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Jesus Netzwerk Deutsch 
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Welcome to the Jesus Network Wiki
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3, 16) We invite you to explore faith in Christ Jesus. Read the blog, look into the different topics, pray and explore a life with a great God!
God, the father, and the son, and the holy spirit, be with you and bless you!
Your Jesus Network
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Who is my King? ...
Monday, April 11, 2022. Good morning! Monday morning, it is the beginning of the passion week. Christinity is celebrating the death and resurrection of Jesus at Easter. The passion is the time where Jesus was arrested, investigated and suffered severely, until he died at a cross on a hill close to Jerusalem.
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King? …
The investigation of Jesus takes place by the governor named Pilot, it is for example described in the book of Matthew, chapter 27, in the New Testament. This took place approximately in the year 33 AD, though it might have been 1-3 years earlier. The main discussions here are around the exact dating of the Jewish calender in the first century. ... more
Questioning My Motives ...
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Friday, March 18, 2022. Good morning! What are the motives of my work and actions? What are the motives of my words, my feelings, my decisions? Am I claiming to be good, but one layer below the official mind set there are different motives active in my own heart and mind?
Humans are complex beings. Our mind and soul is a complex set of activities, processes, thoughts, motives and emotions. We use arguments, and they are one of the constitutive parts of our mind and soul. But there are many more such parts, such as emotions, images, stories, experiences. All these are active and they are driving our decisions and actions. ... more
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Course of Time ...
Thursday, March 17, 2022. Good morning! We have been looking into the passion story over the past weeks. The passion of Jesus is the whole series of events leading to his death at the cross of Calvary. In the gospels of the biblical New Testament, Jesus is preparing his disciples for these events. He is talking about human history and about the course of time, managing our expectations on what we can expect and what we should be careful about.
Increase of Wickedness …
We have already seen that Jesus tells his people to be aware that there will be wars and famines again and again throughout human history. He does not predict the end of this as long as the earth stands as it is. There is no Christian expectation of a kingdom of peace to be reached today or tomorrow as a result of our actions and our history. Yet, any Christian is called to live peace and love today. ... more
Justice and Mercy ...
Wednesday, March 16, 2022. Good morning! Hope you are well today. Yesterday we have been talking about expectations towards human history. We saw that the bible is expecting severe problems for mankind on a regular basis. But at the same time, the New Testament also puts our activity into a perspective of final justice. The wars and hunger within this world is not the end of history, not the end of what is to come!
Take your inheritance …
In the gospel of Matthew, chapter 25, Jesus talks about justice. He talks about the expectations of God, how humans should act. When God entrusts gold to each one of us, he wants us to use this gold actively. A story is given about two good servants, who make more out of it. And there is one servant, who mistrusts the master and hides the gold. He is on a path of destruction. ... more
40 Days towards Easter: Day 14 - War and Starvation ...
Tuesday, March 15, 2022. Good morning! How are you doing today? In the middle of Europe is is difficult these days to be completely ignorant of the war and signs of crisis which are clear on several levels. On the other hand we live in an environment quite well equipped with many things.
This morning, we would like to have a quick look into the understanding of these things from a biblical perspective. ... more
40 Days towards Easter: Day 1 ...
Wednesday, March 2, 2022. Good morning! Today, we start a time of 40 days towards Easter. We recall that Easter is one of the core Christian focus points, since it celebrates the death of Jesus at the cross of a hill close to the ancient city of Jerusalem, and his resurrection on the third day thereafter.
There is an old Christian tradition to use the 40 days before easter as time of preparation, of reflection, of fasting. It can be a time to become fully aware of the meaning of Jesus, of his death, of his resurrection. ... more
Grace and Consequences ...
Monday, Feb 28, 2022. Good morning. Our current thoughts are all taking place in the light of the war in Ukraine since last week Thursday. Around us, people are upset and angry about the attack of Ukraine by Russian forces, commanded by Vladimir Putin.
How to come to good and sustainable conclusions? We believe that our mind and our heart needs Gods words, we need to listen to him to be able to make wise and good decisions in the middle of any crisis. We need his word anyway, we need it in the best days of our life, but also in the worst days.
God's Grace …
We will be celebrating the 40 days towards Easter this year with 40 days of thoughts about passion, about life, about goals and limitations, but also about judgement. ... more
What God wants from Josua ...
Monday, Jan 31, 2022. Good morning! Hope you have a good start into the new week. We are touching quite serious questions this morning, looking into a time when the people of Israel were heading back towards the promised Land, the region we call Palestine today.
The story is highly exciting, full of life, full of very human struggle, fear, courage, guilt, heroic characters. Let us read, and explore its meaning! ... more
God is God ...
Monday, Jan 24, 2022. Who is God? The monotheistic religions see God as the one, who has existence in himself. He is the creator of all what we know. He created the whole universe. He created the suns and the planets. He created life on earth. He did it his way, with mechanisms we can try to understand. He gave us reason and intelligence, to explore his creation. But more than that. ... more
How to know God better? ...
Thursday, Jan 20, 2022. There are some basic and deep questions of faith, which are addressed by the biblical verses we will look into today. How do I know about God?
The New Testament, the second part of the biblical books, talks about Jesus as the human in which God shows himself. He is the so-called “son of God”, and it is said that we can see God in and through him. There are several reasons for that, there is context and meaning. ... more
State Analysis II ...
Wednesday, Jan 19, 2022. Hello and good morning! We have discussed the human state of life yesterday, working out the perspective of the New Testament. Humans who live ignoring the creator and source of life of the universe have lost their connection to the source of life. They are called “dead” from his perspective. Life is the connection with him, dead refers to the missing link.
But death is not the end of the story. God wants life, and here we come to the story of Jesus! ... more
State Analysis ...
Tuesday, Jan 18, 2022. Good morning! How are you doing this morning? We will carry out a state analysis of our life today, using the letter the apostle Paul wrote to the church in Ephesus, als basic starting point and focus. It will be interesting to discuss the basic setup of our life. What is the framework in which we see ourselves? What are the guiding principles we use for our daily decisions?
What is the basic setup of our life? …
The framework of the biblical texts is defined by the character of the creator. His character is truth, love, freedom, dedication, friendliness. His character is also power, justice, fairness. The biblical laws are written rules which are flowing from this character, formulating concrete actions, but also the mindset to pursue. ... more
Approach God with Confidence ...
Monday, Jan 17, 2022. Good morning! Hope you are well today. How to approach God? Who is God? What is his character, how is he? Some ask if he is at all. He might not be found if someone does not sincerely longs to find him - this is another story, quite mysterious.
But let us take up the question how to approach him this morning.
How to Approach God? …
It is very exciting to study the way humans approach God or any strong being which they think it could influence their life. We as humans tend to take into account the strenght or power of any being or power, do what we are forced to do and then search to find our spot of freedom to do what WE want. Somehow it is a matter of strategy, and human behaviour in religious matters seems to be similar to our behaviour when it comes to the political realm. ... more
—
Christmas 2021 ...
Friday, Dec 24, 2021. It is Christmas again. We write the year 2021 of our time recording. What is important this year, what is important to you? We all live in the middle of a world wide pandemic, influencing strongly our life, our fears, our discussions, even our celebrations. Do you celebrate Christmas? Do you celebrate the new year 2022?
Let us think about Jesus birth in three steps: history, message and meaning. ... more
Discovering God II ...
Wednesday, Dec 15, 2021. What is our tool to learn about God? What is our way to come to conclusions about God? How do we know?
Science has a particular way to investigate and confirm its statements, at least in the natural sciences. It uses experiments and reasoning. It uses a process where scientists try to publish their reasoning and findings, and where other scientists review these ideas and respond as part of a review process. Then, when something is published, others can read and will respond, and a sequence of papers and books will evolve trying to work out and collect all results on a particular topic. Over time, things change and evolve further, and you get a sequence of such books and many papers - with some results being common knowledge, others a buried in the pile of work available.
How does it work in the humanities? Here, the logic is slightly different. Usually, reasoning is the main tool. Investigations work out ideas, thoughts and concepts. The link to reality is carried out either by humans who compare ideas with observations, or by statistical methods where studies try to confirm the ideas by evaluation of answers of probands. ... more
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Discovering God ...
Tuesday, Dec 14, 2021. We live in a world which is a mixture of unbelievable riches and much sorrow. When you look around, you find fantastic nature, mountains, lakes, oceans. You see fascinating creatures, animals and humans. You find creativity, art, music. Humans have developed insight into nature by science and technology. What a fantastic world!
At the same time, we find much grief and sorrow. We face illness and death. We face fraud, lies, wars, hunger, suppression. Humans do not treat each other nicely, the struggle for dominance, efforts to push some particular ideology, fame, money, superiority … there are structural problems and there are problems linked to human nature, to our free will and decisions. ... more
Is it possible that there is a God? ...
Monday, Dec 13, 2021. There is an old question of mankind: who is God? Is there a God? What is influencing my fate? Is it possible that there is a God?
We humans have always tried to understand the world and all the factors which influence our life. This includes the question: Is it possible that there is a God? Many humans have also experienced spiritual forces, which might influence our life. And we have learned to understand the processes of nature by science - with far reaching possibilities by modern technology, and with all their side effects on local and global levels. We have formulated various collections of human ethics, of national and international law. How do we put it all into a convincing framework?
Found Faith …
As a emerging scientist, I once started to explore the God question. What do the Christian sources tell me? What about other sources, the books of Hinduism, the Quran, further spiritual books of Budhism and Shinto? What is the role science plays for my understanding, what is the role of other levels of human activity? ... more
What determines your Fate? ...
Tuesday, May 18, 2021. Good morning. How are you doing? What is determining your fate? What is it that is guiding things? Can we interpret the events and history of our country, our state, our family, ourselves?
There is the business of history books. Many try to find the reason for the strength of the West, or the rise of China, or the well-being of Germany, or the success of the US in the past 200 years. Economic scientists try to formulate the rules of economy which make a country flourish. What about your personal development? ... more
Save Us ...
Friday, May 14, 2021. The news are full of challenging problems. How do we navigate the difficult questions of politics and power in an international framework? Today, we see the difficult situation in Hong Kong. We see the war in Israel. We see the international struggle for dominance and influence. How to live with it? Ignore it? Enter the fight? Is there a path to peace? ... more
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Unity - How does it Work? ...
Wednesday, May 12, 2021. How is unity achieved in a group, or in a society? There are very different ways how people try to reach this goal. But before we discuss approaches, let us aks why we should or want to reach any type of unity? Wouldn't it be better to have diversity? Why all the same? Why all to agree on a particular topic?
The situation is not simple. Even those who want diversity often try to establish unity in the judgement of their particular understanding, and fight all who do not share their view. It is interesting that the 21st century brings new discussions about unity, uniformity and diversity. A particular view of diversity is the new unity - and be careful if you do not share this view!
Very different People Called to Unity …
There is the biblical call to unity as well. We will read it in a moment, in the version written by the apostle Paul in the letter to the church in Ephesus. It is unity which is established by the link to God, through the holy spirit. It is not unity of a topic, nor is it unity of interest, hobby, background. Let us look into Ephesians first: ... more
How to Act? ...
Tuesday, May 11, 2021. What should we do? Today we talk a lot about behaviour in all parts of our society. The pandemy of Covid imposes strict behavioural rules on all parts of society. Climate change will bring a lot of further discussions on what to do or what not to do. The rising gender philosophy leads to strict new rules on our language. The fight against rassism has led to strong new rules what cannot be said any more in any type of public framework - with very strong consequences for any person who would violate these language rules.
Ethics, Freedom, Rules …
There has always been a challenging balance between freedom and rules. What to do? As soon as you start to think about what is good to do, and what has negative impact, you start to name things. When you want to stay away from things with bad impact, you have to name these things and a rule is born. ... more
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Good Works Prepared for Me ...
Monday, May 10, 2021. How do you make decisions about today? How do you generate your plans, your ideas, your tasks? Perhaps most of your tasks are given by your job and your family framework. But that is a very limited viewpoint. The way we carry out our tasks is important, it is crucial. We can change things, just by changing the way we act and do what we need to to! ... more
The Role of Reason and Wisdom ...
Friday, May 7, 2021. There are many intelligent people on the planet. Intelligence means to be able to plan in a complex way, to understand how things work and how you can influence them. But there is more than intelligence.
There are thieves, who know exactly, how to break into a house. They know the weaknesses of the doors. They know where people fail to be careful. They observe the behaviour of the inhabitants. There is evil intelligence, yes, it exists. There are different types of understanding. Technically, they might be the same with respect to the ability to see mechanisms. But the full framework is very different. ... more
The Lord's Purpose ...
Wednesday, May 5, 2021. When you think about goals and purpose, what is the framework in which you act? We are all living in a social environment! And most of our actions can only be understood in this particular framework. When you have a little business, you work with customers. Their ideas about you and your products will influence what they buy and how they behave. You will have to pay attention and act accordingly.
When you work as artist, you have your audience. Their preferences will strongly influence your performance. It will be the guiding principle for your choices, what you compose, what you select, how you carry out your work.
Purpose of Life …
What is the purpose of our life. Is it your business? Is it your art? Of course we need business, since we need to buy food and clothing. Humans also need art - as a way to think about us and our environment. Art is a reflection, sometimes with our mind, sometimes with feelings, relationships, interaction, fear, anger … But nor business nor art can completely fill our life and our desire. What is it, that can fill us? ... more
Wisdom and Guidance ...
Tuesday, May 4, 2021. Who is your advisor? Who is coaching you for your life? I had a professional coach some years ago, to reflect and work on my professional activity. Coaching can be a chance to reflect what you do and how you do it. It can be a chance to develop perspective for a particular area of your professional life. But far beyond that, can coaching be a chance for your general life as well! But who can do coaching?
Coaching …
In Christian churches the topic of spiritual mentoring is well known for centuries. It started with the biblical figures, with Paul being a mentor to Timothy. The prophets in the Old Testament have been mentors to leaders and many people. John the Baptist has been a mentor to all who came into the wilderness. ... more
Hope for You ...
