Answers Your Questions about Evangelicalism
Michael Reeves answers a number of questions from around the world about the topic of evangelicalism.
Dr. Robert P. George and Dr. Andrew Walker talk together about religious liberty, the common good, and the true heart of conservatism.
Podcast: The Dark History of Abortion in America (Leah Savas)
Leah Savas talks about some of the forgotten history of abortion and about the efforts to protect unborn life in America that extend back over 300 years, even before the nation's founding.
How the Gospel Is Like a New Language
In many ways the gospel is like a new language—it takes time.
Pride is, by definition, idolatrous and insurrectionist because it is rooted in ingratitude. It glorifies the creature over against the Creator and claims the inheritance rights of image-bearers without acknowledging that we have these things …
The gospel of Jesus cuts the nerve of hatred and anger and the bent to be a blaming person.
2 Ways Archaeology Helps Us Return to the World of the Bible
One of the benefits to reading the Bible is to understand the culture behind the text.
The Bible teaches that heaven has come down to us most wonderfully and assuredly in the person of Jesus Christ, to bring us back up to heaven.
Faith Is More about Confidence than Certainty
There’s an arrogance in saying we can know with absolute certainty. That sounds more like the Enlightenment than from the Bible.
How to Comfort the Grieving: Click the “Like” Button
These days, people are more comfortable sharing grief online and are perhaps more comfortable receiving expressions of caring that way too.
#toxic - Why Is Our Culture So Reactive? (Reactivity Episode 1)
Paul Tripp discusses the toxic culture of reactivity full of anger, mockery, and disrespect that is so common to see on social media but also bleeds into our everyday relationships.
How Can an Athlete Cultivate Humility?
C. J. Mahaney reflects on how humility impacts an athlete.
What am I going to do with the things of earth?
We have a deep desire to be visible and valuable. We crave attention and want the approval of others.
Remember that God is good even outside of the gifts he often graciously bestows to his children.
There’s No Such Thing as a Writer (and other thoughts for those of you thinking about writing)
Bret Lott writes a guest post to accompany the publication of his newest book, Letters and Life: On Being a Writer, On Being a Christian, hoping his words can be of help to those thinking about being a writer.
Should I "Like" a Social Media Post about Grief?
By liking a post about grief, you are letting the writer that they are not alone.
Podcast: The Cure to Our Polarization and Outrage: Humility (Gavin Ortlund)
Gavin Ortlund talks about misconceptions we often have about humility—that it corresponds to weakness or that it hides our abilities—and discusses how humility is so foundational for experiencing true joy in Christ.
An Interview with Courtney Reissig
This is an interview with Courtney Reissig, author of The Accidental Feminist: Restoring Our Delight in God's Good Design.
Q: If pain & evil exist, then how can your God be good?
Louis Markos answers the question: "If pain and evil exist, then how can your God be good?"
Podcast: The Life and Legacy of Elisabeth Elliot (Lucy S. R. Austen)
Lucy S. R. Austen shares insights into Elisabeth Elliot’s missionary work in Ecuador and how her writing in the years that followed impacted thousands of believers around the world.
Is Success a Friend or Foe? (by Dave Kraft)
Maybe, just maybe, we need to revisit our working definition of success to see how much of what we believe is truly biblical and not merely cultural, with a few verses added for “seasoning” here and there.
David Wells: God's Love and Holiness in Our Culture Today
In this video series (part 1), Dr. David Wells reflects on the message of his newest book, God in the Whirlwind: How the Holy-Love of God Reorients Our World.
Video: John Piper Speaks at Wheaton College
John Piper recently spoke at Wheaton College, addressing the community with a talk entitled "Race, Repentance, and Rejoicing: Ethnicity in the Christian Church".
Social Media Isn't All that Social
Whether it’s Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or Pinterest, “social” media doesn’t serve to make us any more social at all.
Preview: ‘Strange New World’ by Carl Trueman
We are pleased to offer a special preview of Carl Trueman's new book, ‘Strange New World: How Thinkers and Activists Redefined Identity and Sparked the Sexual Revolution.’
9 Notable Quotes from Weep with Me
In the Bible, lament is a prayer that leads to trust, which can be a starting point for the church to “weep with those who weep."
Where would your church be without Christian publishing companies?
There is no peace nor good will at Christmas, unless there is glory to God in the highest first.
When the Podcast Preacher Isn't Enough
We need more than a podcast to truly grow in our walk of faith.
Getting to the Heart of Materialism
In Worldliness (edited by C. J. Mahaney), contributor Dave Harvey gives some practical warnings and advice about materialism.
From Mecca to the Messiah (Part 1)
I arrived at college with two cases of beer... My college roommate was my best friend from high school. He and I arrived at college with barely any supplies for school, two cases of beer, …
The Imperfection of Artistic Expression is a Mere Glimpse of the Perfection of Christ
We (here at Crossway) had the opportunity to hear an exclusive behind-the-art perspective on The Four Holy Gospels from Makoto Fujimura during chapel on Friday, January 21.
