Category: Jesus

America, Bill of Rights, Christian Nationalism, Christianity, Citizenship, Constitution, Culture, First Amendment, Fundamentalism, humanity, Interfaith Dialogue, Jesus, Politics, Politics, reconciliation, Story, Theology, violence, war, worldview

Our Muslim Girls

Gary Furr

My wife was the head resident of a girls dormitory when I was in Seminary at Campbell University in North Carolina. I would commute every day to Southeastern Baptist Seminary, 100 miles round trip, for the three years as I was getting my Master’s degree. It was a godsend, because we got a one bedroom apartment with a windowless storage room that we converted into a small bedroom for our daughter, and a few years later, our second daughter was born and shared it with her. I’m sorry we lived there, though. After living with a dorm full of undergraduate … Continue reading Our Muslim Girls

Bible, Christianity, Faith, hope, Jesus, Love, reconciliation, Selfishness, Spirituality, Teachings, Theology2 Comments

Love Your Neighbor–part 3

Gary Furr

In our previous time together, I examined the mystery of how love of God, neighbor, and even ourselves, is so askew. And this lives out so differently in men and women, the well-located and the dislocated, the rich and the poor, but there are common roots to it all. We concluded with this observation of the matter–When we love our neighbor this way, forgetting ourselves in love for another, we connect with the powerful love that is at the heart of all things.  It is life-giving.  It is also impossible unless God helps us to love.  And yet we know, … Continue reading Love Your Neighbor–part 3

Bible, Christianity, humanity, Jesus, Love, Selfishness, spirituality, Teachings, Theology and Life

Love One Another– part 2

Gary Furr

So today, let’s pick up where we were last time. In the New Testament, there are two injunctions. As I mentioned previously, we are to love God and love our neighbor. Romans 13.8 states, let no debt remain outstanding except the outstanding debt to love one another for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law. But what about self-love? We’ve become bogged down in modern life by being sure that we love ourselves enough and have subtly reversed the emphasis of this commandment. Many people struggle with finding a sense of purpose and worth. The modern secular profession of counseling … Continue reading Love One Another– part 2

Bible, Christianity, Death, easter, Grief, Holy Week, Hope, hope, humanity, Jesus, Jesus, resurrection, spirituality, Story, Suffering, Theology, Worship6 Comments

Easter

Gary Furr

Six weeks ago my father died. I have not spoken much about that except to friends. Grief is deeply personal, and the journey is different for us all. Suffice it to say that as a primary caregiver for my Dad the past three years, two in a nursing facility, I have been up close and personal to the end of his life at 91. My father was a wonderful, larger that life presence in my life. For weeks it is the cursed insane busy-ness after death. Experience is crowded out by necessity, but that is not all bad. Denial has … Continue reading Easter

Evangelicalism, fear, Grace, Hope, Jesus, Leadership, Ministry, Politics1 Comment

Investing in Grace

Gary Furr

I first wrote this post seven years ago. Seems to me it is needed more than ever. Hope depends upon the capacity of a person to trust in the ultimate goodness of things rather than on the evidence of any particular moment’s appearance. That is important for the living of these days. In the fractures of our present politics, our divisions, our radical differences of how we see the same world, it is tempting to withdraw from the fray. It is also tempting to deepen the gulf. And neither of these options helps either us or the world. And it … Continue reading Investing in Grace