Monday, May 3, 2021. What is the hope of my days? What is it that I expect? What is it that I long for? What is the basis and driving force to keep me upright, to keep my mind and my soul on a straight path? Let us ask ourselves, what we hope for, and what the basis of our hope is!
Challenges, Setbacks, Tiredness, Hope …
Without doubt there are many things that can make us tired. There are many challenges for all of us. It can be school or education. It can be difficult people in our neigborhood - perhaps even our own character, which is perceived to be difficult by other people. It can be illness, or fight, or war, or difficult environmental or economic conditions which directly impact us. ... more
Relationships under Lockdown ...
Wednesday, Oct 28, 2020. How are you feeling with relationships under lockdown? While the second wave of infections with the Corona virus is flooding many countries, people get more and more annoyed and nervous around the measures which are taken by governments and medical institutions. We are called to lock down our meetings, our interactions, our relationships.
Life is going on, though. But how? Are you out of work now? Are you blocked with your regular activities? How is the lockdown or partial lockdown influencing your activities, your interactions, your feelings? And what is God's role in all of this. How is your relationship to the Lord evolving under these strange conditions? ... more
Cartoons of Muhammad, Love and Freedom ...
Monday, Oct 26, 2020. Good morning! Let us touch a hot topic of current political debate in Europe. How do we treat killing of a teacher in France as a result of him showing cartoons of Muhammad in his school and talking about freedom of the press? What is the Christian viewpoint, is there a common and clear approach to the matter which would be in line with the teaching of Jesus today?
The topic is delicate. And it is also complex. I think we need to address at least three main points or subtopics here: a) Should you be free to draw cartoons of Muhammad? b) What does Jesus recommend to do? c) What about biblical threats to people? We will touch a) and b) today. ... more
God in my Living during the Pandemic ...
Tuesday, Oct 20, 2020. How are you doing these days? We are living with the Corona virus now for more than six month. And most of us feel nerved and stressed in a situation where limitations and fear are daily part of our life.
How does God see the virus? What is it doing to our faith? Is the virus a proof that God does not exist? Or is God responsible for the virus? What is the Christian interpretation of this disease at the beginning of the 21st century? Let us think! Let us reflect our situation in the framework of faith and science and history. ... more
Knowledge and Faith ...
Tuesday, Sept 1, 2020. What do we know about ourselves? What is our life? How are you feeling this morning, and how are you approaching this day? These things are linked. When you think that life is meaningless, you will act differently than if you think life is full of meaning and purpose and joy!
Humans are fascinating beings. We have our goals, our environment, the people we love and those which cause trouble for our life. We are trying to earn our living. At the same time, humans look beyond the direct horizon of their life. We look to see beyond, in time, space, community and relationships! ... more
Good morning on August 31, 2020! This morning, a verse from the prophet Isaiah 2 caught my eye and my heart jumped out of joy. He says about the Lord's house: “People from many nations will go there. They will say, “Come. Let us go up to the Lord's mountain. Let's go to the house of Jacob's God. He will teach us how we should live. Then we will live the way he wants us to.” And indeed, the biblical books are full of wisdom. The voice of the Lord is a fantastic input and guidance for our life. Come, and let us learn from him, from Jesus! Have a great and blessed day! RP
Tuesday, August 18, 2020. Good morning, dear friends and visitors! After some time of break we are now back with more thoughts and discussion about Christian faith, about God and what he can mean for us on a daily basis.
It will be good to continue our journey with you, and with the Lord. He is and remains the living eternal God and father, who wants to be in the middle of our heart and our life every day, every hour.
We want to greet you with verse 6 from Galatians 5. The apostle Paul writes: “The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.” It is our wish and desire that we all discover the reliability of God and find trust and faith in Jesus. Roland Potthast
God's Wonder ...
Monday, May 18, 2020. I had to think about God's wonder over the past days. The bible is full of reports about God's actions, his wonders on many different layers of this creation.
Let us look into God's power and his wonders as reflected and described by the biblical texts. Let us look around as well, and let us try to grasp the beauty and wonder which is given to us through this creation as well as by our own existence. ... more
Protection Needed ...
Thursday, May 7, 2020. Humans are living in a natural environment which can be both seen as ideal setup for humans to live as well as partly hostile and threatening. We find air to breathe, water to drink and crops to eat. But at the same time there is heat and cold, there are storms, there is tides and wild animals can cause a threat as well.
Humans and human societies are tools to help to protect humans. We live together, be build communities and societies. Much of this is natural, coming from the way human reproduction works. Father and mother get children, and they build a unit to nurture such a child and protect it from threats. They provide food and shelter to it. Grandparents as well as brothers and sisters provide a template for community, for different roles and levels of relations. ... more
My Mind Set ...
Monday, May 4, 2020. What is filling my mind and my heart? What is it that is giving me a direction? What is it that draws my attention and my thoughts? Often, we experience this phenomenon that our thoughts circle arount particular topics. We come back to these topics again and again.
What is it that is influencing my thoughts? What is it that is influencing my heart? Sometimes I seem to be trapped in particular negative thoughts. Or I seem to be trapped in some particular pain. My thoughts and my emotions are not independent. Yes, I can use some reason, to argue. But often I realize that my arguments are guided by my emotions - and I see the same effect in many other people. What are the arguments which I would be willing to accept? ... more
Resurrection II ...
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Tuesday, April 21, 2020. We are looking into the resurrection stories, as written down in the gospel of Matthew. It is really interesting to read the different reports, each with their particular viewpoint and focus.
Some people have argued that the differences show that the reports cannot be true. But the contrary is the case. The different reports reflect viewpoints and personal testimony of people, just as it is the case in basically every law suit. Having the different reports show that the people who collected and edited the gospels did not modify them just to get one coherent version of it. Discussing this issue with many different scholars and researchers, there is wide range of opinions on the topic. And that again is quite natural - it seems a topic of highest interest if it is true, it will be constantly challenged by various people, and it will be a matter of continuing debate. ... more
Resurrection ...
Friday, April 17, 2020. Let us touch one of the main and critical points of Christianity. What do we think about the resurrection? What happened? Do we have a clear opinion on the events around the death of Jesus 2000 years ago? Do we have a concept for our world view, which would consistently combine our ethical values, our knowledge about this world and our understanding of its history and future?
The Christian message is touching the very core of our existence. It is touching the very core of the world as it is, its laws, its rules, its possibilities and framework. You cannot deal with the Christian message without changing your idea of reality, without adapting it to what you realize to be real! ... more
Christ ...
Thursday, April 16, 2020. Jesus plays the central role in the Gospel. He plays the central role in the whole New Testament. The reason for it is that he is the son of God. The relationship between God, the father, Jesus, the son, and the Holy Spirit has always fascinated and puzzled Christians and Non-Christians alike.
Jesus is the son of God. He is the word of God. But the word is God. He has been at the beginning. He is the firstborn of all creation. He is the image of the invible God. He is before all things, in all things, in him all things exist. In him is the fullness of God. ... more
Consequences of the Gospel ...
Wednesday, April 15, 2020. There are sometimes messges which change your actions when you know them. We are influenced about our knowledge about things. Of course this is the case in a direct whay: the knowledge where you get food enables you to go there and get it. But it is also true in an indirect way. When you know that help is near, your ability to endure some difficulty might be strongly pushed up. When you know you have a big amount of money to arrive in some time, your motivation to deal with shortage for some limited time might be lifted up.
The knowledge about something changes our life. It even changes our mind, our reason, our creativity. It is a phenomenon which is well known in sciences. After some problem is solved somewhere, suddenly many solutions pop up. Where does it come from? It seems that the knowledge, that the problem is solvable, increases our insight and innovative capability. ... more
The Christian Gospel as written by Paul ...
Tuesday, April 14, 2020. Good morning. We have celebrated easter, the festival which Christians use to remember the death and resurrection of Jesus. Let us look into the core Christian gospel today as it is communicated by Paul, the apostle.
Jesus dies around the year 30 AD, with datings ranging from 29 AD to 33 AD. The young Christian church started immediately after this, usually Pentecost is said to be the birth of the Christian church, since it celebrates the coming of the Holy Spirit after Jesus left his disciples 40 days after the resurrection. About 20-30 years later, the early letters of the apostle Paul have been written to the young churches, which evolved through the whole Roman empire and beyond. ... more
Easter is Coming ...
Wednesday, April 8, 2020. Easter is coming. This week Friday Christians all over the world celebrate Good Friday, Sunday they celebrate Easter Sunday. What are these days about?
Good Friday celebrates the death of Jesus, who is also called Christ, at a cross on a hill called Calvary close to Jerusalem about 2000 years ago. Easter Sunday celebrates the resurrection of Jesus, who is said to have appeared many individuals up to 500 people at once in the 40 days after his crucifiction. He is then said to have vanished before their eyes on a mountain in Galilee, saying he is going to the father.
Let us explore the easter story today, let us think about what happened and what it means for you and for me today. ... more
My Faith and Praise III ...
Tuesday, April 7, 2020. Can we be glad “in the Lord”? Already the Old Testament announces joy and happiness for those who believe in the eternal God. It proclaims that you will be filled with joy, that dancing as an expression of praise is completely adequate for believers.
Let us explore what gladness faith brings, and how it can express itself. Let us go from the Old Testament to the New Testament and look into elements of his joy. The Lord is fantastic, and highly to be praised! ... more
My Faith and Praise II ...
Monday, April 6, 2020. Good morning. More people are getting nerveous in times of the Corona pandemic. This also affects daily work for those who are still fully busy or more busy than before due to increased workloads during Covid-19. Others are suddenly bound to heir home - which brings its own severe challenges. Others again have heard enough and want to get rid of the daily news about Corona.
So where is the Lord in all of this? Does Corona proof that there is no God, since you cannot see him answering the prayers of the people? Is it not that many Christians are also hit by the virus, both physically by being ill as well as economically and mentally by being under stress now? ... more
My Faith and Praise ...
Friday, April 3, 2020. When you are surrounded by difficulties, how to you make sure your metal health is sustained? How do we cope with the challenges which we face?
Difficult situations are common. They come to all people - what ever our status, our situation, our framework. You can be king, and yet be challenged strongly by loneliness, by power struggle around you, by the burden of responsibility. You can be ill, not able to work properly, dependent on social benefit. How do you cope with it? You can be a normal person, with some technical job, with kids growing up. There are many things to do, with the challenges of kids in school or training, with financial questions, with your particular job situation.
Let us discuss what role faith can play in all our challenges! ... more
Justice II: Giving the Needy ...
Thursday, April 2, 2020. Good morning! We are still with the lines from Matthew 6, where Jesus talks about justice and righteousness in the form of doing things for those in need.
Let us take up the actions which are disscussed here. So far, we have discussed the framework of the whole situation. But we have not touched the actions which Jesus is referring to. He talks about “giving to the needy”. Most ethical systems on this planet know the target to give to the needy. But why? And how?
In the political realm, there is an ongoing discussion about the type of help which should be given to people or whole states. There is a conflict between individual help at a given point in time, and the processes which this help might influence or even trigger. ... more
Justice and Righteousness ...
Wednesday, April 1, 2020. Justice is an important term and topic for our society. It is a generic theme which has high importance for all communities and states on this planet. Justice and righteousness is important between humans. It is a topic in economy as well as in law. It is a topic in the political discussion. And it is important for each and everyone of us since our income, granted holidays, taxes, child benefit, household and much more depends on the idea of justice and righteousness which we have in our legal and fiscal environment.
Righteousness is also a topic for our personal motivation. It is a topic for our phychological state and development, for us as a human. Am I right? Am I what I should be? How to look at my own talents, my character, my preferences, my choices, my behaviour? Can I say that I am right? It is an important topic on many levels of social interaction. Our choice how to organize the school system is strongly influenced by ideas of justice, support of young poeple, development and education rights. ... more
My Framework of Reference II ...
Tuesday, March 31, 2020. We have been discussing the personal framework of reference for our life. It means the framework which defines what is important to us, what is the goal and purpose and relational point of our life. You could say the framework of reference IS our life, in the sense that to us our life gets its meaning and purpose from this reference framework.
We have started to look into the Gospel of Matthew, where Jesus gives advice on this reference framework. He talks about “your righteousness” which should not be practiced before other people. Today, let us discuss this in more depth. What does it mean? ... more
My Framework of Reference ...
Monday, March 30, 2020. Let us talk about our personal life, about our framework of reference. What is giving my life such a framework? What does it mean at all? Why should we talk about it at all?
What is giving you joy? What is giving you motivation? What is giving you the feeling that you did it? What is it that gives you satisfaction? Our reference framework has a mental dimension, it has an ethical dimension, it has an emotional dimension, and it has a factual dimension as well. Let us go into some deeper understanding … ... more
Does God exist? II ...
Friday, March 27, 2020. Does God exist? How do people approach the question and what is the New Testament advice how to approach it? We have already started to look into the scientific approaches. Today, we want to continue this line of thought, trying to develop the New Testament perspective.
The New Testament teaches the presense of God everywhere. It also teaches the absense of God in the life of most of those who do not want to know him. We can live in this world without God - it is a possible choice. We are given our life time, whithout the exact knowledge of when it ends. ... more
Does God exist? ...
Thursday, March 26, 2020. Humans have basic questions. Where do I come from? How am I? We want to know how the world works. We want to know who we are. We want to know what the framework of our existence is. What can we say?
We also try to understand the human mind and spirit. It matter all what exists? What about intention? What about personality? What about spirit? This touches the old question of matter or spirit. Dualism sees spirit with its own existence, complementary to matter. Since physics developed modern quantum mechanics, our idea of what matter actually is, has significantly changed. The world appears to be very strange - but not less beautiful, in the light of modern physics. ... more
Faith in Corona Times ...
Wednesday, March 25, 2020. Dear friends! We are on a day with 30.000 confirmed cases of the Corona virus in Germany. So far, 160 people died here. The number will be rising, since it is known that severe cases come after 2-3 weeks after infection, and infection cases just went up, basically doubling every 3 days.
How are people reacting to the corona crisis? Many countries today have shut down their economy and social life, with implications to all of us. The reasons seem clear to those who are carefully looking at the situation: before hospitals become overloaded and the whole health system collapses, states and communities try to limit or damp the spread of the virus. ... more
A different Game ...