Faithfulness in This Digital Age Is about Establishing Priorities
Faithfulness in the digital age means prioritizing God’s word and prioritizing embodied relationship over these digital tools.
Declaring a Cease-Fire to the Mommy Wars
The value of your work comes from service to the Lord, not from a job title, a mother-of-the-year award, or apaycheck.
How Do You Form Ethical Opinions? Make Ethical Decisions?
John Feinburg, author of Ethics for a Brave New World sheds light on how we can develop our ethical theory and how that informs ethical decision making.
Podcast: Growing as a Follower in a Culture Obsessed with Leadership (Richard Langer, Joanne Jung)
Richard Langer and Joanne Jung point out the prevalence of books, podcasts, and workshops on leadership and suggest that the contrasting idea of followership is where our focus should be.
The Super Bowl and Folk Culture
The event around which we gather shows the erosion of folk culture just as much as it fosters it.
The Ultimate Hope for the Pro-Life Movement Is Still the Gospel
We need lawmakers and lobbyists that will encourage state legislators to pass pro-life laws to protect unborn babies, but heart-change is not going to come just through new laws, but through Christ.
From Mecca to the Messiah (Part 4)
The Doctrines of Grace My wife and I returned to North Carolina full of wonder and joy. We were changed. The world sparkled with a newness and freshness we didn’t know was available. Everything was …
Podcast: How the World Found Democracy—and Became Ex-Christian (Andrew Wilson)
Andrew Wilson explains why the idea of democracy was so transformative in the decades following the American Revolution and how industrialization changed the way people thought about the world.
From Mecca to the Messiah (Part 3)
I lived a lost, God-rejecting, self-seeking life for about a year. Not surprisingly, my marriage grew empty as well, and the difficulties started to appear overwhelming. Then, my wife and I learned that we were …
We must train ourselves to slow down and recognize the greatest need we have is met in Christ’s coming.
Podcast: Race, Ethnicity, and the Bible (Steven Bryan)
Steven Bryan talks about how Christians should approach the various “collective identities” that bind—and divide—us in our world today.
An Interview with Mitch Stokes
In this video, Justin Taylor sits down with Mitch Stokes to discuss his new book.
D.A. Carson on Evangelicalism—from ETS 2009
Dr. D. A. Carson presents a biblical/theological definition of evangelicalism that is rooted in the New Testament’s description of the gospel, and then proceeds to demonstrate its continuing relevance and our need for its scripturally defined boundaries.
Podcast: Should Our Churches Be Political? (Alan Strange)
Alan Strange discusses the doctrine of the spirituality of the church—a doctrine focused on clearly defining the church’s central mission and mandate.
Podcast: A Few Things to Remember before You Vote (Jonathan Leeman)
How should my Christian beliefs impact how I vote? Is it okay to vote for the lesser of two evils? In this podcast, Jonathan Leeman offers his thoughts on all of these questions and more.
Podcast: Has Christianity Really Caused More Harm Than Good in the World? (Sharon James)
Sharon James makes the case that despite the many failings of many Christians over the centuries, Christianity has indeed been very good for the world.
Sex, Strategic Righteousness, and Eternal Purposes
John Piper calls us to not be like the world, but to instead to be like Boaz and Ruth.
Our blind spots lead to divisions and disagreements, preventing God’s people from testifying to his grace with one voice.
Why Moralistic Therapeutic Deism Is a Dead End
It's very easy to shelve God and decide we don't really need him. We just need to believe in ourselves, to invent who we are and what we want to do.
Podcast: Why Discernment Today Is So Needed Yet So Neglected (Tim Challies)
Tim Challies talks about what spiritual discernment actually looks like, why it's so important for the mature Christian, and how to cultivate it in our own lives.
Never Before Published Works from Lloyd-Jones
Martyn Lloyd-Jones shows how to deal with fear by confronting it, recognizing it, and realizing that the only way to address it is found in the unchanging gospel.
How to Teach Your Kids about Politics
Andrew T. Walker, Christian Walker
When we think about politics, we must think of the idea of authority. In fact, Romans 13 talks about how the government is actually a minister on God’s behalf.
If I Could Sit Down with Richard Dawkins
If I could change Richard Dawkins’ mind about something, it would be about this notion of objective morality.
Preview: ‘Gospel People’ by Michael Reeves
We are pleased to offer a special preview of Michael Reeves’s new book, ‘Gospel People: A Call for Evangelical Integrity.’
Podcast: How to Wait for Christmas in an Age of Instant Gratification (Jonathan Gibson)
Johnny Gibson discusses what it looks like to truly prepare our hearts for Christmas and talks about how and why the Advent season is meant to be a season of waiting.
