The Shield ONLINE

Some say that the Tenth Commandment is there to remind us that the Law is impossible to follow. Others (and I'm of this persuasion) say it is God's way of pointing out that if we are truly grateful f…

A HUGE problem with the way we tend to think about the Ten Commandments as separate rules for how to live our individual lives is that it isn't true. The deeper message behind each of God's utterance…

This week: Another two word commandment: LO NA'AP - Do not commit adultery.

But what does that really mean? And what's the big deal anyway?

Perhaps a better question: Why is this command where it is - …

Here's a fun commandment: You shall not kill.
"Wait!" some of you just said. "It says not to MURDER. It's fine for me to kill people if I use a government to do it. Or if it happens in war. Or if by k…

Every person you ever meet will remember you by using a label. Could be Doctor or Firefighter or Tim's Dad or Cute Girl Who Works at the Gas Station or Woke Guy or Bigoted Lady. It may or may not be …

While they are beautifully made and often colored a radiant gold-yellow, it is not appropriate to use a rubber chicken to represent the LORD your God. The LORD can't be contained or described by a ru…

So many people believe that the Ten Commandments are an important part of life, but so few of them can tell you what they are. There are a lot of reasons for that, including the fact that there aren'…

"I'm grateful - don't do it again!"

Paul wraps his letter to the Philippians up with this awkward-sounding (to us) "Thank you - No thank you" thing which is intended to help share the joy of the gospe…

You know who really sucks? THOSE people. THOSE people over there. The ones not like us. How dare they refuse to conform to all of OUR expectations? Why won't they just do the things we wad to do? How…

Conflict abounds! I suspect most of us are involved in multiple conflicts, varying from minor annoyances and open disagreements to national and international disputes. And we each add to or subtract …

Can violence be redemptive? Scripture (and history) says no.

And yet, we keep trying.

Today we revisit the story of Cain and his brother Abel to see if we can understand the root of violence and how Go…

Paul had said that we need to have the same attitude and make the same choices and take the same actions as Jesus. Which he knew a lot of folks would think might be too hard! So he gave us two exampl…

Look, I'm sure that your national pride, like that you might have for a favorite sports team, can be a fun component of your approach to life. However, Followers of the Way of Jesus need to make sure…

Does it seem that there is more reason for sorrow than for joy? 
There's not.

Am I ignoring the pain and suffering which is so prevalent in life?
I'm not. It sucks. We should rely on our JOY as we comba…

DEAD OR ALIVE

Jesus was dead. There is no question about that. So what happened to make someone who had spent their life wishing that was true come to believe that Jesus is alive?

It's Resurrection Sun…

LIES ABOUT PALM SUNDAY

Palm Sunday is the most mistold tale since the Christmas story, making it the perfect cap to top off our series about the lies our Sunday School teachers taught us. Although I p…