Monday, Feb 3, 2020. How do we live together? How do we organize or social environment? What is governing our relationships, our actions, the way we behave with respect to each other? What is the guiding principle of our interaction? What is the framework in which it takes place?
The societies of this world have their own particular framework. When you look around, you find a lot of diversity in this world. There are so many different systems in the far east. If you compare Japan with China, with Taiwan, with Singapore, with Korea. There is the middle east with its very special historical path. There is Africa, with a strong diversity of countries, from the Mediterranean Islamic states to the sub-Saharan regions and South-Africa. Look into the Americas, with the Spanish speaking countries and the United States. There is Europe with its 30+ States and European Union. ... more
Love Is Everywhere - Is It? ...
Tuesday, Jan 28, 2020. Love is modern topic. It is a core topic of music. It is in the charts. It is popular. It is everywhere. Advertising uses beautiful bodies - of women and also of men - to attract people to its message. Products are linked to beautiful things which you love to have. Social media such as Instagram are full of pictures which want to generate love and admiration.
Love is an important topic for all ages. Humans search love. We want to be loved as we are - or as we want to be or choose to be. The rainbow flag has become a symbol of homosexual love and liberation. To find love is also part of many divorces. We got to know each other including all our strange character features, have given up in the light of severe problems, - and now search new hope and love and admiration beyond the old vows.
Let us dig deeper into this topic. What is love? ... more
The Joy of Life ...
Monday, Jan 27, 2020. There are a lot of things to enjoy on this planet. What is it that is giving you joy and excitement? Some like skying, to get into the snow in the sunlight. When you go down the mountains, it can be a fascinating feeling, a challenge to your skills, and a lot of fun at the same time.
Some of us like to eat and to drink. And indeed, it is great to have access to a variety of food and drink, from Italian to Indian, Japanese, Chinese, Mexican and other kitchen. Do you like green tea, or coffee, or beer, or stronger drinks? The variety of fruits available today in standard supermarkets and more specialized shops everywhere on the planet is fantastic indeed.
What is it that lets you enjoy life? ... more
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Is God there? ...
Friday, Jan 24, 2020. As modern scientists we are trained to be very careful about reality. The basic point of science is to try to find the truth about facts. We try to understand. We try to find the rules and laws which govern some phenomenon. We try to understand what happens and why it happens. We try to gain insight. And we try to find ways to influence and use the phenomena and facts we find.
Science has these two main target points: insight and know-how. Insight tries to understand. Know-How tries to find methods to use and employ the knowledge. Where do we see spiritual questions in this framework? How to deal with faith, with ethics and with the reality of God? Let us think deeper … ... more
As it should be! ...
Thursday, Jan 23, 2020. When is something “right”? When is something exactly the way it should be? Of course you need a template to talk about something being right. You need a goal or target, you can meet. You need some description of what it should be.
What about humans? Can they be “right”? We could talk about actions. Actions can be right if they carry out what should be done. They can be ok or right if they are within some well-formulated limits. If they obey the rules. If they are ethical, meaning they do what is within some formulated ethics. ... more
The Holiness of God ...
Wednesday, Jan 22, 2020. Where do we get our ethics from? What is “good”? Modern society has developed a set of human rights, which is supposed to be a universial law for everyone, for every nation and every community on the planet.
We also know the 10 commandments from the Old Testament, which are basic rules of ethics also active in the New Testament. They take a different role in the New Testament, compared to the old one. But they are still basic guidance for our life, for thoughts, words and actions.
But what is the root of our ethics? Why should we follow some ethics at all? Can we discover the spiritual dimension and true root of our ethics? According to the bible it is a reflection of the holiness of God. It is a reflection of his character, his goodness, his love. ... more
Knowledge of God ?!...
Tuesday, Jan 21, 2020. What is it that humans can know about this world? What is it that we can know about ourselves? Where do we come from? How did we come into being? Why are we what we are? What is the world composed of? How does it work? How does it function? What can we know and recognize about nature, about our mind and reason, about spiritual things?
We also ask: is there a God, and what can we know about him? What about the various experiences and ideas humans have developed about God? Is it that all what we deal with is an illusion, merely the outer shell of something deeper inside? What about the spirits and beings which are worshiped here and there on this planet? What about the spiritual experiences of people who start to explore the spiritual world? And what about the one God of the three big world religions: Jewish faith, Christian faith and Islam? Who is God? What to know about him? ... more
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Busy Life ?! ...
Friday, Jan 17, 2020. Many of us lead a busy life. It is not only those with full jobs and a family. It is already the kids at the age of 16 or 17, who are busy busy busy. There is school. There are various activities, some musical instruments or sports, friends, parties, trips.
If you have a family, there are various things which will fill your time. The composition of your day will highly depend on the age of your kids, and on their particular activities and well-being. Young kids need a lot of direct attention. Older kids need your contributions on other levels - sometimes just funding, but often lifts by car, or help in school or various other things. ... more
Ranking ...
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Wednesday, Jan 15, 2020. Humans tend to compare themselves to others. We tend to look for a ranking within our environment. This can be the work place, or the network we are part of. It can also be the class in school, or our fellow students, or the co-workers in our company.
Who is the best in sports? Which football club is in the champion's league? Who is the best club, the best trainer, the best striker? We have the same approach in other parts of social life. Who is the best performer? Who is the best musician? Who is the best scientist?
Ownership and Trust ...
Monday, Jan 13, 2020. What things I own plays an important role for my life. Do I live in a rented flat or do I own a house. Can I afford to buy an expensive car? Do I have enough money to afford holidays and travel?
There is the human struggle to earn enough to be able to buy food and water, clothing and shelter, and to afford some things which make life easy and enjoyable. Let us think about ownership and possessions … ... more
Protection and Companionship ...
Friday, Jan 10, 2020. Humans are social beings. We all know it. We need each other and we cannot live without each other. We grow up in a family, and we need the nurturing and support to be able to live at all. For years we need our parents to feed us and to protect us.
But it is more. Humans are relational beings. That means we define ourselves by others, which we take as reference. We compare ourselves to others. We live in a framework of relations to others. Where do you stand in a group? This includes friendship, companionship, parentship, but also competition, rivalry and contest. ... more
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Causes of Trouble ...
Thursday, Jan 9, 2020. What is causing trouble for our life? Why are we facing this trouble. What is the origin and cause of the trouble and pain we face? Let us look into different levels of causality with respect to the distress of human life.
Asking for understanding the origin and cause of our trouble is an important question for each of us personally. It is also an important question for the groups we are in, for our family, for our job environment, for our town, our region, our state, our country. ... more
Cleaning Up my Life ...
Tuesday, Jan 7, 2020. At the beginning of a new year we might feel like getting a new start. We might feel like cleaning up in our life, and changing some things which caused us trouble. Usually, here we talk about our own life, about our own habits, about the patterns in our behaviour.
But it is not that easy to change behavioural patterns. Do you know how to change them? Patterns of behaviour are actions we do again and again. Habits are important capabilities of humans, let us discuss that in more detail! ... more
Life with God ...
Monday, Jan 6, 2020. How does life with God work? Who is God? We need to be careful about what we think about God, what we believe who he is. We need to be careful about our life in general, to build it on solid ground.
Let us talk about the overall framework of our life. Let us talk about this world, as it can be observed and experienced. And let us talk about the biblical promises, the message of the Old Testament and the New Testament. Let us talk about experiences of Christians, and about the life with God, what it can be … ... more
Happy New Year 2020...
Thursday, Jan 2, 2020. Happy and blessed New Year 2020! May your life be full of peace and purpose, full of love, truth and faithfulness! May you be a light to the people around you, to everyone you know.
We all are called to be full of faith. In the biblical books we are invited to trust the Lord, the creator, the beginning and the end. We are invited to discover the Lord, his presence, his character. Let us discuss this faith and look a little deeper into it! What does it mean? ... more
New Year's Eve 2019/2020...
Monday, Dez 30, 2019. Hello friend! The year 2019 has come to its end, 2020 is starting tomorrow. How are you doing? What is it that moves you? What are you looking forward to in 2020? What is still worrying you?
Today I had a coffee with a friend. It was very nice to see her again, after quite a while where we did not have time to talk to each other. But we had only an hour, and I thought afterwards, that it was a pity that we did not really talk about life, about what is important, about our faith, our questions, our hopes and dreams. To some extend, we talked about dreams, and about personal developments. But there could be so much more! ... more
Peace Maker ...
Monday, Dez 23, 2019. What is it that can bring peace to the world? The discussion of peace is a complex discussion. Look at the freedom map of the world, and you learn that too many countries have their particular understanding of peace and freedom: follow strict rules of a prescribed religion or ideology, and you can live in 'our' peace. Strong suppression is happening in so many places. We could burst into tears about the fate of our planet!
Again and again we need to ask: what type of freedom and peace are we talking about? Does freedom and peace mean that everyone can do what they want? What are the laws we need to insist on? What type of social contract do we follow? What is the framework for our thoughts, our discussions, our decisions? What should be allowed, what should be forbidden? ... more
Looking Back and Looking Forward ...
Saturday, Dez 21, 2019. Christmas is coming, and many of us have holiday to spend time with the family or to take time out, relax and get some distance to our normal duties. It is time to think about life, about MY life. It is time to think about what is really important to me.
What is important to you? Can we quickly check the options? Can we go through what is important to you personally? Let us imagine we sit together over a tee, or perhaps with a glass of wine or beer. Imagine as old friends we talk about what happened in the past 12 month. We look forward into our plans for the next year. What is it that we could achieve. What is it where we failed. What is coming? Are we afraid of some things? Are we looking forward to others? ... more
Why we need Jesus ...
Friday, Dez 20, 2019. We have been discussing why we need Jesus. We started with the question why we need God to talk to us. And we talked about God being the creator. He knows creation, and he knows humans. We need his wisdom.
We also talked about him and his spirit as the one who can fill our heart and our mind. We are made to be with him, with the eternal father. Only when we find the eternal loving father, we are complete. Without him we will always feel a void in the center of our existence. ... more
Christmas Coming ...
Thursday, Dez 19, 2019. Christmas is the celebration of God coming to mankind. It is the celebration of the birth of Jesus, the Christ. It means the one anointed, which is an image for being prepared and filled with the spirit of God.
The background of Christmas is that as humans we need God to talk to us. We need him to come to us. That is true for mankind as a whole. It is also true for each and every individual person, for you and for me. We all need him. ... more
Trouble and Peace II ...
Tuesday, Dez 17, 2019. The bible contains a lot of encouraging words. It also contains a lot of serious words. If you observe the events in the Old Testament, it is often judgement which is the topic of the day.
Can we understand the cause and point of judgement as it is presented in the Old Testament? Can we understand the judgement which is the topic of the New Testament? Let us take that up for a moment and think about it in more depth! What is the point of judgement, why is God judging individuals or even whole groups of people? ... more
Trouble and Peace ...
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Monday, Dez 16, 2019. When you are in the middle of trouble, usually you find it difficult to see how it could change. As mankind, we have always been in much trouble. Humans fought for superiority, and war and supression has been and is a part of human history. Even today, there are many countries where freedom is strongly suppressed - personal freedom and the freedom of speech and faith. Billions of people suffer from suppression, I do not want to start picking out individual countries - just take a moment to search “freedom of press world map” and you will get a visual indication of the problem.
Can we comprehend the full breadth of trouble we are still in? Can we be honest with ourselves? Are we trying to avoid the trouble, trying to focus on some good things? It can be a good way to keep you half-way healthy, to survive. ... more
Starting to listen ...
Thursday, Dez 12, 2019. How do you understand God? You could start to read the bible, and many of its parts will tell you a lot about the Lord.
Are there particular starting points, which can help you to learn more about him? Yes, there are various such starting points. One of them are the 10 commandments, which are recorded in Mose 2, Chapter 20 (and further places). They are the background and basis for many other parts such as the Beatitudes of Jesus in Matthew 5-7.
This morning, I would like to take the first commandment as a discussion point. Of course, there have been various books and sermons on the 10 commandments. They are attributed to Moses, which means that they have been recorded about 1400 BC. What is their core idea and purpose? ... more
What is going on? II ...
Tuesday, Dec 10, 2019. How do you come to conclusions with respect to God? How do you decide what to think about this basic question? We need to talk a little bit about our communication with God. How can you communicate with him?
The question of how to hear from God is linked to the overall situation of humans in general. If God is there, how does he interact with us humans? This is one of the basic questions people have been asking for a long time. Is God a hidden God? Can you live with him on a daily basis? How does it work? What does the Bible say about this? ... more
What is going on? ...
Monday, Dec 9, 2019. Today, let us step back a little bit and think about our life, our world and the different interpretations which are possible.
We live on a small planet today. It is still quite a large place, which you realize when you start to travel through the wide planes of Russia or through Africa. There is a lot of space on the planet. At the same time, humans have settled in many large towns - Tokyo, Shanghai, London, Paris, New York.
Today the environmental activists see the planet as a very valuable asset, which humans need to preserve. Human activity has a huge impact on the environment, which is feeding impact back and is shaping human life-style. ... more
Angels and the Birth of Jesus ...
Saturday, Dec 07, 2019. The birth of Jesus is described at the beginning of the gospel of Luke. Luke starts with a comment on how he wrote his story. He investigated and collected material and put it together. Usually it is assumed that Luke wrote his two books, the gospel of Luke and the book “Acts” - the story of the early church - between about 55 and 65 AD, since he does not report the death of the apostle Paul 67 AD, even if Acts writes about Paul's missionary journeys until his deportation to Rome. So with the death and resurrection of Jesus about 30 AD, the collection took place about 25 to 35 years after Jesus life on earth.
Thorough Investigation …
Today, let us focus on some important observations. First, we observe the desire of Luke to carry out a sincere investigation. First, he writes: ... more
Birth of Jesus - History and Perception II ...
Thursday, Dec 05, 2019. Talking about facts and history, we are discussing the birth of Jesus. There are many things to say here about the gospels and their way to present the story. You might read the Christmas story following Luke, from Chapter 2. Or you look into Matthew Chapters 1 and 2.