Serial offers us insights into our culture’s longings, revealing God’s truth in the world around us.
Podcast: The Case for Abortion—and How to Refute It (Scott Klusendorf)
Scott Klusendorf offers pro-life training by actually making a compelling case for abortion so that he can teach us how to refute it through simple logic and reason.
Podcast: On Apologetics: The Best of ‘The Crossway Podcast’
We are pleased to offer a selection of some of the best moments related to apologetics from the podcast over the past four years.
Q&A with Vern Poythress—In the Beginning Was the Word
John Starke recently conducted an interview with Vern Poythress to discuss his new release, In the Beginning was the Word: Language—A God-Centered Approach.
Podcast: How Old Creeds Speak to New Problems (Carl Trueman)
Carl Trueman explains how historic creeds and confessions of the church can help to shape God’s people living in a culture consumed with individualism and identity.
#QandA - Paul Tripp Answers Your Questions about Social Media (Reactivity Episode 8)
In this final episode of the Reactivity podcast, Paul Tripp answers questions submitted by listeners related to how Christians should think about social media and its impact on us.
Matt Chandler discusses March Madness and worship.
David Wells: The Counter-Cultural Nature of God's Holy-Love
In this video series (part 1, part 2), Dr. David Wells reflects on the message of his newest book, God in the Whirlwind: How the Holy-Love of God Reorients Our World.
#meantweets - Our Problem with Anger (Reactivity Episode 2)
Paul Tripp talks about the normalization of emotionally driven responses and especially reactions filled with fear and anger, two of the primary emotions that drive the culture of toxic reactivity.
#fightme - Our Problem with Craving Controversy (Reactivity Episode 5)
Paul Tripp talks about the difference between the love of truth and the love of controversy, which is no longer motivated by the two great commands to love God and love your neighbor.
An Interview with Christin Ditchfield
Christin Ditchfield speaks with Crossway about her latest book, A Family Guide to "Prince Caspian".
What is Sexual Assault and How Can Victims Find Hope and Healing?
Check out this helpful interview with Justin Holcomb (author of Rid of My Disgrace) on the issue of sexual assault and how victims can find hope and healing.
11 Practical Ways to Reduce Digital Consumption
If we can get digital technology under control, we will do so much better—physically, intellectually, relationally, vocationally, educationally, financially, emotionally, and spiritually.
#antisocialmedia - Our Problem with Individualism (Reactivity Episode 4)
Paul Tripp discusses the message of individualism in our culture that is destructive to our relationships and is an enemy of the community that God carefully designed for us to live in.
The Origins of the Self-Esteem Movement
People threw off the shackles of the church and the state and they began to look inward. They began to look to themselves for what is true and what is real.
#fail - Our Need for Grace (Reactivity Episode 7)
Paul Tripp talks about the differences between a culture of condemnation and a culture of redemption, and he makes an honest confession.
What are some sure signs of misdirected priorities in sports?
Matt Martens sets forth a distinctly Christian vision of criminal justice, highlighting how the great commandment to love God and love our neighbor should inform our approach to both the victim and the accused.
Video: Engaging Our Culture with Joy
In this video, Greg Forster sits down with Justin Taylor to discuss his new book, Joy for the World: How Christianity Lost Its Cultural Influence and Can Begin Rebuilding It.
A Radically Different Approach to Film—A Call to Discernment
What do Christians "do" with movies? Do we treat them the same way as those who don't know the God of the universe?
Video: "Christ + City: Why the Greatest Need of the City Is the Greatest News of All"
Pastor Jon Dennis, author of Christ + City, and others share their love for these cultural centers and their desire to see the kingdom of God take root in the city.
#thosepeople - Our Problem with Tribalism (Reactivity Episode 6)
Paul Tripp talks about our culture of tribalism in which we associate primarily with those who agree with us and find it easier to react to anyone who isn't in that group.
Make a Change from Me-ology to Theology
Me-ology prizes you and me. Theology prizes the God of the universe who holds everything together.
Help! My Teen Struggles with Self-Image
From its beginning, the self-esteem movement has been crushing. And the movement hasn’t dissipated over the last generation or two, it has only intensified.
Podcast: How the Sacraments Help Us Know Who We Truly Are (Kevin Emmert)
Kevin Emmert explains why the sacraments are so central to our lives as believers and why their shaping power is more relevant than ever in a world obsessed with identity and self-expression.
Podcast: Teach Your Kids About Their Anchored Identity (Christina Fox)
Christina Fox talks about kids’ need for a strong sense of identity that is rooted in an understanding of God as our creator, sustainer, and redeemer.
Is It Morally Right to Impose My Pro-Life Convictions on Others?
When the pro-lifer says abortion is wrong, he’s not talking about what he likes or prefers; he’s talking about what’s right or wrong regardless of preferences.