Destiny

Holy Warrior's Life is Completely Worthless

The life of a believer is precious. The life of a prophet is more visibly precious still. To attack an unarmed believer because of his faith is persecution. To kill a prophet because he speaks the truth is an offence repeatedly condemned in Scripture.

Then the believer takes a sword.

Father's will was resurrection not crucifixion

The fundamental distinction is this:

Gethsemane tells us what Jesus says to the Father. It does not tell us what the Father says to Jesus.

That sounds elementary, but a great deal of theology quietly collapses the distinction.

The Joy of Finding What He Longed For

God the Father cannot be surprised. Nothing in creation can reveal to Him something He did not already know. No human decision, no act of loyalty, no betrayal and no victory can increase His knowledge. The world is not an experiment conducted for the benefit of an uninformed God.

The Logos stands in a very different relation to what happens within creation.

His joy does not come from learning something. It comes from finding something he wanted to find.

Heaven Is Not a Reward

One of the most persistent religious ideas is that Heaven is the reward for a good life. The statement sounds so natural that hardly anyone asks what it implies. Yet if Heaven is truly a reward, then goodness becomes a transaction. A person behaves properly now because something enormously desirable will be given later. The scale of the promised payment is so immense that even the language of sacrifice begins to lose its meaning. What sacrifice could really be called costly if the person making it knows that an eternity of perfect life is waiting as compensation?

The Enemy of Man

Satan is commonly portrayed in Christianity as first and foremost the enemy of God: a cosmic rebel whose hatred of humanity is merely an extension of a deeper war against the Creator. Yet this familiar picture is much clearer in later Christian imagination than it is in Scripture itself. When the biblical texts are read directly, Satan certainly disobeys God, challenges divine judgments and acts contrary to God's purposes. But the actual objects of his hostility are consistently human beings.

The distinction is important:

The Law of Divine Paradox

One of the most remarkable features of Jesus' teaching is that it repeatedly overturns ordinary human reasoning. His sayings are not merely surprising; they appear to contradict the very logic by which people naturally live. Whoever wishes to save his life must lose it. Whoever humbles himself will be exalted. The last shall be first. The grain of wheat must fall into the earth and die before it can bear fruit. These are not isolated aphorisms scattered throughout the Gospels. Together they reveal a single underlying principle—a law that governs the Kingdom of God.

A Practical Guide to Dealing with Demons

Every practical approach must begin with a foundation. If the foundation is wrong, everything built upon it will eventually collapse. My entire understanding of demons rests upon one principle that may initially sound strange, perhaps even offensive:

The problem of demonic affliction belongs foremost to the exorcist.

The Lost Opportunity at the Miʿrāj: A Critique of Humanity, Not of the Prophets

The story of the Miʿrāj may easily give rise to a misunderstanding. Some readers may conclude that the criticism is directed toward the prophets themselves—toward Muhammad for accepting the reduction of the prayers, or toward Moses for recommending it. Nothing could be further from my intention. In fact, the more I reflect upon the story, the more my admiration for both prophets increases. The criticism, if there is any, is directed elsewhere. It is directed toward humanity itself and toward a persistent feature of the human condition that the story so brilliantly exposes.

If Only I Had Been There at the Miʿrāj

Part 1.

Sometimes I find myself imagining a rather unusual thing.

I imagine that I was standing there instead of prophet Muhammad during the story of the Miʿrāj. God speaks and says, "Fifty prayers each day."

Everyone else seems relieved that the number was reduced.

I cannot help wondering whether I would have reacted in exactly the opposite way.

I honestly think I would have asked for sixty.

Not because I enjoy collecting obligations. Not because I believe that more prayers somehow earn more points with God. Quite the contrary.

The Guest of Honor

The room was dimly lit. The oil lamps flickered against the clay walls, and the smell of roasted lamb mingled with the sharp scent of bitter herbs. We reclined around the table, leaning on cushions, each of us half lost in thought. The Teacher was quiet that evening, his eyes deeper than usual, as if He saw beyond the walls of this upper room.

Destiny