There are several events told in connection with the birth of Jesus. Also, Matthew and Luke have a slightly different way to put the event into historical context - Matthew referring to Herod the Great, Luke to Quirinius and the many censuses, which the Roman emperor Augustus initiated during his lifetime. We have discussed this already earlier. In any case, both Gospels name relatively clear reference points which are well-known historical periods, with the exception that Quirinius was governor in Palestine from 6-21 AD, before that he held many positions between Northern Africa, Rome, modern Turkey and Syria, which might have included Palestine, but that is not fully clear. He conducted a census in 7 AD, but it is not known if this was the first census Luke refers to. References to the Roman emperor Tiberius and to the governor Pilate fit into the story completely, supporting a birth of Jesus about 6-4 BC. ... more
Birth of Jesus - History and Perception ...
Wednesday, Dec 04, 2019. Talking about facts and history, let us start to think about the birth of Jesus. In the time of advent - the four weeks before the Christmas celebration, Christians all over the globe celebrate the birth of the “son of God”.
When we talk about history, we can state what seems to be historical fact as far as we know today, using the best of our critical efforts to explore what happened 2000 years ago. ... more
History, Faith and Facts ...
Monday, Dec 02, 2019. When we talk about history, we talk about facts. We also talk about interpretation of the facts. History is not just a sequence of events. It is a whole collection of events, many of them chaotic and diverse, contradictory.
When you see comprehensive writing about historical periods, they are to a good extend interpretation. The historian searches to understand what happened. Then, he brings the events into what he perceives as historical line or comprehensive interpretation. ... more
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History: Your and My Journey to Faith ...
Saturday, Nov 30, 2019. When I was in school, history seemed very boring to me. I had no interest in some wars in the past. Why should it be exciting to learn about some emperors who lived 800 years ago? I did not have any access to these things. No, history was not my concern. Also, Christian faith was not my main concern, though I was part of the Lutheran church. I was interested, yes. But I could not see you to make progress, I did not know what to think.
What is your access to history? And what is your opinion about the Christian faith? Do you have access to faith? Or perhaps you do not really know it? Some people are very much opposed to faith.
Personally, I was unclear about Christian faith in my teen years. I had learned about it in school and in a Lutheran church. But it was not clear to me. I have not been against faith. But from the age of 14 I considered it to be quite unclear what to believe. Who was God? Was God love? What was the meaning of that sentence? So my personal history can be characterized by many questions which the church as I knew it could not answer. ... more
History: Yesterday and Now ...
Friday, Nov 29, 2019. Let us look at history from a Christian perspective. Christianity teaches Jesus as the risen Lord. It started with the experiences of the early disciples of Jesus, who were with him for 40 days after the resurrection. Christianity started with the experiences of the Holy Spirit, who comes into the life of people who follow in Jesus by heart. ... more
Is History important for ME? ...
Tuesday, Nov 26, 2019. Let us talk about history and its relationship to my own life. What is my involvement? Is history really important?
It is a good question! I think we should take it serious and try to list the possible answers. ... more
History and My Life ...
Monday, Nov 25, 2019. How important is history for my life? Is it really important what happened 150 years ago? Is it important for me what happened 120 years ago? What about things which took place much longer ago, about 1000 AD, or perhaps 1900 AD?
Let us have a look at the meaning of history to us today. History is important for several reasons. Of course, not everyone needs to have his or her main focus on history. Still, it is good to see how the things which we use today on a daily basis came into being. ... more
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Reality ...
Wednesday, Oct 2, 2019. The reality of the biblical description and content is astonishing. When you explore the Old and New Testament, you will find the topic of young and old age, life and death, guilt and shame, hope and glory!
What is Life? …
What is life? Humans have the ability, to define themselves. That is human: we have our own mind, our own ideas. We define who we are. At the same time, we fail with this task. We fail deeply. ... more
The Bible ...
Wednesday, Aug 14, 2019. What type of book is the bible? You might be asking yourself. How to approach it? How to read it? Who can be a good help to understand it.
The bible is a very rich book. It covers the whole of world history. It has been written over many centuries. There are historical parts, wisdom literature, songs, and the unique stories about Jesus in the new testament, the gospels. There are letters by the first apostles, and the prophetic book of the revelation. There is a lot to discover.
Historical Setting …
The bible is full of history. It is quite some adventure to discover the history of mankind and how deeply it is interwoven with the biblical stories and experiences. ... more
Basics of Life ...
Monday, July 15, 2019. The beginning of the gospel of John is one of the most prominent and most fascinating texts of the bible. It is about Jesus, who is also called the word. The gospel introduces its main topic in its first verses, telling us what is important and why.
Beginning …
The biblical story is about life as a whole. It is about creation. It is about humans. It is about insight and the principles which govern our actions. Thus it is also about conscience, about reason, about emotions, about decisions.
Let us read the beginning of the gospel of John. Look into the original, the biblical text, full of images, full of insight and wisdom, full of power: ... more
Judgement Day ...
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Wednesday, June 19, 2019. Christians are called to love all people. God wants to reach everyone. He loves everyone and wants everyone to trust him. Let us keep this first point in mind. Let us take it up from the bible as a core part of the Christian message. We might be suspicious or think that the whole story is not consistent, that we do not understand it. Yet we can keep a note on this core point that God is said to be love and to be trustworthy and that he wants you and me to trust him, to trust our whole life into his hands.
The Old and New Testament also talk about justice, about God to be a very furious God when it comes to injustice, violence and lies. God's justice is of huge importance in history as well as for the relationship between men or women and God. ... more
Approval of Men ...
Tuesday, June 11, 2019. We live in a time where the approval of anything humans do is measured by likes and the money an audience is willing to spend on something. We have come to the point where we hold good what is popular.
Of course, it is good to have everyone involved. Democracy means that all can express their opinion without fearing any negative sanctions or even violence. It also means that by choices of many preferences find their way into real developments. Some people will try to influence the masses - to stir the choices into a direction which is beneficial for them. It is an interesting interaction, this game of influence. ... more
Fellowship of the Spirit II ...
Thursday, June 6, 2019. We are moving toward Pentacost. It is the celebration of the Holy Spirit, one of the main and important celebrations of Christianity. Let us talk about one particular point today, one of the points about the holy spirit. It is about the power of the spirit, but one particular effect of his power.
As a background and framework, let us recall first. God, the creator and eternal God, is spirit. He is father, son and holy spirit. We talk about the one God, but three persons, three ways to experience him and to learn about him. He is the eternal father. He is the son, Christ Jesus, who became human and lived among us. And he is the holy spirit, sent by Jesus, coming to those who believe in him. That is the biblical story about God. ... more
Fellowship of the Spirit ...
Monday, June 3, 2019. The New Testament invites us to get to know God through Jesus, Christ Jesus. The stories of the gospels are the life story of Jesus. His birth is told, his ministry, selections of his actions and interaction with the people of his time. And then we hear about his death, about the resurrection and the ascension.
Let us understand what the bible tells us about the relationship of God and men. God wants to live with humans, with each and every individual, with you and with me. God wants us to know him. He wants us to be in a relationship with him, in a save and undisturbed relationship, a relationship characterized by trust and truth. ... more
Suffering ...
Monday, May 20, 2019. What are our associations when we hear the word “God”? Many of us think of great power, of the ability to do what ever you want. To be God means to most of humans today to be free of problems, of suffering, of pain.
But the biblical story is exactly the opposite. It is about God, coming into this world. But in what way is he coming? What is happening, and what is the message and goal of his actions? Let us look into this deep and important question today! ... more
Readin' the Bible ...
Wednesday, May 15, 2019. When you search for guidance and peace, the best advice I know is to sit down and read in the biblical books. In particular, the New Testament is extremely valuable, but also the Psalms as well as the prophets or the books of Moses are fantastic to read and to be inspired. ... more
Love ...
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Monday, May 13, 2019. Many people know that Jesus commands his disciples to love their neighbors as themselves. It is recorded in the New Testament, and it is part of this new covenant, rooted deeply in the cross of Calvary and the forgiveness which is proclaimed with the death of Jesus!
However, the command to love your neighbor as yourself is not new at all. It is, indeed, one of the old commands, given together with the 10 commandments when Moses brought the people of Israel out of Egypt. ... more
The Center ...
Thursday, May 9, 2019. Christian faith is about God, we all know that. But what is the role of God for us? What exactly does faith mean?
Some people think that faith is mainly a set of ethical rules. Others believe it has been invented to deal with the fear of people, the fear of death. And indeed, it talks about eternity and about life. Commandments are involved in faith - people are told which type of behaviour is good and which type is not good. But still behaviour is not the first layer of faith, not its core or center.
What is the role of Christ Jesus? And why did he have to die at the cross of Calvary? ... more
Greatest Commandment ...
Wednesday, May 8, 2019. What should be the first thing to consider in my life? What is the first thing to care about? What is the first thing to do?
You might think the first thing should be to survive. We need air to breethe. We need to drink and to eat, clean water to survive the day, and food to survive the next day. To get all this, we need work. Also, humans need commmunity. We need others, just alone we cannot be, it drives us crazy.
It is interesting to see what Jesus says about the first things to consider. Let us have a look into this fascinating bible passage. ... more
Who or What is my God? ...
Friday, May 3, 2019. Over the past days I have run several times into the first commandment: do not have other Gods! We were reading the letter of Paul to the Romans recently with our bible study group, and Paul talks about how mankind lives without God. He talks about those choosing their own Gods.
Also, life can point you to a particular topic. You realize that you have some categories in your mind. Things can be deep in your life, your feelings, in the way you look at the world. What are the Gods in YOUR life? I am realizing those in mine … ... more
Good for us ...
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Monday, April 29, 2019. What is good for us today? I am thinking about input for our life, for our thoughts, for our reasoning about our business and social activities. What would be good to get as input, as impulse, as inspiration?
We are, today, in the middle of new social conflicts. Human history has never been without conflicts, and today there are so many conflicts active everywhere in the world. Migration is just an indicator - with people searching a better life, a better world! ... more
The Ascension ...
Friday, April 26, 2019. The biblical story of the resurrection of Jesus is challenging. It superseeds our standard experience. It is difficult to judge if we wanted to put it into a framework as we usually do with news about events. In modern language we would say: singularities in space and time are characterized by being single, and it is very hard to get a general understanding of such events.
But there is more in the New Testament. After Jesus is risen, he is taken into heaven. This is another “singular” event. Similar reports we find only very few in the whole history of mankind! It usually does not happen. But let us look into more details of what people have said about what happened. ... more
Ask and See ...
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Wednesday, April 24, 2019. How can we know about God? How do we find out ourselves? What about things people say? How to approach this deep and important question?
Clearly, when you look around, you will find many answers to the question about God. There are those who tell you that there is no God. There are others, who tell you where to find God. And indeed, when you have found an answer yourself, you might tell others what you have discovered.
Yet, in all of this you have to find your own path. What ever you choose, it is your choice. Whom you follow, to whom you listen, your decision. There is just no other option, you choose anyway. ... more
Foundation of Hope ...
Tuesday, April 23, 2019. Easter celebrations are over, some of us are still in school holidays, others go back to work. Did you have some relaxing time with your family? In the center of Europe, the weather was lovely and nice, with sunny warm days over the weekend.
What is your view to the Easter story? What is your involvement? Perhaps you are part of some church, perhaps you have celebrated the death and resurrection of Jesus? Or you are more critical of these things. Perhaps you have your deep problems with the church and its activities. ... more
Easter ...
Thursday, April 18, 2019. Currently, Christian in the whole world celebrate Easter. It is about the death and resurrection of Christ Jesus. It is about events which took place about 2000 years ago in Jerusalem, but still have meaning and power until today.
Indeed, the Easter story about the pain and death of Jesus is a very moving and challenging story. It takes much of its meaning to us as humans from the fact that we all experience pain and that we all are going to die. Indeed, that someone who is very important is dying leads us to the core tension and challenge of life. ... more
The Center ...
Friday, April 12, 2019. It is interesting to look at our human life, how we shape our ideas of who we are and where we want to go. How are we making our decisions? What are the guiding mechanism in our life? In what way are our decisions made now, when we seem to do them? What is preparing these decisions? What is setting the environment for us to develop in one or the other direction?
Humans grow up as infants and children. About 20 years of our life are needed to shape our mind and our heart, to give us the framework to think, to judge, to make decisions and to develop some basic understanding of who we are. 20 years are needed! We should not think that our decisions today would be done just the moment we formulate them or become aware of them. They are shaped over time, prepared over time! ... more
Innocent ...
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Wednesday, April 10, 2019. Christians are called to live in a special way. They are called to BE different. Let us stay at this point for a moment, and understand what it means and how it can be achieved. We are reading in one of the letters of the New Testament, written by the apostles to the young churches in Greece and Italy and some towns in the area of modern Turkey. The letters are milestones of thought, milestones of ethics, milestones of philosophy and faith.
When I read this text from the letter to the church in Philippi, I usually have a lot of thoughts about the various ways the text can be and has been misused. But should I let the misuse of some people keep me from reading and understanding and believing biblical insight? Let us try to get close to what the text means and what it wants! And then let us see where we are and where God is in all of this … ... more
Work out your Salvation ...
Tuesday, April 9, 2019. Let us have a look into what the New Testament books call “salvation”. God wants to reach people. He wants to reach each and every single person on the planet. It is about justice, about trust, about love, about purity. He rescues us by putting us into his community of trust, love and truth.
Salvation in the biblical sence touches all parts of human life. It touches all we are, all we want, all we desire, all we do. It is a transformation - something like a new birth. It is not just following some rules. It is not just paying money, or assembling in a special building on Sunday mornings. Salvation is a transformation of our life. We become children of God, in a very concrete and amazing way day by day. ... more
State and Authority ...
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Thursday, April 4, 2019. What is the role of state and authority today, in the 21st century? If you look around in this world, different states show a quite diverse range of political systems. There are, in the Europe and northern America states which have democratic systems. There are many systems which do not allow far reaching personal freedom, even if they may have parliaments which officially govern the state elected by “the people”. But even within democratic states there are leaders. We elect people to be responsible, or by property and ownership there are people in charge of a company or institue or process to guide others.
