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Joel J. Miller

2012-11-08T15:02:45-06:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Prayers of the persecuted church

Last updated on: November 8, 2012 at 3:02 pm   By Joel J. Miller

“’For Your sake we are killed all day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.’ Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.” –Romans 8.36-37 On November 4 this year Christians gather to pray for their suffering brothers and sisters. The annual International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church provides a time to lift up believers who suffer deprivation, torture, and death for confessing Christ. Martyrdom has been a part... Read more

Church Life

Fadi Haddad

martyrdom

persecution

Syria

2012-10-31T05:31:47-06:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Dependent on the body of Christ

Last updated on: October 31, 2012 at 5:31 am   By Joel J. Miller

Paul speaks of the church as being the body of Christ, and he’s rather literal with the metaphor. “The eye,” he writes, “cannot say to the hand, ‘I have no need of you,’ nor again the head to the feet, ‘I have no need of you'” (1 Cor 12.21). The Christian life depends upon other Christians. Ours is a contingent existence. Only in communion with each other do we find the means to live our faith. I reflected on that... Read more

Church Life

body of Christ

church

community

2012-10-15T15:27:01-05:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

What if we dumped Rand for Röpke?

Last updated on: October 15, 2012 at 3:27 pm   By Joel J. Miller

After addressing Ayn Rand’s anti-Christian philosophy, I think it’s important to propose an alternative. This is particularly important for Christians who defend the free market and would like to expand economic freedom. Just because Ayn Rand is of the devil doesn’t mean that capitalism is too. They are not the same thing. Sadly, some people seem to think so. “I think Christians would be less likely to embrace socialism if they understood that the economic philosophy of Ayn Rand is... Read more

Society

Ayn Rand

capitalism

Christianity

Wilhelm Röpke

2012-12-08T16:10:11-06:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Ayn Rand, antichrist

Last updated on: December 8, 2012 at 4:10 pm   By Joel J. Miller

“[A]s you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come.” –1 John 2.18 An interesting convergence of cultural trends and events has pushed Ayn Rand’s name and views back into the news, including the vice presidential candidacy of Paul Ryan, the multipart movie adaptation of her 1957 novel Atlas Shrugged, and the overweening policies of the current presidential administration. But libertarians and conservatives — particularly those who confess Christian faith — should be wary of adopting... Read more

Society

Ayn Rand

capitalism

Christianity

2012-11-15T16:37:16-06:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

What Pat Robertson gets wrong about adoption

Last updated on: November 15, 2012 at 4:37 pm   By Joel J. Miller

When a woman named Susan wrote the 700 Club looking for answers, she surely wasn’t expecting the kind she received. The mother of three adopted daughters, each from different countries, wrote to say that the men she was dating invariably got cold feet when it came to the subject of her children. “Why,” she asked, “are these men acting this way?” Pat Robertson’s answer left audiences with their jaws hanging low. “A man doesn’t want to take on the United... Read more

Society

adoption

Pat Robertson

2012-10-30T15:16:46-06:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

The only solution to violence

Last updated on: October 30, 2012 at 3:16 pm   By Joel J. Miller

After the shootings at the Aurora movie theater, the Milwaukee Sikh temple, and now Family Research Council in Washington, D.C., I’m hearing renewed talk about banning guns. It’s something of a ritual, and the well-known rubrics describe the basic order of events: man commits atrocity, nation stands aghast, nation looks for answers, nation comes up short, people advise the prohibition of firearms. But Americans don’t have a corner on violence, and it’s instructive to see how such violence is handled... Read more

Society

firearms

guns

Sikh temple

violence

2012-12-03T11:24:55-06:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Angels and the promise of a bigger world

Last updated on: December 3, 2012 at 11:24 am   By Joel J. Miller

Some people want the Bible to be untrue. Mmm, scratch that. Some people desperately want the Bible to be untrue. This desire can manifest in a number of ways, including finding ways of explaining scriptural accounts that undermine the witness of the text. One of my favorite examples of this is the scholar who announced in 2002 that the visions of the prophet Ezekiel were the product of epilepsy, not the revelation of God. Can’t be divine, so it must... Read more

Theology

angels

dreams

materialism

2012-08-07T06:58:34-05:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

What the light of Christ teaches us

Last updated on: August 7, 2012 at 6:58 am   By Joel J. Miller

At the start of his gospel, John refers to Christ as “[t]he true light that enlightens every man.” He was likely an old man when he penned the line, and I can’t help but wonder if his mind traveled back to an experience of his youth, during the earthly ministry of Jesus, one in which he experienced that light in a supernatural way. Jesus had at times a large entourage, but he revealed certain things to small and select group... Read more

Theology

crucifixion

passion

theology

Transfiguration

2013-06-13T21:27:51-05:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

The sound of (blessed) silence

Last updated on: June 13, 2013 at 9:27 pm   By Joel J. Miller

How often do we listen for God, hear the thoughts of our hearts, reflect, and pray? Our days are hurried, and that’s problem enough. But noise is a real problem too. I’ll speak for myself here — you’ll have to weigh how much of an issue this is for you — but noise for me is nearly constant. My car stereo plays jazz, rock, folk, classical, audio books, and podcasts, but it always plays. My iPhone often doubles as a... Read more

Prayer

meditation

prayer

silence

stillness

2012-10-30T08:35:56-06:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

America needs prophets

Last updated on: October 30, 2012 at 8:35 am   By Joel J. Miller

The intense fight over Obamacare’s HHS mandate highlights a real disdain for religion in public life. Obamacare has had religious detractors from the start because of abortion concerns, but they have had their own detractors among the political and chattering classes. While paying lip service to the right of Catholic bishops to participate in the conversation, for instance, one pundit actually said (before the bill had passed) that the hierarchs were holding America “hostage” by their refusal to back down... Read more

Society

abortion

Catholics

HHS mandate

Jonathan Mayhew

Paul Revere

prolife

religion

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