Search results for: “ontological”
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The Ontological Model Part 2: How Good Is Your Will?
Read more: The Ontological Model Part 2: How Good Is Your Will?Suppose I give you a bicycle for the convenience of travel. Suppose, however, that the bicycle is broken: flat tires, missing spokes, a chain that slips frequently. Nevertheless, you figure out a way to make it go. The ride is bumpy and you often have to stop and fix the chain. You fear that one […]
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Being Saved – The Ontological Approach
Read more: Being Saved – The Ontological ApproachI cannot begin to count the number of times I wished there were a simple, felicitous word for “ontological.” I dislike writing theology with words that have to be explained – that is, words whose meanings are not immediately obvious. But, alas, I have found no substitute and will, therefore, beg my reader’s indulgence for […]
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How Good Is Your Will? Part Two of The Ontological Model
Read more: How Good Is Your Will? Part Two of The Ontological ModelSuppose I give you a bicycle for the convenience of travel. Suppose, however, that the bicycle is broken: flat tires, missing spokes, a chain that slips frequently. Nevertheless, you figure out a way to make it go. The ride is bumpy and you often have to stop and fix the chain. You fear that one […]
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Being Saved – The Ontological Approach
Read more: Being Saved – The Ontological ApproachI cannot begin to count the number of times I wished there were a simple, felicitous word for “ontological.” I dislike writing theology with words that have to be explained – that is, words whose meanings are not immediately obvious. But, alas, I have found no substitute and will, therefore, beg my reader’s indulgence for […]
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The Good That Lies Within
Read more: The Good That Lies WithinThere is this famous quote from Alexander Solzhenitsyn: The line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties either — but right through every human heart — and through all human hearts. This line shifts. Inside us, it oscillates with the years. And even within hearts overwhelmed by […]
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“That Which Is Lacking” – Is Jesus Enough?
Read more: “That Which Is Lacking” – Is Jesus Enough?Recent questions on the blog make this article worth re-visiting. I pray you find it of interest. The average Christian, reading his Bible in happy devotion, stumbles across this passage: Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the […]
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Truth, Lies, and Icons
Read more: Truth, Lies, and IconsAs verbal beings, we live in a world of icons. We experience the world in an iconic fashion. A major difficulty for us is that we have lost the vocabulary of iconic reality. We have substituted the language of photography. The dissonance between reality and our photographic assumptions has led us to doubt both. Man […]
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Saved by the Stuff of Grace
Read more: Saved by the Stuff of GraceI can think of few phrases in modern Christian speech that have been more abused through misuse and overuse than “we are saved by grace.” As a young Protestant, this was explained to me thus: “We are saved by God’s unmerited favor.” This has the unfortunate implication that, whatever salvation may be, it’s something that’s […]
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Love and Being
Read more: Love and BeingPerhaps the most intriguing statement in the New Testament is St. John’s simple, “God is love.” As mysterious and awesome as the revelation of the Divine Name (“I am that I am”) to Moses might be, St. John’s statement gives a content that echoes and infolds the death and resurrection of Christ itself. Indeed, any […]
He is my namesake!