How do you personally deal with authority? How do you treat people who are given some authority, for example policemen, or someone in a state office, or your line manager in your company? What are you feelings? How do you talk about them? What are the difficulties? What is going well? ... more
What is Freedom? II ...
Tuesday, April 2, 2019. Freedom needs to be taken day by day. Let us discuss dependencies and a special kind of slavery which can be part of our life day by day. What I mean is the following: we all have ideas and images which guide our decisions. We all have mechanisms and reaction patterns, which determine how we act and feel in a particular situation.
Is it freedom to behave like we do? When you are always drawn into a particular pattern of behaviour, is that free? No, it is not. You are influenced by something, by some idea or by a failure in the past. And this is pushing you. It has power over your choices. It determines what you want - or better, it is pushing itself over what you would want and need if this would not determine you! ... more
What is Freedom? ...
Monday, April 1, 2019. What about human freedom? What is it that makes you free? We are all free to some extent. We make our choices day by day. We choose what to wear. We choose what to say. We shape our free time. We shape our relationships. We choose a partner. There is so much freedom in human life.
How free are we? …
At the same time, we are also unfree to some extent. Our choices are influenced by the environment we have grown up in. We are influenced and limited by our experiences. Some of us had to make very bad and difficult experiences, traumatic and strongly endangering. It is not easy to get rid of the influences which have shaped our mind, our emotions, our soul, our existence! ... more
Princes and Servants ...
Thursday, March 28, 2019. There is a lot of struggle in politics. But there is a lot of struggle as well if you work in a company, or if you want to achieve something in any other community. Where ever humans are together, they have different character, different preferences, different talents and abilities, different capability to endure … a lot of different things.
How do we work together? Sometimes it is just working. If the right characters come to a table, they might easily find a way to collaborate, to invest their personal strength and do great things! But it can also be different … ... more
Crucified ...
Wednesday, March 27, 2019. Sometimes people think that faith is a matter of belief. It is about an opinion or conviction. And yes, what I believe with my complete life is very important here. But belief is just my attitude towards something or someone. If my belief is not based on facts, the story would be different. I can believe that someone has brown hair, but if he is blonde my belief is not linked to reality.
Not based on nice Words …
In his first letter to the Korinthians, the apostle Paul insists that the way he presents the gospel is not important. His own strength is not important. It is even not the most important that we have all the arguments sorted out completely. But what is important? Let us listen: ... more
Anything special? ...
Monday, March 25, 2019. The center of the New Testament is the cross of Jesus. What is it about? It was in about the year 30 of our calender, when a Jew named Yeshua (Jesus) was crucified in Jerusalem. He had come into conflict with the authorities of his time, and was sentenced to death by the Roman authorities.
How many people have died from various causes? How many have been killed over time. What should be special with this particular death? ... more
Love and Consequences ...
Friday, March 22, 2019. Is love free of consequences? When you love someone, does that mean that you never react to his or her behaviour? The contrary should be true. The more you love someone, the more you care. The more you love, the more you will pay attention what he or she does.
Love by itself is consequence. Love means to be attentive. Love means to care. Love means that you a full of passion. Your passion will not allow you to ignore what your loved one does, what he or she says. Consequences in our life, our actions, our words and behaviour come from our love. ... more
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Words and Honesty ...
Wednesday, March 20, 2019. How honest are the words we hear about a particular thing? We all are used to words we cannot trust. We are all flooded by words we cannot trust. Day by day, from morning to evening. You listen to the news, you hear politicians saying a lot of things about their party and the other competitors. It is all marketing, attacking the others. Truth is different! Truth is full of shades, of sincere thoughts!
Where is the problem? Is it that the speaker does not know, that opinion is formulated in a way as if it would cover all of truth? Or is it that there are real lies, where someone knows the truth, but does tell something different? Is the lie so deep that the person believes its own lies? ... more
God's Justice and Love ...
Tuesday, March 19, 2019. Good morning! I have been reading the Gospel of Matthew this morning, in particular the Sermon on the Mount from Matthew 5. Jesus talks about beatitudes here, about blessing which comes to those who search God, who listen to God, who come to his community.
Jesus also talks about our own mind, our feelings, our actions, our whole existence.
Blessings and Ethics …
The mixture of the Sermon on the Mount is breathtaking and remains breathtaking. I have read this text 20 years ago, and it was amazing. Reading it this morning, it is still amazing. Of course, you need to think about it. You need to understand, need to dig deeper into it. ... more
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Do We Understand? ...
Thursday, March 14, 2019. As a human race, or as indivicuals, how far is our understanding? “Wait a moment”, you might say. “What are you talking about?” You might say: “I have problems enough in my job, very strange rules, a salary which does not fully pay what the kids need and relatives which show difficult behaviour. We can talk about understanding of this situation - and a good path through the next days!”
At the same time, of course, a lot of us are working on a better understanding of our world. There are engineers working on “how to make this happen”, for example electric cars. There are scientists working on the basic understanding of phenomena. They search ways to understand, to describe, to simulate and to predict! ... more
Name of the Lord ...
Tuesday, March 12, 2019. How important are names for us? Today we are all used to brands, to particular names which are used for building up a brand which carries meaning. Companies try to connect positive associations to their name. And if some name is linked to some bad event, usually the institution which bears the name suffers strongly - up to the point that it needs to be closed completely. Names ARE important, even on a very secular level.
Strong Tower …
In the bible, the name of God, the name of the Lord is of particular importance. In the ten commandments humans are called to not misuse the name of God. Further, in the Old as well as the New Testament you find many places where calling on the name of the Lord is a key step of faith for people. Who ever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved! (Joel 2, 32 and Romans 10, 13). Salvation and justice, which is given to us for free, comes by faith in Christ Jesus, it comes through the name of the Lord. God built his own brand, the “Christ”, his son Jesus, “the Lord saves”. In Proverbs 18, we read: ... more
Beginning of Wisdom IV ...
Monday, March 11, 2019. Let us discuss honesty and integrity. Let us discuss pride versus humility, riches versus righteousness, purity versus wickedness. The book Proverbs, part of the wisdom literature of the Old Testament, is addressing these things. We are invited to think about it. We are called to wisdom!
Discussing wisdom has some tradition in human history. Today, it is usually hidden in particular tasks, for example the discussion about environmental protection implicitly talks about wisdom. How should we as human race deal with the earth, with our environment, with animals and plants? ... more
Beginning of Wisdom III ...
Wednesday, March 6, 2019. We have been looking into the wisdom literature of the Proverbs, this important book of the Old Testament. As a core part, it tells us to listen to God and his wisdom, to trust God, to fear God and take him serious. But it also gives very practical on various levels. Wisdom is not only something spiritual, but it is practical. It has clear and immediate consequences. It is about action, about our behaviour!
What is the value of wisdom in our life? What is its status? The following passage talks about the role which wisdom has for us. Have a look! ... more
Beginning of Wisdom II ...
Tuesday, March 5, 2019. Let us look a little further into the book of “Proverbs”, where we find teachings attributed to Solomon, the wise king, son of David. The advice given here is written in the form of a father speaking to his son. We can read it as a historical document, but we can also read it as God, the father, speaking to us, his sons and daughters.
The following part from Proverbs is remarkable in various aspects. There are so many layers of our mind and our life addressed here. But before we go into further discussion, let us read: ... more
Beginning of Wisdom ...
Monday, March 4, 2019. What is it that makes humans wise? Today, we all know that we have gained a lot of understanding of natural processes by science. Sciences means the search and research of humans by thinking, testing, experimenting with nature. So we know that without this search and the experiments we cannot gain a proper understanding of natural processes.
Does science make us wise? Mankind has learned by many experiences that sciences helps to understand particular points of nature. Perhaps more, we gain a quite broad image of how important parts of nature work. We do not yet understand many things, but we have a concept for understanding which worked in many cases in the past - and we expect it to help us to gain further insight. ... more
Faith Today ...
Friday, March 1, 2019. How does it work with faith today? Is faith fit for modern times? What is it we believe in a 'post-modern' world? Let us ask these questions - with a clear view on the situation as it is today in the world, in Europe, in the US, in Asia.
Of course, if you ask different people this question, you will get very different answers. This is a common feature which connects our world today with the world 1000 or 2000 years ago. Over all the time humans have given very different answers to the question of faith. But can we say more on this? ... more
Listening to the Spirit ...
Wednesday, Feb 27, 2019. How can I listen to God? If you think you cannot listen anyway, probably you should go to another website or book. But if you are interested, you might join us thinking about how we listen to God, how we hear what he says.
The biblical view is quite clear: God is has spoken through the prophets. He has spoken through the son - that is through Christ Jesus. He has spoken through his apostles and evangelists, recording the words of Jesus, and writing letters to the churches and to other Christians. Also, God is speaking through the spirit, until today. Listen to the spirit. ... more
Lamb of God II ...
Tuesday, Feb 26, 2019. We are in the middle of a discussion about the phrase “lamb of God”, about the question why forgiveness is necessary. Indeed, we talk about two main points here, one is forgiveness, the other is justification.
Forgiveness and justification are both linked to both behaviour and the state of the human life. We should talk about this: where does the concept come from? Is it valid for our human life? Is it intrinsically there, linked to life itself? Or is it brought to life by some external entity? What is its role to ethics and morale? ... more
Lamb of God ...
Monday, Feb 25, 2019. The New Testament uses the term “lamb of God” for Jesus. The image of a lamb comes many times. You have probably heard it. Some of us have heard it so many times that we have forgotten what is means! Others never realized the term. So let us check it out for a moment.
The term lamb can be seen as an image by itself. I like this idea, to take it out of context first. A lamb is an animal, which is usually very soft, very innocent and very sweet. If you have ever been with your kids looking at lambs and sheep on a farm, you will have an unforgettable experience. The kids love the lambs, they are excited. And there is no sign of any fear. You do not have to fear a lamb! ... more
God of Truth ...
Wednesday, Feb 20, 2019. The God of the Old and New Testament is the God of Truth. He calls himself by that title in the book of Isaiah (chapter 65). And truth is a core topic in many parts of both the Old and the New Testament.
We will have a special service next Sunday, where the topic “truth in times of fake news” has been chosen. As preparation, I have been browsing for bible passages about truth recently. I can say that I am truly moved by the role which truth plays in the relationship between God and mankind. It is very important - up to the point that we are called to live in spirit and truth! Nothing less. ... more
Well Grounded Gospels ...
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Tuesday, Feb 19, 2019. What is the background of Christian faith? Is it rooted in truth, in facts? What has happened? What do we know? How do we know? And is it reasonable to believe in Jesus? Is it well grounded? Is it a rational step of human life?
Today, there are a lot of opinions and statements hovering in the social media. People claim all different kinds of things. And we are confronted with strong statements about this and that - which includes sometimes Jesus or “the church” as a whole. People formulate their emotions and opinions. But what are the facts behind the story?
Solid Ground …
The biblical books of the New Testament claim to be a correct account of what has happened in and with Jesus. The apostles, which are cited and which are authors of most of the New Testament letters, have been living with Jesus. They have experienced the events which are described and taken up in the gospels and the New Testament letters. In Acts 4 we find the following typical remark: ... more
Abundant Mercy ...
Friday, Feb 15, 2019. Sometimes when you see or hear things in our community which are not working well, you could become very angry. This can happen in politics. It can happen just around you, in your neighborhood. It can happen in our schools, when your kids talk about behaviour of teachers or administration. What when you see some behaviour of another person, which is really bad? You could become very angry about it! There are good reasons for this. There is, however, also another reaction pattern: mercy. What is it about?
How to react? …
Let us study a situation where King David, the great king of Israel, took Bathsheba as wife, the wife of Uriah, one of his soldiers. The prophet Nathan came after him to address the evil in his actions. Here is a Psalm about the situation: ... more
Meaningless! Meaningless! ...
Thursday, Feb 14, 2019. What is worth doing? What is of value? What is the driving force of ethics? Sometimes we believe that negation of all values is a modern idea. But it is not. If we look back 3000 years ago, we find basic thoughts already in the Old Testament books, the book Ecclesiastes, the preacher Salomon.
Catching the Wind …
Take some time to read the book where the preacher Solomon writes about life. Here is a passage from its beginning: ... more
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Prayer ...
Wednesday, Feb 13, 2019. What is prayer? How does prayer work? How to pray? How often to pray? What to say? What to expect? Who is there to be addressed in prayer? What to hear? How to hear? There are a lot of good questions when it comes to prayer - to the communication with God. Prayer is the word we use to talk about this communication.
Two-Way Communication …
Prayer is a two-way communication. You want to speak to God and tell him your points, your feelings, your needs, your requests. Indeed, God wants to hear from you. He wants you to pray. Jesus himself gives us templates for prayer, which contain several important elements. But you also want to listen. You want to listen to God talking to you - usually not by hearing voices. No, God talks in different ways. ... more
Bread of Life ...
Tuesday, Feb 12, 2019. What is it that makes life worthwhile? We all have many things around us which are fantastic. We all know to enjoy food, or community, or sports, or work. There is art, music, beauty. Life is full of fantastic nature, of amazing technology, of culture, theatre, funny stuff, animals, plants, leisure … so much to enjoy! What is making life worthwhile?
Bread …
We all know that we need to eat to live. Without eating, we cannot survive for long. Without bread or something like it, we cannot live. Jesus is using the image of bread to talk about his own role. In the gospel of John he says: ... more
Like Grass ...
Monday, Feb 11, 2019. Last summer was quite dry in Europe. We had three months of high temperatures and nearly no rain in the center of the continent. All meadows became yellow-ish. The grass withered, with a lot of consequences which you can still see today, after half a year.
The bible compares human life with grass and flowers. They look green now, but they might wither tomorrow. They look pretty for some days, but then they are gone. What is lasting? What is it that has a future? The fugacity of life is well known to all of us, though we might ignore it for most of our life. ... more
Mankind ...
