Sermon Illustrations on The Enlightenment

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Atheism from a Historical Perspective

Author

Keywords

Scripture

Isaiah 55:8-9, Colossians 1:16-17, Acts 17:24-25, 2 Corinthians 4:6

From a historical perspective it is atheism that was old and the Christian faith and its good news that burst on the world as new. Once commonly called “atomism,” the genealogy of atheism can be trace...

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The Cycle of Upheaval

Author

Phyllis Tickle

Keywords

Scripture

Acts 17:26, 2 Corinthians 4:18, Romans 8:22, Matthew 24:6, Jeremiah 6:16, Ecclesiastes 1:9

Every five hundred years, give or take a decade or two, Western culture, along with those parts of the world that have been colonized or colonialized by it, goes through a time of enormous upheaval, a...

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John Calvin: A Reformer's Humility

Author

The Pastor's Workshop

Keywords

Scripture

2 Corinthians 11:2, Acts 13:50, James 4:13-15, Philippians 2:3-4, Romans 12:17-19, 1 Peter 2:23, 2 Timothy 4:2, 1 Peter 5:2-3, John 21:15-17, 2 Corinthians 4:5, 1 Corinthians 2:1-5

The Protestant Reformer John Calvin (1509-1564) arrived in Geneva to lead the city’s church in 1536, but not, as we might imagine, to universal acceptance. Rather, there was significant resistance and...

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Missing the Stars

Author

Keywords

Blindness

Scripture

2 Corinthians 4:18, Colossians 3:1-2, Ephesians 1:18, Psalm 119:18, Matthew 13:16-17, Romans 1:20, Psalm 19:1

Søren Kierkegaard told a parable about a rich man riding in a lighted carriage driven by a peasant who sat behind the horse in the cold and dark outside. Precisely because he sat near the artificial l...

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Change Happens Fast These Days

Author

Edmund J. Bourne

Keywords

Scripture

Philippians 4:6-7, Psalm 102:25-27, 2 Corinthians 4:16-18, Romans 8:28, Malachi 3:6, Isaiah 43:19

Does it ever seem like the world around us is changing at breakneck speed? Well, it turns out, you’re right. A team of researchers have concluded that the Western world’s “environment and social order...

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Life Without Hope of Resurrection: An Atheist’s Explanation of the Human Condition

Author

Bertrand Russell

Keywords

Scripture

John 3:16, Jeremiah 29:11, Psalm 139:13-14, Romans 8:38-39, 2 Corinthians 4:16-18, Revelation 21:4

Sometimes it is helpful to see what life looks like on the other side of faith, that is, for those who believe that God does not exist. Bertrand Russell, the renowned philosopher and avowed atheist, h...

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Reaching for Eternity

Author

Francis de Sales

Keywords

Scripture

Genesis 5:21-24, Job 19:25-27, Daniel 12:1-3, John 14:1-3, 2 Corinthians 4:16-18, Psalm 90:1-4

In this brief excerpt, the French Catholic Francis de Sales reflects on how his meditations on eternity consistently elevate his spirit: I never think upon eternity without receiving great comfort...

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Chiaroscuro: Light and Dark Together

Author

Nancy Ortberg

Keywords

Scripture

Genesis 1:3-4, Exodus 10:21-23, Isaiah 9:2, John 1:4-5, 2 Corinthians 4:6, Psalm 112:4

The very nature of light provides contrast. In juxtaposition, differing levels of light illuminate in extraordinary ways, helping us to see what we’ve been missing. In the late 1400s, the art world ma...

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Searching for the Infinite

Author

Robert Burns

Keywords

Scripture

Genesis 2:7, 2 Corinthians 4:18, James 1:17, John 1:9, Job 12:7-10

Robert Burns was a widely heralded poet and lyricist (1759-1796), considered by many as the National Poet of Scotland. Burns’ poems continue to be read around the world and many have been put to song,...

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Excellence, the Jeremiah Way

Author

Eugene H. Peterson

Keywords

Scripture

Matthew 23:12, 2 Corinthians 4:7, Romans 12:2, Galatians 5:16-17, Colossians 3:12-14, Micah 6:8, Philippians 3:7-8

In Jeremiah it is clear that the excellence comes from a life of faith, from being more interested in God than in self, and has almost nothing to do with comfort or esteem or achievement. Here is a pe...

