Life on Planet Earth on Punishment

liturgy

O LORD GOD, The first act of calling is

Keywords

O LORD GOD, The first act of calling is by your command in your Word, ‘Come to me, return to me’; The second is to let in light, so that I see that I am called particularly, and perceive the swee...

liturgy

Leader: Scripture teaches us that there

Author

Memorial Drive Presbyterian Church

Scripture

Deuteronomy 6:4-5, Genesis 1:27, Ephesians 2:10, Isaiah 60:1-3, 1 John 3:1

Leader: Scripture teaches us that there is one good and holy God; that we were created in God’s image, to commit ourselves to Him, to do good works, to reflect His glory, and to know Him as loving Fat...

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Author

Eli Khamarov

Keywords

Poverty

Poverty is like punishment for a crime you didn't commit.

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Author

Neta Alexander

Keywords

Is buffering a punishment? And if it is, what sin have we committed?

liturgy

Adapted from Deuteronomy 30:15-20

Author

Dustin Ray

Keywords

Scripture

Deuteronomy 30:15-20

Pastor: See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil. If you obey the commandments of the LORD your God that I command you today, by loving the LORD your God, by walking in his ways,...

liturgy

Adapted from Psalm 57:1-2; 61:1-3

Author

Dustin Ray

Keywords

Scripture

Psalm 57:1-2, Psalm 61:1-3

Pastor: Heavenly Father, this morning as we worship in your presence, my mind settles on the fact that I have blown it. I’ve disobeyed your commandments, I’ve sinned so many times, and I have not love...

liturgy

Adapted from Psalm 6 and “Morning Needs” in The Valley of Vision

Author

Dustin Ray

Keywords

Scripture

Psalm 6:null

Pastor: “O LORD, rebuke me not in your anger, nor discipline me in your wrath. Be gracious to me, O LORD, for I am languishing; heal me, O LORD, for my bones are troubled. All: “My soul also is grea...

liturgy

Adapted from Ezra 9:6-15

Author

Dustin Ray

Keywords

Scripture

Ezra 9:6-15

Pastor: O my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift my face to you, my God, for our iniquities have risen higher than our heads, and our guilt has mounted up to the heavens. All: From the days of our f...

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Author

William James

Keywords

Isolation

No more fiendish punishment could be devised, were such a thing physically possible, than that one should be turned loose in society and remain absolutely unnoticed by all the members thereof. If no o...

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Author

Robert Barry Leal

Keywords

Especially in the Hebrew Bible, wilderness is the privileged site where God comforts the Hebrew people or their representatives at times of crisis in their lives. In the wilderness God calls and leads...

illustration

The Cruelty of Crucifixion

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Exposed to public view like slabs of meat hung from a market stall, troublesome slaves were nailed to crosses…past. No death was more excruciating, more contemptible, than crucifixion. To be hung nake...

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Haters of Humanity?

Author

Stuart R. Strachan, Jr.

Keywords

Scripture

Acts 8:1-3, 2 Timothy 3:12, 1 Peter 4:12-16, Matthew 5:10-12, Luke 6:41-42, Genesis 3:8-19, Genesis 39:6-20, Job 2:11-13, Job 42:7-9

Most of us are aware of various persecutions that took place during the first few centuries of the church’s existence. One particularly brutal local persecution took place during the reign of Nero, wh...

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Frederick the Great & the Innocent Prisoners

Author

The Pastor's Workshop

Scripture

2 Samuel 12:13, Isaiah 6:5-7, Luke 18:13-14, 1 John 1:8-9, Psalm 51:1-2

There is a famous story about Emperor Frederick the Great visiting Potsdam Prison. As he spoke with the prisoners, each one insisted they were completely innocent of the crimes that led to their impri...

series

Psalm 22 | Feeling Forsaken by God

Author

Scott B. Bullock

Keywords

Scripture

Psalm 22:, Matthew 27:46, Mark 15:34, Hebrews 2:12

Ancient lens What’s the historical context? A Structured Complaint The Psalmist organizes his complaint against God in three sections. The first two sections dramatize the complaint (vv. 1-11 and...

blog

Maximize the Moment: Be Diligent

Author

Claude Alexander

Keywords

Scripture

John 9:1-5, John 9:5, John 9:null, John 9:25, Matthew 27:54

Blog post adapted from Necessary Christianity by Claude Alexander, Jr. Adapted from Chapter 5, "I Must Be Diligent" The life of Jesus reveals that God’s call and God’s claim on the belie...

illustration

A Distinctive Kind of Contract

Author

Mark D. Roberts

Keywords

Scripture

Genesis 1:null, Genesis 6:18, Genesis 9:null, Genesis 9:11, Jeremiah 31:31, Luke 22:20

Contracts. We all have them, by the dozens. In business, government, and in our personal lives, contracts provide structure and order for relationships that are essential to all of life. Contracts tel...