Friday, Feb 8, 2019. What is mankind? What is man? We should know ourselves, we are men and women, we live as humans. We should know! Yet, we strive ourselves to get to know. Sometimes we seem to know. People have ideas about how community works. They have ideas on how to deal with others. Usually, it only works for a very limited time. Or it does not work at all. We seem to be different from our philosophies, our ideas. But who are we? How do we find out?
Reading the biblical stories, we hear about far reaching events. The flood of Noah, for example. With the text from Genesis 8 today we jump into the end of the flood story, when Noah and his family alone survive and inherit the earth, approximately 4500 years ago. There are several exciting things to take up from this story! ... more
Global Champion ...
Thursday, Feb 7, 2019. As humans we are very concerned about glory. When you watch the evening news, you find reports on the latest winners of the olympics, or the European chapionships. You find news about the latest economic indices and which party is winning in the opinion polls. Much of the media is concerned with talking about people, about their glory, about failure and achievements - which might only be topped by news about catastrophy and war.
God's Glory …
Before we discuss the question of “glory” further, let us look into the following song, from the book of Psalms, one of the famous biblical books. It is about glory as well - but about God's glory. ... more
Baby Prophet ...
Wednesday, Feb 6, 2019. The book of Jeremia is one of the tree great prophetic books of the Old Testament. Jeremia's ministry was active between about 626 and 587 before Christ. The book is full of faith, it reflects the struggle of God with his people, the people of Israel.
We hear a lot of detail about the life of Jeremia from the book. Today, let us have a look at the beginning, when Jeremia was called to be a prophet.
I Formed You …
Let us read from Jeremia 1. After some introductory words to the ministry of Jeremia, giving the framework of his lifetime by relating it to the kings of his time, here we are taken to the beginning of the phrophetic work of Jeremia. ... more
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Broken Heart ...
Tuesday, Feb 5, 2019. Films about lover's grief are everywhere. In modern times we share the excitement of falling in love. Love is one of the ingredients which cannot be left out in any film which wants to be popular and successful. We all know what happens when love is not returned, when she wants love, but he is not willing to give love, or the other way around. We all know the feeling when “she broke my heart” or “he broke my heart”.
Today, we come to this phrase in a slightly different framework: when it comes to God. Here, the broken heart is addressed in the framework of our relationship to God, the creator, the center of the universe.
Contrite Heart …
In Psalm 51 we hear King David speak about his relationship to God. He talks about his heart, about his spirit, about turning to God and about the restoration of the relationship. Let us read a little: ... more
Willing to Turn ...
Monday, Feb 4, 2019. Sometimes we realize that we need to turn around on our path. Sometimes we realize that we need to change our behaviour. Some change is needed even for our heart, for what we think, what we want, for our dreams and goals. What is it to be changed? What is it for you? Where do realize that you are not on a good path?
Self-critical …
It is important to be self-critical. It is important to be willing to see where you could do better - or even where you are completely on the wrong track. In Psalm 51, the song writer asks for a clean heart, for a willing spirit, that is a spirit which wants to be shaped and filled by the holy Lord: ... more
Truly International ...
Friday, Feb 1, 2019. Two weeks ago I attended a Christian service in a very young and dynamic church in Kobe, Japan. I arrived a day before for a conference, which took place there at the local supercomputing center. So I looked in the internet and found a worship service for Sunday 10am, and I dropped in there to join the congregation. There were many young people, students and people with small kids - in a very exciting atmosphere. It was 20 minutes of worship and dance, then some dedication of two kids, sermon, prayer, vision day for 2019 and much more.
Community without Limits …
When it comes to Christian community, it is a community without the limits and boundaries of nation or origin. In Jesus Christ, we are one people. We are his, and our origin or language or the way we have been shaped before is no longer important. What is important is that HE shapes us now! ... more
All the Treasures of Wisdom and Knowledge ...
Thursday, Jan 31, 2019. Let us discuss one point today. In our text from the letter of Colossians yesterday it was claimed that in Christ there are hidden all treasures of wisdom and knowledge. What does it mean? In what sense is it true? What are the consequences for us personally? What are these treasures of wisdom, what treasures of knowledge? In what way does it link into modern science and knowledge? How does it relate to our personal life?
Christ …
Let us recall the text, where the apostle Paul writes about his struggle and about God himself: ... more
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Struggle for You ...
Wednesday, Jan 30, 2019. In the New Testament, there are many words about love, about peace and the way to live together in a peaceful way. At the same time, there is a lot of struggle in the letters of the apostles as well as in the gospels. Not all is well in the Jewish community. And not all is well in the early Christian church. So there is struggle by those who are called to lead the church deeper into faith.
Deeper into faith …
Paul is writing to the church. Let us listen for a moment, and then put his words into a perspective which includes us today. ... more
Walk in Christ ...
Tuesday, Jan 29, 2019. As Christians, we are called to walk in Christ. But what does it mean? Do we understand? Do we do it? Do we know what it means? We can read a lot about Jesus in the gospels and letters of the New Testament. We can read a lot about faith in the whole bible. It is a book full of inspiration, full of wisdom, full of truth, love, joy and encouragement.
Fullness …
In the letter to the Colossians we are called to walk in Christ. Let us read the original passage: ... more
Creation, Reconciliation, Salvation ...
Monday, Jan 28, 2019. Where to find God? The apostle Paul points us to Jesus himself. What was his main goal and message? Paul points us to the reconciliation which comes through the cross of Christ Jesus. What does it have to do with me? Paul talks about our alienation from God, and about the salvation which we find in Jesus, when we get back into a relationship of truth and love with the creator.
Summary …
In the New Testament letter of Colossians we find a passage which summarizes core parts of Christian faith. Let us read it together and then discuss and understand the statements. The apostle Paul writes to the Church in Collossae: ... more
Listen to God ...
Wednesday, Jan 23, 2019. How can you know about God? How can you listen to him? Is it possible at all? Many people today think you cannot know much about God. And many think that you cannot listen to God. And indeed: how can you listen? Is God talking to you? How could he be talking?
The idea of many people today is that there is no God, and all people who believe are following some strange old myths or ideas which help them to cope with the problems of life. There are many others, though, who have learned about God when they grew up. What you have learned depends on where you have grown up. Of course, there are many religions today and people get to know some ideas from their social environment, from schools (public or for example Koranic schools). Let us look at some possible answers from different sources … ... more
Evil against Good ...
Monday, Jan 21, 2019. Do you have enemies? Do we all have enemies? Who is your enemy? It is quite some important question. In the past, the French and the British were enemies. Or the French and the Germans. Or the Germans and the British. Then, they became friends, after the desaster of the Second World War. A new chapter was opened. But before that, clearly there were people fighting each other, to death!
It is good to know who is working against you, who is your enemy, who is not honest towards you. I must say that I had to learn that deliberate lies against other people are something people really use and practice, even in the middle of a civilized environment. We call it evil if people behave like that - and this kind of evil might happen in the middle of the best families … ... more
Milk and Honey ...
Sunday, Jan 20, 2019. Do you want to be rich? Do you want to be well set with your life and your environment? Do you want to live in a country where milk and honey flow? Yes, you will probably say. Yes, it would be good not to have to fight for the basic things in life day by day, but to be well set, to be prosperous, to be rich and to have all what is needed - and a little bit more.
It is very exciting - this phrase of a “land, where milk and honey flows” comes from the book of Exodus, the second book of the bible. What is the framework in which this phrase is used?
Out of Slavery …
The people of Israel have been in slavery for many years. They have been in Egypt. And now God is talking to Moses at the burning bush. He is promising to free his people, and to bring them into a land where they have plenty. It is adressing the needs we talked about. It is about the desire to be save and in a neighborhood where all is well. Let us look into this passage, the following part formulates the promise a second time: ... more
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Blessings and Woes ...
Wednesday, Jan 16, 2019. Are you willing to look critically into your own activities? Are you willing to hear what is going really wrong in your life? And are you open to hear what is going really well? Sometimes both things are connected. Sometimes people want to stay secure behind some layer or in some distance. But as a conseqence they cannot accept good feedback nor critical words.
Jesus addressing points …
When you listen to the words of Jesus, you hear both clear blessings, consolation and encouragement, but you can find also quite critical and even hard words. Both of them are formulated in a breathtaking and very clear way, in particular in the “Sermon on the Mount”: ... more
Conflicts around Rules and Healing ...
Tuesday, Jan 15, 2019. Some rules are good, they are there to protect, they are there to help. We all know thousands of rules in our everyday life, and most of them serve their particular purpose. Most of them have been created to do good things.
The same is true with the Old Testament rules given for the people of God, the people of Israel. The Sabbath rule is one of these. You may work for six days, but the seventh day is for rest. Do not work that day, and do not let your servants work, or even your animals. All have a right to get some rest, to get out of a never ending work process. ... more
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Faith: Listen and Do ...
Monday, Jan 14, 2019. How do you get access to faith? How can you find out what Christian faith is about and whether it is sound and real, or just an illusion? How does it work? What can you expect? There are enough people today - and have always been - who think that faith is merely some personal belief which has not much to do with reality. Some believe that faith is a mechanism for some people to deal with their own fear, or to seek help in a metaphysical world, instead of focus and concentration here in this world to change things.
Valuable Faith …
You might want to look into the New Testament to find out what biblical faith is about. Do not stay with something you read from some source, but look into the origin yourself. The core of the New Testament are the gospels.
How does it work with faith? In the New Testament, faith comes from hearing. Faith comes from meeting Jesus. Nothing less can be the origin of faith. You cannot believe just into the thin air. You cannot develop sustainable faith, if you have no basis of faith. Let us read a little into the gospel of Luke, chapter 6: ... more
Christ Creator ...
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Friday, Jan 11, 2019. What is giving structure to our world, to creation? Today we explore nature by natural sciences as well as engineering sciences. We describe the phenomena as result of basic laws, which govern the dynamics of basically everything that is. These laws usually are given by either differential equations or by statistical relationships, which give shape to the random processes we observe.
Biblical View …
The biblical view sees God at work in all creation. The bible does not have a problem with structure or with natural laws. On the contrary! The bible is quite oriented towards the physical world and all what is in it. But it is not only looking into the physical world. It is also describing what is going on beyond it and it looks at the way it works from a particular viewpoint. ... more
Compassionate Hearts ...
Thursday, Jan 10, 2019. Are you compassionate? Some people are more compassionate and passionate that others, just by their character. But even if your basic character is rather dry, you can be passionate about some things your way. What are those things you are passionate about? Is it things, goals, activities? Is it people, family, friends, some particular person? What is it that makes your heart be in flames?
Kindness, Humility, …
I have to say that I am more the passionate person in the sense that I am excited about quite a range of things. That includes my professional activities, the mathematics and physics and biology and meteorology which we do day by day, the software we develop, the forecasting systems we build and run. ... more
Pillar of the Truth ...
Wednesday, Jan 9, 2019. We have quite some discussion today about truth in our political world. What is the truth about reality? What is the truth about conflicts and wars? What is the truth about particular opinions? It is heavily debated - up to a suppression of the truth in states without free press. But even in states where you have free expression of opinion, today the debate about what is has become quite difficult.
Paul writing to Timothy …
The situation is not new. It has been like this since the beginning of mankind. When we look into the situation of the New Testament, we also find the discussion about the truth present in letters and gospels. And indeed, it is truth which is in the core of Christian believe, the whole discussion is quite important! Paul writes in his letter to Timothy: ... more
How many Gods are there? II ...
Tuesday, Jan 8, 2019. How many Gods are there? We have started to discuss this question yesterday, pointing to different people believing in no God at all, one unique God, or many Gods and powers and spirits on the planet. But what did Jesus teach? What is the genuine Christian viewpoint? We also should discuss the question why we come to the conclusion and believe we have.
Teaching of Jesus …
Jesus clearly was part of the Jewish believe, that there is one God, the creator, the beginning and the end, center, ultimate goal and maintainer of all what is. Jesus believed in a personal God. He talked to God in prayer. He trusted God. He loved God. ... more
How many Gods are there? ...
Monday, Jan 7, 2019. How many Gods are there? It is an interesting question. If you go to the temples in the centre of Tokyo, Japan, you find many people praying to the Gods which are celebrated there. If you drive through many countries in the east and the south, you find temples and places of worship. It is about God, and about those spirits and powers which can influence our life. Is it all that different in other parts of the world?
Monotheistic Belief …
The Jews believed in one God only, the creator of the heaven and the earth. The Old Testament talks about this issue a lot. It claims that there is one God only, and all other powers are created powers - they are not God! This has been continued by Christianity, of course, since Christian faith is exactly about this God, who has been with the people of Israel since Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Islam claims to know this God better - it claims that the Christian books are distorted versions of the Quran (Koran). But it also claims to believe in this one God, it just has another idea of who this God really is. ... more
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Pursuit of Happiness ...
Friday, Jan 4, 2019. What is the idea of the New Testament about human life? How to live? What to do? Think of a Christian man or woman in the middle of our society. Does the bible say something about how to relate to others around? How to live? What to pursue? Today in western societies we consider the pursuit of happiness as a human right - everyone should do it as he wants, as long as he does not hurt or violate the rights of others. But how does the bible relate to this?
Christian Pursuit of Happiness …
First, we can say that indeed the bible wants us to pursue happiness! It just has some remarks what kind of happiness is healthy and sustainable. It clearly points out that only in and through Jesus Christ, full happiness can be achieved for a human. Only through him, we receive forgiveness and eternal life. Only through him the holy spirit is accessible. ... more
The Heart of Christian Teaching ...
Thursday, Jan 3, 2019. What is the goal which Christian teaching tries to achieve? What is the core of its teaching? What is the framework and extent of its teaching? We need to know what is really important, and distinguish it from things which are in second line. We need to know what the heart of the teaching is, to be able to focus, to be able to make decisions, to have a guidance for our daily life!
Fight about Speculative Things? …
Too often, people fight about things which are not really important. We fight about stupid stuff, which gets into a position where it seems to be an important point. But in fact it does not really matter. The process starts with some question, then the question seems to grow in importance, and personal issues are attached to it. Who wins? Who has authority? Who has been ignored? ... more
Can we say that God is Great? ...
