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Joel J. Miller

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Select a Month April 2014 March 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 November 2008 October 2008 July 2008 June 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 August 2007 June 2007 October 2002 July 2002 November 1999 October 1999

April 2014

April 07, 2014

How internet porn explains the decline of American faith

Since the early 1990s, there has been a significant uptick in Americans abandoning their faith....

March 2014

March 31, 2014

Revenge and the simplistic morality of Hollywood

Last week I watched Silverado with my son, Fionn. It's one of the greatest westerns...

March 27, 2014

How God uses work to fashion our souls

God sanctifies our labor. The Apostle Paul enjoined us to work with our hands (1...

January 2014

January 04, 2014

Writing the best version of yourself

"Is there a way in which all of us are fictional characters, parented by life...

December 2013

December 15, 2013

Why it’s good to remember our sins

Over the course of several books, crime novelist Philip Davison gave life to his character...

July 2013

July 08, 2013

When you feel like judging your neighbor…

I can be pretty judgmental. It's one of my many failings. I read something about...

June 2013

June 17, 2013

Jesus vs. the philosophers

I just starting a new book by the contemporary Egyptian monastic elder, Matthew the Poor....

June 06, 2013

The secret behind the Bible’s most highlighted verse

The current issue of The American Prospect features a short piece on ebooks and social...

June 05, 2013

Christ is both our goal and our way

Christ is everything to the believer. Our lives follow his. This short reflection from Augustine's...

May 2013

May 29, 2013

The reason we endure trials

The other day my son was going on about bricks. He had seen a documentary...

May 09, 2013

Dallas Willard, Jesus freak

When I heard that philosopher and author Dallas Willard had died, my mind jumped to...

May 06, 2013

Go ahead, try failure! The spiritual virtue of blowing it

The economist Thomas Hazlett once told a story about the father of his high-school girlfriend....

March 2013

March 29, 2013

Heaven is more than an endpoint. It’s a possibility right now

There have been several very successful books on heaven in recent years, including Heaven is...

March 06, 2013

Run your race with intensity

The apostle Paul compares our life in Christ to a footrace. Like any race this...

March 04, 2013

Believing the best about God

Our assumptions about God affect our experience of him. My mind returned to this thought...

February 2013

February 26, 2013

What a garden can teach us: A lenten reflection

I spent some time this weekend gardening. Megan and I recently purchased a new house...

February 18, 2013

It doesn’t work and might drive you crazy: More on DIY spirituality

Anyone who acts as their own lawyer has a fool for a client, as the...

February 14, 2013

The danger of do-it-yourself spirituality

I was reading Tom Wolfe's 1976 New York magazine article, "The 'Me' Decade and the...

December 2012

December 11, 2012

Don’t be afraid to ignore yourself

According to the Life of the Elder Moses of Optina, a troubled monk visited the...

December 05, 2012

It’s the little sins that kill you

Judas Iscariot didn't begin with betrayal in mind, and David didn't intend adultery and murder....

December 01, 2012

Let the Bible elevate your mind

There's a conversation running right now on the relative value of certain Bible translations. Depending...

November 2012

November 13, 2012

The battle for your heart

There's a battle for your heart. The only question is whether you're going to join...

June 2012

June 25, 2012

Pursuing God through the small things

We live in a day of extremes, and sometimes it seems our culture's highest virtue...

May 2012

May 15, 2012

There is a final judgment; act accordingly

It's a sobering thought to realize that we will all someday face a final judgment....

May 10, 2012

Appreciate where you’ve come from

When you note personal or spiritual growth in your life, there can be a tendency...

May 08, 2012

What’s growing while you’re not looking?

Little things can affect dramatic change -- good and bad -- even if you're unaware...

April 2012

April 25, 2012

Jesus comes to us so we can go for him

On the Sunday after Easter the Eastern Orthodox Church commemorates the encounter of the Apostle...

April 01, 2012

April fools for Christ

The Bible presents us two kinds of folly, both very different. We meet the first...

March 2012

March 27, 2012

Mary said yes. What about us?

Many modern Christians have misgivings about Mary, but what if we checked those misgivings for...

March 22, 2012

Making grace stick

Sometimes we face problems in life that really rub us wrong, abrasive and hurtful experiences...