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The Importance of Selective Change

Author

Jared Diamond

Keywords

Scripture

Ecclesiastes 3:1, Romans 12:2, Isaiah 43:19, Hebrews 12:27, 2 Corinthians 4:8-9, James 1:2-4

Crises, and pressures for change, confront individuals and their groups at all levels, ranging from single people, to teams, to businesses, to nations, to the whole world. Crises may arise from extern...

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Regaining Sight

Author

David Peterson

Keywords

Scripture

Psalm 146:8, Isaiah 35:5, Isaiah 42:16, John 9:, 2 Corinthians 4:6, Ephesians 1:18

In Annie Dillard's Pulitzer Prize winning book, Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, she mentioned the work of Marius Von Senden who became curious about the effect it had on people who had been born blind to...

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People are the Key to Organizational Change

Author

Rich Karlgaard and Michael S. Malone

Keywords

Scripture

Hebrews 12:1, James 1:5, Philippians 1:6, 2 Corinthians 4:16, Romans 12:2, Isaiah 55:8-9

Here is the uncomfortable truth: Humans run to a much slower evolutionary clock than our inventions. To use an engineering term, we are the “gating factor” that keeps a process from running faster. It...

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The Effects of Light Deprivation

Author

Joan Chittister

Keywords

Scripture

2 Corinthians 4:6, Ephesians 5:8, Isaiah 9:2, Psalm 27:1, John 1:5

Psychologists tell us that one of the most difficult conditions a person can be forced to bear is light deprivation. Darkness, in fact, is often used in military captivity or penal institutions to bre...

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The Everyday Virtue of Courage

Author

Stanley Hauerwas

Keywords

Scripture

Joshua 1:6-9, Isaiah 41:10, Ephesians 6:10-18, Matthew 10:28-31, Psalm 56:3-4, 2 Corinthians 4:8-12

In this short excerpt written by the Christian Ethicist Stanley Hauerwas to his godson, he pontificates on the topic of courage: Usually courage is identified with dramatic and heroic acts. Though I...

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The Drama of Humanity & Nations

Author

Thomas Kelly

Keywords

Scripture

2 Corinthians 4:16, Philippians 1:6, Romans 8:26-27, Ezekiel 36:26, Revelation 3:20, Psalm 139:7-10, Luke 15:20

In his excellent little book, A Testament of Devotion , Thomas Kelly describes the inward reality that governs the course of history: Out in front of us is the drama of men and of nations, seethi...

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Statistics on Religion in America: The Rise of the None's

Author

JR Woodward

Keywords

Scripture

Matthew 7:13-14, 2 Timothy 4:3-4, Luke 18:8, 2 Corinthians 4:3-4, Matthew 24:12-13

In March 2009, we received the results from the widest religious survey conducted in the United States, the ARIS (American Religious Identification Survey) study. There is much to gain from this repor...

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Stuck in the Houses Our Words Construct

Author

Gregory Spencer

Keywords

Scripture

James 3:5-6, Psalm 19:14, 2 Corinthians 4:18, Proverbs 18:21, Romans 12:2

All day long, all of us are framing and reframing our lives. We talk about the memory of our adorable but sexist grandpa. We label ourselves as movie critics or introverts or justice-lovers. We say th...

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The Case of Courage

Author

G. K. Chesterton

Keywords

Courage

Scripture

Joshua 1:6-9, Isaiah 41:10, Ephesians 6:10-18, Matthew 10:28-31, Psalm 56:3-4, 2 Corinthians 4:8-12

Take the case of courage. No quality has ever so much addled the brains and tangled the definitions of merely rational sages. Courage is almost a contradiction in terms. It means a strong desire to li...

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Codifying Beauty

Author

Irwyn L. Ince Jr.

Keywords

Scripture

Revelation 21:22-27, Psalm 8:, Psalm 96:6, Isaiah 33:17, Psalm 147:3, Genesis 1:31, 2 Corinthians 4:6

In the thirteenth century, Thomas Aquinas codified beauty as being directly connected to Jesus Christ with three characteristic features. He wrote, “Species or beauty has a likeness to the property of...