Wednesday, Jan 2, 2019. Can we say that God is great? You might ask yourself - in particular when you hear some Christians praise God. At the beginning of a new year, what can we say about our perspective, and about the history of the past 12 month with respect to our own life? Can you say for yourself: God is great? It will depend on your relationship to God, on your insight and understanding of who he is and what he has do to with you, with your life.
Sing praises to God …
The bible has the basic understanding that God is fantastic. He is wonderful. He is great, much to be praised. When is something or someone to be praised? When he or it is truly fantastic. When he, she or it is really good. God is to be praised in this sense - he is just wonderful! As an example, in Psalm 47 we find the this invitation and demand to praise God: ... more
Different Life ...
Sunday, Nov 11, 2018. Is life with God different from a life without God? Of course it is. You might compare it with life as a single and life as a partner. That is much different as well. Of course it will change you and your life when you life with someone, and if you have kids as well you take care of. And God is not just some partner, he is THE partner, he is source and goal, creator, lover, companion.
Will of God …
Life is not without suffering. We all know that. Life is threatened, it is in danger, since there are many things in this world which are difficult for us. The following text from the first letter of the apostle Peter talks about these difficulties, but also about the life with God, what it means, what it changes. Let us read a little bit: ... more
Reading the Bible ...
Monday, Nov 5, 2018. In what way are you reading the bible? What is your approach? Most people do not read the bible at all - they take their knowledge about its content from others, who teach this or that. Often, it comes from school, or from some contact with the church. But it is very exciting to look into the biblical books - if you can understand, what you read! These stories, words and reports are special, very special indeed.
Thousands of Years …
The bible has grown, from its very beginnings about 3000 years ago, to the time where all the New Testament books have been collected into the shape we know today, about 1700 years ago. Since then, they have been source and inspiration to millions of books and stories and sermons. ... more
Creation Accounts ...
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Wednesday, Oct 31, 2018. Recently I had a discussion with my daughter on the creation accounts of the bible. Does the bible contradict evolution? Is it possible to reconcile the biblical accounts and the scientific understanding of how the world came into being? My first reply was: what is your question? And my daughter explained a little more: she wanted to know if there are sincere contradictions between the different views?
I am a Scientist …
Of course, I know the whole discussion - between different streams of teaching in the Christian churches and different views in the scientific community. But let us first have a look into the beginning of the bible, then discuss what we find. It starts with the first creation day: ... more
What is not OK ...
Monday, Oct 29, 2018. In the political realm we are used to people fighting strongly with each other. Without some ferocity, you cannot reach anything in this framework. You need some kind of toughness. “If you cannot stand the heat, stay out of the kitchen!” That is what it takes to realize any kind of leadership.
Biblical Ferocity …
When you look into the biblical books, they are not all just “nice”! They are touch. You find some kind of biblical ferocity, some kind of ferocity in the words of God. No, injustice, corruption and evil is not acceptable for the Lord. He will oppose it strongly. ... more
Justice Finally ...
Friday, Oct 26, 2018. Humans are very interesting creatures. We spend a lot of time and effort on justice. We create international courts of justice. We pursue justice 60 or more years after crimes have been committed. We care quite a lot about justice. It is important to us, we cannot accept that people killed many others without being drawn to justice! Yes, we care.
We care about Justice! …
On the other hand, we try to ignore justice in many parts of our life. We kind of care about the huge injustice in the living conditions on this planet. But we do not know how to change it and choose to ignore the problems rather than bringing ourselves into a lot of trouble by telling autocrates and many religious leaders of states and regimes that their behaviour is not acceptable. ... more
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Am I good enough? ...
Thursday, Oct 25, 2018. I heard a song talking about thoughts of doubt. Am I enough? What about my weakness? What about my failures. I cannot do much. Can I stand before men and before God? These are very reasonable questions. Very personal questions, but typical - you are not alone with these questions. We all have them, if we do not suppress them.
The weak …
What does God say about the weak? It is interesting to hear. Our society celebrates the strong, day by day. We need the best. We need to be strong. We need to be the first. America first. Italy first. Hungary first. China first. But what is a good way? Please, read the following passage from an old prophet, from Ezechiel: ... more
Life, Death and Salvation! ...
Wednesday, Oct 24, 2018. What do you believe? It is quite interesting to observe that we will ask that question again and again in our life. Faith is not static. It is developing with our experiences and our age. It is developing with our activities, our thoughts, our emotions. And each and every challenge to us or to people we know and love will challenge our faith as well. Faith cannot remain the same, it will change, if it is alive!
What do you believe? …
Today I stumbled over the following bible text. It brought me to this question: what are you willing to believe? The text talks about healing, he reports two healings which Jesus did. Let us have a look at the text first: ... more
The driving force ...
Tuesday, Oct 23, 2018. What is the driving force in my life? What is it that I would say: that is important for me? What is it that is the backbone of my days and my activity? What is holding me upright? What is attracting me? What is giving me self confidence? What is it I am following? What is it I am searching?
Matthew, Come! …
It is a good question to think about the points which make me really happy. What is it that I could say about: that fills my life? That gives me purpose? Is there anything like that? Or perhaps there are several things? Perhaps I like good wine, good political discussions, and to be secure and save? Or I like to be successful and full of energy, a driving force myself? Or I am myself when I am free and not depending on anyone? ... more
Purity of God ...
Montag, Oct 22, 2018. As humans we are busy with many things. That is life, we just need to look around us or into our own actions and priorities. But while we tend to find excuses for many things we do or do not do during our day, we find something truly exceptional in the biblical teaching. It is the deep and overwhelming purity of God!
What kind of God is this? …
What kind of God is this? God is the creator, we have heard that. He is the Lord, we heart many stories about that. But what about the purity of God? In him, there is no false thought. In him, there is no lie, no deception. In him, there is no letting down. He is not bound by the limits of humans. But he is pure in a way which we hardly understand. Jesus himself teaches about the purity of God, in his sermon on the mount. Look into Matthew Chapter 5, there we read: ... more
Looking at Natural History ...
Saturday, Oct 20, 2018. It is fascinating to look at the whole development of our world. When you visit some science museum, you will be amazed about the nearly incomprehensible time scales of developments which have led to the world as we know it today. We explore the beginning of the universe, with what we call a big explosion or big bang many millions of years ago. We can calculate the numbers - yet they are completely out of range of what we we usually can understand or get our hands on.
Where did we come from? …
But the story continues. All the millions of suns have formed in different galaxies. All the planets have a beginning. And then, on one particular planet which we know - our earth - the life we know has developed. We know fantastic plants and a diversity of animals. We explore their history. We find artefacts coming from millions of years ago. Still these scales are beyond our ability to fully understand them. But the story continues! ... more
Dealing with Christianity ...
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Friday, Oct 19, 2018. What is your way to deal with Christianity? What is Christianity in your eyes? Is it the large world religion, with many church members in so many countries? Or is it a dillusion, a false path, which is leading people away from a life of reason? Or is it a false religion, since the true believer must bei Muslim? What is Christianity for you?
Individual Views!? …
Before we go into a deeper discussion, do you think you can decide for yourself what Christianity is? Of course, you need to clarify - at least in case you want to answer the question - what it means to YOU. But that does not mean it is the same answer for different people. And it does not mean that the answer would be correct in the sense that the ideas about Christianity of any particular person would be in line with what happened 2000 years ago and the different streams of development which have happened since then. ... more
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Truth ...
Monday, Sept 17, 2018. We live in a time where truth is an important topic. It is, indeed, a very old topic. Even 2000 years ago we hear the words of Pilate in the New Testament “What is truth?”, when he talks to Jesus himself (John 18, 38). Today, with the newly developed capabilities of the internet “fake news” are a well-known challenge. But it is an old challenge: who controls the media controls the public opinion. Many leaders and men of power have known this for a long time …
What is truth? …
Today, we live in a time where the fight for truth, the fight for facts, is heavy. Many newspapers are involved, many TV stations, government agencies and government press representatives. The battle is faught by many, by lobbyists, by journalists, by scientists …
Before you get involved too deeply, let us sort the quest. Let us discuss the basics. Let us look at the limits and targets which we might have. What is our own contribution and state within the middle of the battle? ... more
Hope in the Living God ...
Monday, Sept 4, 2018. When you want to reach a goal, usually you need to focus and concentrate on what you want to achieve. How is it in faith? The bible tells us that the grace of God is a gift. We cannot earn it, we cannot buy it, and we cannot achieve it by deeds. It is given to us as a present! But still, in all of this, there is more to say about behaviour, about goals and how we lead our life …
Godly life …
When you put your hope in the living God, your life changes. Putting our hope in him means that also all other things in our life get oriented towards him. You cannot do one thing and not do the others, or you will not do the first thing.
Let us look into what the apostle Paul writes to Timothy about godly life: ... more
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Great Value ...
Monday, Sept 3, 2018. What is of great value to you? Recently I had a discussion with my bank advisor, and the people suggested various investments for my savings. How can you make the most of what you have? What do you want with your money? When do you need it? There are many questions to answer, and you need to be smart, or you loose a lot which is of value …
The treasure, the pearl …
When you have friends, or when you are in love with someone, you realize that all what might be of value to you is nothing compared to that particular friend or person. You are happy to give a lot of treasures, just to be with him or her, just to spend time with her, to speak, to enjoy, to exchange about life, about work, about sorrows or the joy of life! ... more
Purpose ...
Tuesday, Aug 14, 2018. What is it that gives purpose to life? What is it we should invest in? What is it, or who is it, which provides a sustainable goal and purpose and driving force of what we are, what we do, what we want, what we enjoy?
… in our hearts …
What is the core thing in our hearts? What is it that helps us to be who we are? To be what you can be is an important point for many of us. Some have enough will and reach a lot of things. It can be great to have success, but it can also be a complete illusion. Humans are not great because they have particular gifts. ... more
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Strengthened through his Spirit ...
Thursday, July 5, 2018. How does life work? The world championship is nearly through - and some of us are still racing teams, racing for the title. Others have gone home already, defeated. How does life work for the defeated? How does it work for the winners? Let us think more about God's spirit in all of this, and what he means for our life, for how life works …
Times of Strength and Times of Weakness …
There are times of strength, and there are times of weakness. I think in both of them we need to be strengthened by the spirit. Our human strength can be a time where we are very weak and where we are defeated by illusions. It can be times where we loose life! And in times of human weakness it is similar, we can be defeated, we can loose, moving into a state of despair. But we can also take the opportunity to be strengthened by the spirit - and we win! We win life eternal, day by day. ... more
Jesus and the Father ...
Thursday, June 21, 2018. Jesus claims to be one with God. He claims to be “in God” and have “God in him”. He claims that who sees him, sees God, the father. There is a far reaching claim in the New Testament for which Christians have found the term “trinity”, the unity of God in father, son and holy spirit.
Community and Unity …
What we find here is remarkable and difficult to fully understand at the same time. Jesus is a human, living on earth. At the same time, he claims to be in God: “I am in the father”. He claims that God is in him “the father is in me”. He claims that he represents the father, not that he is the father, but that his relationship with the father is such that who sees him, sees the father. ... more
Show us the Father ...
Tuesday, June 19, 2018. What is human? We start our life as babies, we start it being infants who need to be nurtured and protected by a father and a mother. These two humans play the central role in human life. Only step by step we grow into mature beings.
The bible takes up this important relationship at the beginning of human life. God is called the father - and he also calls himself the mother - of all humans. He is called your heavenly father! What does it mean? ... more
Long Enough ...
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Monday, June 18, 2018. Do we know enough about faith? Do we know enough to be able to believe? Some people think they know enough to not believe. Let us follow up on this question: do we know enough? Have we been there in the church or with the church for long enough? What is the background of this question?
You still do not know? …
The gospel of John reports an incident where Jesus is approached by his disciples. They want to know more about the way to go, want to know more about what to believe and how to make it happen in their life. Jesus replies: ... more
Which Way to Take? ...
Tuesday, June 12, 2018. Often we ask ourselves: what should we do? We all need to make decisions, we decide how to approach some task, how to solve some problem. But we also decide about basic things in our life, what education to pursue, for example.
Of course, there are more general questions. What to believe? How to approach life? What is my main goal? Who am I? What to feel? What to think? How to fill my free time?
Thomas' Questions
The bible is full of the general questions. They are taken up, and they are discussed. It might be controversial, what to do, what to believe, what to think! Humans might come to different conclusions.
Let us look into one discussion, which Jesus had with his disciples, here led by Thomas. Thomas is one of those who really wants to know. He wants clarity and certainty. Here, he asks Jesus about the way to choose: ... more
Humans and our World ...
Monday, May 28, 2018. It is part of human life to try to understand who we are, where we come from, where we go. We search for insight and orientation, we search for temporal and spatial perspective for our life. And we want to know what we can expect, we act based on will, emotions, instinct, reason and a basic understanding of our world.
But what is part of this world? What is our idea of all that is? Human history always had various components of our understanding of this world. Let us look into this, and also try to understand the role of faith for human life.
The world as it is
Humans have always understood that the world follows laws. We use natural laws from morning to evening. We breath air, we use our eyes and ears, we work with gravity and motion, with the succession of day and night, summer and winter, spring and harvest. ... more
See God's Glory ...
Thursday, May 24, 2018. Can we see God's glory? The bible describes God as the holy creator of the universe. God is fantastic, and there are several lines of argument which describe the beauty and fascination which of God. Let us look into this, let us explore God's glory!
Creation, Holiness, Humanity
God is the creator, he has made all what is. We can grasp his glory by looking at nature. Planets, plants, animals and humans, it is all reflecting his glory. And indeed, most of us have a sense for the beauty of nature. When you travel around our fantastic planet, the diversity is breathtaking, its beauty can silence us completely. ... more
The Role of Sacrifice ...
Friday, May 18, 2018. Recently, in a discussion the question came up: what about all the rules about sacrifice in the Old Testament? They are disgusting - how can a God of love tell people such things? To get a better idea of the role of sacrifice, let us step back a little and look at the whole story.
