Picking, choosing, and deciding which sins are trivial and which are the biggies is a completely human tendency. A young man once told me, "It's like a heavenly bank account. As long as I make more deposits than withdrawals, I'm in good shape."

I shared the biblical reality with him: the very first time he made a withdrawal, the account was emptied and closed forever. He thought that was a bit harsh. ...

Years ago I traveled to Ecuador and spent a couple of weeks traveling in the mountains. The Quechua Indian people I met there lived amidst the most mind-numbing squalor. The disease and disfigured bodies were heartbreaking. The bugs and stench were everywhere. People were living in a hole in the ground and calling it a house. They were feeding on rotten food and prizing garbage as possessions. But ...

In Spanglish, Deborah Clasky (Tea Leoni) is the neurotic wife of John Clasky (Adam Sandler), a simple and carefree man who has become a highly acclaimed chef. Deborah is self-absorbed and small-minded, a control freak who blames everyone but herself for her problems. Her selfish patterns have led her into an affair. Evelyn (Cloris Leachman), Deborah’s mother, decides to step in.

Late one evening as ...

A survey published by the Barna Group in 2006 demonstrated that most Americans don't consider themselves to be holy.

Three out of every four Americans (73 percent) believed that it is possible for someone to become holy regardless of their past. Only half of the adult population (50 percent), however, said that they knew someone they considered to be holy. And that's more than twice as many who considered ...

Lying takes serious thought! That’s the conclusion of neuroscientists at Temple University. According to the Chicago Tribune, “With brain imaging technology, they can see how a lie sparks activity deep in the limbic system, the center of emotion and self-preservation. The lie gathers support from the memory banks in the left and right temporal lobes and then makes a dash to the frontal cortex, where ...

Where the Heart Is tells the story of Novalee, a pregnant teen, abandoned in a Wal-Mart by her boyfriend. She finds herself on her own, but tries to make a good life for her baby daughter. In contrast, her boyfriend, Willy Jack, continuously makes irresponsible and destructive choices.

After finding out Willy Jack was involved in a terrible accident, Novalee visits him in the hospital. Novalee steps ...

War and Peace is based on Leo Tolstoy's classic novel. With the backdrop of Napoleon Bonaparte's invasion of Russia in the early 1800s, a variety of characters face moral and physical challenges, experience love, war, and suffering, and express philosophical and religious beliefs about the meaning of their lives.

The scene begins with Pierre (Henry Fonda), dressed in a stylish formal suit, walking ...

The film The Browning Version is about Andrew Crocker-Harris (Albert Finney), a strict classical literature professor at a posh British boys prep school where his students force themselves to put up with him or openly despise him.

When a student shows him genuine appreciation, and his marriage ends, these two profound events bring the professor to the breaking point.

The students and faculty gather ...

Pastor Lee Strobel shares this account:

We were doing a baptism service. We told people before they came up to the platform to be baptized to take a piece of paper, write down a few of the sins they've committed, and fold the paper. When they come up to the platform, there was a large wooden cross on the stage. Take that piece of paper, take a pin, and pin it to the cross, because the Bible says our ...

Self-devastated people are often initially quiet; it hurts too much to air the sordid details. But healing cannot come without it.