Quote

Author

George Eliot

Keywords

Evil

There is no sort of wrong deed of which a man can bear the punishment alone; you can’t isolate yourself and say that the evil that is in you shall not spread. Men’s lives are as thoroughly blended wit...

illustration

The Guilty Among the Innocent

Keywords

Prussian king Frederick the Great was once touring a Berlin prison. The prisoners fell on their knees before him to proclaim their innocence—except for one man, who remained silent. Frederick called t...

Quote

Author

Lysa TerKeurst

Keywords

Brokenness

Brokenness to redemption, where mercy and grace kiss both sides of our face. Brokenness where we are split open. Redemption where God knits us back together. Mercy when we don't get the punishment...

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The Good News of Atheism

Author

Damon Linker

Keywords

Atheism

In his article entitled, “Where Are the Honest Atheists?”, Senior correspondent from the Week magazine Damon Linker made this statement regarding atheism: “If atheism is true, it is far from being go...

illustration

The Defiance of Prometheus

Author

Ron Highfield

Keywords

The Greek god Prometheus descended from the race of the Titans, the gods that ruled the world before the reign of the Olympians, who were headed by the ruthless Zeus. The playwright Aeschylus portrays...

Quote

Author

Paul David Tripp

Keywords

In times of struggle and failure, we need to do more than pronounce judgment on what's wrong and enforce punishment. We need to talk, discuss, question, evaluate, engage, and interact with our tee...

illustration

Villians Over Heroes

Author

Dante Alighieri

Keywords

In imaginary works it is difficult to make virtuous characters as believable and attractive as bad characters. The villains of literature and screen–Captain Ahab, the boys who go bad in Lord of the Fl...

illustration

The Power of Silence in a Prayerful Life

Author

John Climacus

Keywords

Scripture

Habakkuk 2:20, Lamentations 3:26, Psalm 46:10, Zephaniah 1:7, 1 Thessalonians 4:11

The Desert Saint John Climacus placed a strong emphasis on the role of silence in the life of prayer. In his guidebook to the spiritual life, he had this to say: Intelligent silence is the mother of...

illustration

Are All Sins Equal?

Author

Kevin DeYoung

Keywords

Sin

Scripture

James 2:10, Hebrews 10:26-27, Romans 2:6-8, Matthew 12:31-32, Luke 12:47-48

Like many popular adages, this one about all sins being equal before God is not entirely wrong. Every sin is a breach of God’s holy law. And whoever fails to keep the law in one point is guilty of bre...

illustration

The Emperor and the Whipping Boy

Author

Stuart R. Strachan, Jr.

Keywords

Scripture

Revelation 19:16, Matthew 2:2, John 18:36-37, Revelation 17:14, Zechariah 9:9, Isaiah 9:6, Psalm 24:7-10, Colossians 1:15-20, Matthew 21:1-11, Luke 19:28-40, Mark 11:1-11, John 12:12-16

In 1987 director Bernardo Bertolucci released the film The Last Emperor to raving reviews. It was based on the autobiography of the last living emperor of the Manchu dynasty in China, Henry Aisin-Gior...

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The Ring of Desire

Author

Timothy Keller

Keywords

The central plot device of The Lord of the Rings is the Dark Lord Sauron’s Ring of Power, which corrupts anyone who tries to use it, however good his or her intentions. The Ring is what Professor To...

illustration

Forgiveness Means Going Soft on Justice

Author

N. T. Wright

Keywords

Forgiveness

Scripture

Romans 5:10, Matthew 5:44, Luke 23:34, Mark 11:25, Colossians 3:13

In the Middle East both the main protagonists embrace religions where forgiveness has never been seen as a duty, let alone as a virtue, but rather as a kind of moral weakness—and by “moral weakness” I...

illustration

The Spectrum Of Conviction

Author

Tim Muehlhoff and Richard Langer

Keywords

Scripture

Genesis 1:26, Genesis 9:5-6, 1 Thessalonians 1:5, Romans 14:1-23, Romans 8:26-37, 1 Corinthians 1:17

So how can we form deep Christian convictions without dividing the church? Let’s take a deeper look at convictions themselves. Convictions are like light: they come in many colors and form across a sp...

illustration

A Seared Conscience

Author

J. Douglas Burford

Keywords

During my college years—in my infinite wisdom—it occurred to me that it made no sense to stop at red traffic lights when there was clearly no traffic around. So I began to stop only briefly—just long ...

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