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The Life-Sustaining Power of Hope

Author

The Pastor's Workshop

Keywords

Scripture

Lamentations 3:21–23, Isaiah 40:31, Genesis 50:20, Romans 5:3–5, 2 Corinthians 4:8–9, Psalm 42:11

Survival requires more than the basic biological necessities we readily acknowledge—oxygen, food, and water. It also demands something less tangible but equally vital: hope. When hope vanishes, the hu...

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Look Up, See Possibilities

Author

Bruce D. Strom and Eugene Cho

Keywords

Scripture

Hebrews 12:2, Psalm 19:1, 2 Corinthians 4:18, Psalm 123:1, Isaiah 40:26

Maybe this sounds silly, but go outside and look up. You cannot see yourself. All you see is a vast expanse of possibilities. Look down. You will see yourself and little else. This is true in life. Lo...

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Putting the Saints into Circulation

Author

The Pastor's Workshop

Keywords

Scripture

Matthew 5:16, James 2:17, 2 Corinthians 4:7

There's an intriguing story about Oliver Cromwell, who, while serving as Lord Protector of England, faced a tricky cash flow issue. When he found himself short on precious metal for coins, he sent...

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Spiritual Blindness in The Magician’s Nephew

Author

C. S. Lewis

Keywords

Scripture

1 Corinthians 2:14, 2 Corinthians 4:4, Matthew 13:13-15, Acts 28:27, Hebrews 3:7-8, Jeremiah 7:24, John 10:27, Mark 6:52

Jesus is clear that it is dangerous to close one’s ears, eyes, and heart to the leadings of the Holy Spirit. In The Magician’s Nephew , a novel from C. S. Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia series, Narnia i...

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What is Luther?

Author

The Pastor's Workshop

Keywords

Scripture

Mark 10:42-45, Matthew 20:25-28, 1 Corinthians 1:12-13, 1 Timothy 4:12, John 7:16, Galatians 1:10, 2 Timothy 4:3-4, 2 Corinthians 4:5, John 3:30, 1 Corinthians 2:1-2

When Martin Luther discovered that some had begun calling the first Protestants “Lutherans,” he strongly objected. It is funny to think that some 500 years later, many are still known by his name: ...

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The Messy Middle

Author

William Bridges

Keywords

Crises

Scripture

2 Corinthians 4:8-9, Hebrews 10:23, Romans 12:2, Psalm 37:23-24, Philippians 1:6, Isaiah 43:19, Ecclesiastes 3:1

The Messy Middle In his classic work Transitions, author and professor William Bridges shares an excellent anecdote about life in crisis: it can happen at any time and in a myriad of ways. It also de...

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Portrait of Mortality and Reflection

Author

The Pastor's Workshop

Keywords

Scripture

Ecclesiastes 1:2, Job 14:1-2, Matthew 6:19-21, 2 Corinthians 4:16-18, Psalm 90:1212

John Donne (1572–1631), was a British poet who entered the ministry in 1615 and served as dean of St. Paul’s Cathedral, London, from 1621 until his death, Donne underwent a profound transformation aft...

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Lowering the Lord Nelson Statue

Author

David McCullough

Keywords

Scripture

Colossians 1:15, John 14:6, John 8:12, 2 Corinthians 4:6, John 14:9, Hebrews 1:3, John 1:14

At Trafalgar Square in the city of London stands a statue of Lord Nelson. Resting atop a tall pillar, it towers too high for passersby to distinguish his features. For this reason, about forty years a...

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How We Get our Calling Wrong

Keywords

Scripture

James 4:17, 2 Corinthians 4:5, Micah 6:6-8, Matthew 16:23, Jeremiah 17:9

First, we get our calling wrong when we imagine that God needs us, to be the hero of our own story, rather than Christ. Second, we routinely misdiagnose the problem of our world, underestimating estim...

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The Faithfulness of a Few

Author

The Pastor's Workshop

Keywords

Scripture

Proverbs 28:20, Revelation 2:10, Matthew 5:10-12, Matthew 10:22, 2 Corinthians 4:8-10, 1 Peter 4:12-14, Romans 8:35-37, John 15:18-20, Psalm 31:23, Matthew 25:21, 1 Corinthians 4:2, 1 Timothy 6:12, Matthew 24:45-46

Pliny, a Roman Governor serving around 112 AD, faced a challenging situation regarding Christianity. Many Church historians believe that by his time, it had become illegal to profess the Christian fai...

Sermon Illustrations on the enlightenment

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