When my son Scott was just learning to walk, he fell on a cement driveway and split the area below his chin so deeply that the floor of his mouth was exposed. Hospitals and doctors were 250 kilometers away over tortuous mountain roads. I had no surgical instruments with me. A quick catalog of our resources turned up a less-than-impressive array of one darning needle, coarse thread, one pair of rather ...

The word judgment carries negative overtones for a good many people in our liberal and postliberal world. We need to remind ourselves that throughout the Bible God's coming judgment is a good thing, something to be celebrated, longed for, yearned over. It causes people to shout for joy and the trees of the field to clap their hands. In a world of systematic injustice, bullying, violence, arrogance, ...

Whenever we speak of the end times, our hearts often quicken—partly out of joy, yet also out of fear. To speak of end times is to speak of somewhat uncertain times. "No one knows about that day or hour," Christ says, "not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son." But the uncertainty of calendars and dates isn't what troubles us most. It's the notion of final judgment. So perhaps these words from ...

On the first day teaching his class of 250 college freshmen, R. C. Sproul carefully explained the assignment of three term papers. Each paper was due on the last day of September, October, and November. Sproul clearly stated there would be no extensions (except for medical reasons). At the end of September, some 225 students dutifully turned in their papers, while 25 remorseful students quaked in ...

Early in my ministry, I served a little church in rural Georgia. One Saturday we went to a funeral in a little country church not of my denomination. I grew up in a big downtown church. I had never been to a funeral like this one. The casket was open, and the funeral consisted of a sermon by their preacher.

The preacher pounded on the pulpit and looked over at the casket. He said, "It's too late for ...

A recent study based on international statistics gathered since 2004 indicates that although America's life expectancy rate is improving, Americans are not living as long as people in other countries. An American will live an average of 77.9 years—an all-time high. Nevertheless, when compared to the life expectancy rates of other countries, America ranks 42nd. In a similar study done two decades ...

On Sunday, October 28, Belgian felon Nordin Ben Allal escaped from prison for the fourth time.

The prisoner's most recent jailbreak is by far the most sensational to date. During an inmate recreation period, Ben Allal's accomplices hijacked a helicopter and forced the pilot to land on Ittre prison premises. Ben Allal first climbed aboard the helicopter, but so did several of his fellow inmates. Overburdened ...

A group of Americans were surveyed concerning issues of life after death:

• Ten percent believe we return to earth in a different form.

• Ten percent believe there is no life after death.

• Twenty-four percent believe the soul lives in a different place, determined by past actions.

• Forty-eight percent believe we go to heaven or hell, depending on confession of sins and accepting ...

The Ultimate Gift is about an arrogant, spoiled young man named Jason Stevens (played by Drew Fuller). Jason expects a huge inheritance when he hears that his grandfather has died. What he gets instead is a crash course in life. Jason is required to do twelve tasks—what his grandfather calls "gifts"—designed to challenge him in improbable ways. Among Jason's tasks is the challenge to make ...

Parenting Beyond Belief is the newest resource for parents who don't believe in God.

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Nonbelievers, both well known and unknown, have contributed essays to Parenting Beyond Belief. One "compelling chapter" explains how to talk to children about death when there is no belief in a hereafter. The author recommends telling children, "No, honey, Grandpa won't come home for Christmas. He died and is dead ...