Humans and Sacrifice
First, we find humans sacrificing animals very early in prehistoric history. Today, there are many theories what the origin of sacrifice has been - let us just note it has been there from the beginning.
Second, human sacrifice was taken up and regulated in the Mosaic law, as written down in the five books of Moses. The Mosaic law is a law of obedience in the first place, a law of care, truth and justice. Sacrifice plays its role where justice is violated.
Third, the role of sacrifice is taken up by the New Testament. Here, its role culminates in the sacrifice of Christ Jesus at the cross, where he died “for the sin of the world”. This is summarized for example in Hebrews 10: ... more
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Living Hope - through Suffering ...
Thursday, May 10, 2018. Often, we focus on one particular aspect of the gospel. People read the bible and take up one part of the message. That is, to some extent, natural. You need to go forward step by step, and you cannot grasp the whole story in one go. But it can also be misleading and even destroy faith when you do not read the full gospel, when you try to work with a part of it only and stretch the part until it does not fit any more to reality.
Birth into Hope …
Let us read some part of Peters first letter. It starts with praise for God's mercy and gifts. But in its next thought it also addresses the problems and suffering which we all face in this world. Have a look: ... more
Everyone Who Believes ...
Wednesday, May 9, 2018. In the first chapters of the biblical book of Acts we learn a lot about God and about menkind. These chapters report the first steps of the young Christian church. After the death and resurrection of Jesus, the apostles and disciples start to preach the gospel. Today, let us look at the point where the gospel moves from the Jewish people to the world.
Christian Faith for Everyone …
There is a fantastic story in Acts 10 about the the centurion Cornelius, who had an appearance of an angel, telling him to find Peter. Peter himself saw a vision, at the same time, and then brought it all together. Let us read the conclusion of this story: ... more
Chosen to Serve ...
Tuesday, May 8, 2018. When the church started, the apostles which Jesus himself chose led the church. We hear of problems with serving food to widows, and seven gifted and spiritual deacons are chosen to serve the people of the church, to enable the apostles to serve their way with prayer and teaching.
Problems Clearly Named …
Reading the first chapters of the book of Acts, we find quite a lot of clear speeches about the role of Jesus for Jews and all people. He is the one who frees from sin, he is the lamb of God, the source of new life. Peter preaches this, but also Paul and also Stephen, one of the deacons of the church. In Acts 7 we read a long speech of Stephen. These early sermons are a breathtaking read, have a look into it: ... more
Intense Early Church Life ...
Monday, May 7, 2018. We have been looking into the biblical book of Acts, the history of the early Christian church. It is a fascinating book, full of stories and full of faith. Let us read a little further this morning. And let us think about faith, about our expectations and about what is possible.
Wonders and Healing …
Let us read on in the book of Acts. In Chapter 5 we hear: ... more
The Early Church ...
Wednesday, April 25, 2018. We have been looking into the transition from the gospels to the early church - in particular the book of Acts, the story of the apostles. What do we find here? It starts with the ascension and the coming of the holy spirit, the election of the replacement for Judas, then several sermons of Peter and several wondrous things happening.
Communicating the Core Message …
Let us listen to Peter communicating the core message about Jesus, his death and resurrection: ... more
Is Salvation Needed? ...
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Monday, April 16, 2018. Looking into the transition from the gospels to acts, the first book on the apostles and the early church, let us discuss a very important and basic question of Christian faith: is salvation necessary? Let us recall: the core message of much of the Old Testament and also the New Testament is that we need salvation. It is about our state of being, about what humans are and what they do …
Salvation …
Salvation in the biblical sense talks about our existence as a whole. But it is very concrete at the same time, it is about words, about emotions, about desire, about thoughts, about actions. We need salvation, that is one of the core truth which is described in many different ways. We need it for deep reasons. We need it personally. And we need it desperately. ... more
The Holy Spirit: Wisdom, Hope, Love, Truth ...
Friday, April 13, 2018. The biblical books - from the first book of the Old Testament to the last book of the New Testament - speaks about the holy spirit, the spirit of God. It is highly fascinating. God himself is said to be spirit, but also the spirit of God, coming to man, is a very important theme in all parts of the bible.
Experiences …
In the New Testament we hear Jesus promising the spirit of God to the disciples. Before we go into further discussion, let us read the passage about the coming of the spirit, as it is described in the book of Acts, chapter 1: ... more
From Luke to Acts ...
Monday, April 9, 2018. The gospels tell the life of Jesus, then the biblical book “Acts” continues the stories and speaks about the beginning of the first Christian church. The same is true with the letters of the apostles in the New Testament, they all talk about questions which arose in the early church. These first questions are highly exciting, truly fascinating, and of continuing meaning! Let us have a look …
Jesus and The Holy Spirit …
The gospels do not end with the resurrection of Jesus. He died and rose again, and then continued his mission to explain his message to the disciples. He sent them, to continue. And he left them after 40 days. Luke reports this in the last paragraph of his gospel: ... more
Discussion with the Risen Jesus ...
Wednesday, April 4, 2018. The Gospel of Luke talks about a discussion of the Risen Jesus with his disciples - with the 11 who remained after the resurrection. It is a fascinating read, have a look into this far reaching part of the New Testament.
Why are you troubled? …
36 As they were talking about these things, Jesus himself stood among them, and said to them, “Peace to you!” 37 But they were startled and frightened and thought they saw a spirit. 38 And he said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? ... more
He Lives! ...
Tuesday, April 3, 2018. Easter days are behind us, how did you spend the last weekend? Often, Christians have particular celebrations of the Easter day. Some meet early in the morning, to see the sunrise. The new light is like an image of much more important and deeper events, the resurrection of Jesus about 2000 years ago. What did YOU do?
Something completely new! …
Let us look at one of the resurrection accounts, as written in the Gospel of Luke, chapter 24. It happened at early dawn, we hear the following: ... more
Discover Faith ...
Tuesday, March 27, 2018. Do we understand faith? Do we know what faith is about? How do we learn what it means?
Many people do not know what the faith of Jesus is about. So often we are satisfied with a small percentage of insight, though we search for meaning of our life at the same time. But there is more with faith. There is much to discover! There is much to see, to understand …
The Lord …
Have a look at the following sentence about faith, written many thousand years ago in the Psalms, but yet very much alive today. It can be a key to my own understanding of faith, to my own access into a world beyond: ... more
Eternity ...
Tuesday, March 20, 2018. Humans live in time. We know this. All we do is embedded into its temporal development and evolution. There is nothing free of time in this life. Time is one of the categories of our mind. We cannot think without thinking in time, in dynamics, change of things, states, emotions, thoughts, color, sound, visual …
Time …
I had to think about time when I read the following part from the second letter to the Thessalonians. It talks about suffering in this world, about being worthy of the kingdom of God, but also about eternal life and eternal destruction. Let us read from this New Testament book: ... more
Sketch: Listen to God 1 ...
Sunday, March 18, 2018. Currently, we have a new government in Germany, and the topic of religion has been in the media over the past days. The point is the role of Muslim immigrants. It is very interesting: in the political debate those who seem to be most atheistic when it comes to Christianity seem to be the most fierce defenders of Muslims when it comes to immigration and integration. Those who strongly oppose the catholic church when it comes to rules have no problem with Sharia preached in so many mosques in democratic countries. But …
Knowledge about God? …
But let us look at this topic in a slightly broader framework: what do we know about God? What is our idea of God? How do we deal with the topic? My understanding is that the deepest problem here is our missing knowledge of the world religions, about all of them, Judeism, Christianity and Islam. We might know something, but we do not fully understand. So we need to ask: what do we know about God, do we understand God? ... more
6th Commandment ...
Monday, Feb 26, 2018. Love and Sex are among the most important and driving moments of our life. They are everywhere today in our society, in advertising, in films and books, in music, in art. Love is what we need, and sexuality is one of the most important human desires and potentials. Who would we be without kids, without family, without passing on our ideals and behavioural patterns?
A save place …
Our behaviour when it comes to sexuality is one of the most sensitive and difficult issues humans discuss today. Sexuality is an intimate issue, it is important and keeping us busy with our thoughts and our emotions. And in the middle of this there are rules and commandments like the 6th commandment of Exodus 20 (2nd book of Moses): ... more
5th Commandment ...
Monday, Feb 19, 2018. Life is given by God, the creator. He is the one to give life and to take life. He is the beginning and the end. It is not up to humans to take life - except for very special circumstances. Honoring life, keeping life, that is one of the basic commands we hear in the biblical books. But it is not just murder we need to talk about, Jesus talks about more …
Honoring Life …
First, let us go back to the 10 commandments, which are written for example in Exodus 20 (2nd book of Moses). Here, we read: ... more
4th Commandment ...
Thursday, Feb 15, 2018. If you read the 10 commandments, they are quite fascinating. What is commanded, and what is the order of the commandments. Why is it commanded? The 10 commandments touch important parts of our life. Their order has a meaning, their content has a huge meaning. And we need to understand that it makes a real difference how we treat them! Today, we come to the fourth commandment.
Father and Mother …
The 4th commandment is about your personal relationship to your father and your mother. It says: ... more
3rd Commandment ...
Monday, Feb 12, 2018. Humans tend to spend their time with what is important to them. And they tend to let this importance become a dominating part of their life. How to structure our time seems to be a core and important force in our life … we will come to this in a moment. After the first two commandments, which tell us to put the living God into the center of our life and to keep his name holy, the third commandment is about the structure of our week. It is about how we deal with our time!
A day for the Lord …
Let us read the third commandment as we find it in Exodus 20. The Sabbath day is the 7th day of the Jewish week, which starts with what we call Sunday today. It is written: ... more
2nd Commandment ...
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Thursday, Feb 8, 2018. Humans have a generic sense of justice. We know, for whatever reason, what we believe to be a just decision. Or we have a sense of just relationships. Not all of our ideas about justice are without inherent contradictions. But it is very interesting to see that we all live with ethics and ideas of what we should do or how things should be! That includes behaviour, but also attitude. It includes communication, saying the truth. There is much in what we naturally attach to justice!
Holy Name …
Our natural understanding of ethis is the basis for understanding holiness. When someone would be fully just, we would call him holy. Holy originally means something like “out of our world” or “special”. It reflects the fact that no one is really holy in this world. It is just impossible to be just in all what we do. There might be many reasons for that … let us talk about this another day.
Here, we need to look at the biblical message about God, about the creator and ultimate personal spirit. He is fully just, he is full of love, full of truth, he is all what we would call just. He is, indeed, holy - that is at the core of the biblical message. It is the background for the second commandment: ... more
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1st Commandment ...
Monday, Jan 29, 2018. What is the most important thing in life? What is your first thought when you think about your day? Usually, we are busy with some immediate needs. We think about our morning at work, or our morning with the kids. Or we think about our loneliness, our illness, our most pressing problem.
The bible expresses an invitation, to think about this first place in our life. Let us look into the most prominent commandment, which takes up this most important question: what is our life build upon? What is holding it? What is giving it its spinal column? ... more
Questions and Re-Discovery ...
Wednesday, Jan 24, 2018. Can faith be without doubt? What is with the days where you are certain about your faith, which are then suddenly followed by big questions, by doubt, by disappointment and emotional turmoil? Is faith without questions? What is your way to deal with the questions? Is it ignorance? Do you want to bury them somewhere? Or do you want answers?
Questions! …
All faith needs to go through questions and doubt. All faith is questioned and challenged! This is the case for all the disciples of Jesus in the New Testament. They were under pressure. They suffered. There were tribulations. They were oppressed. And they found themselves being the biggest problem: with their own missing faith, their own doubt, their own character features which did not meet the standards of God's holiness. ... more
Truth ...
Sunday, Jan 21, 2018. Is faith true? Is science true? What can we say about the truth in and behind the words of faith which are written up in the bible? And what can we say about the truth in science? Does it contradict each other? Some people say they do not touch each other, faith is about ethics, science about facts. But is that true? Let us think for a moment! Let us describe the truth of science and the truth of faith …
Truth of Science …
Science has evolved into an approach to explore nature, phenomena and technology, which is built on arguments, experiments and discussions. The goal is to gain insight into phenomena. We want to know what is driving them, how they work. And we want to be able to influence them, to do something, to design, to build, to generate, to produce. ... more
Jesus ...
Monday, Jan 15, 2018. How important is Jesus for faith? Some of us think that it is most important to believe in God. Others think it is most important to accept other people, to be tolerant and let everyone live. But Jesus is central for faith. He is central for life. Let us explore why this is the case!
Jesus is central …
Jesus is the central theme of the New Testament. His role cannot be over estimated! He is God himself, one of the three persons of the one God, who became human. He is the central human being, restoring creation. He is put into the center of God's forgiveness for all mankind. Without him, there is no life for anyone! ... more
World Leading ...
Friday, Jan 12, 2018. It seems to be a part of the human soul to be open to competition. Look around, so much in our society talks about leadership, about being the first, about being unique. So much talks about strength. And even in games and play, in the area of leasure, we want competitions, championships, running and fighting to be the first, the best, the strongest, the fastest …
Uniqueness in Love …
There is a better way of uniqueness. It is shown by Jesus. This uniqueness is the uniqueness of the individual. It is the uniqueness of love. You are unique to me, you are valuable, you are fantastic! That is what he tells each and everyone of us. And that is what he wants us to tell the others. ... more
Come to God today ...
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Tuesday, Jan 9, 2018. Why not go to God today? Why not ask God today to help him to get to know him? Why not go to him and ask him to come into my life? Why not? There might be many things either on an intellectual level or on the emotional level which can keep us away from God. But we could also be asked: why not overcome our obstacles by just asking him to help?
Steps to God …
When I think back, I could have gone to God much earlier. I was open for him. I wanted to know more about him. But somehow I did not know how. And at some point I started to ask him. That was the turning point. After that, I got all what I needed. I got to know sincere Christians - many different Christians. I was able to learn to understand the bible. Theology suddently made sense to me - and I was able to understand and discern the different arguments and schools. ... more
The Bible and Its Reception ...
Saturday, Jan 6, 2018. Recently I ran into some remarks someone had made a while ago on the Bible, on the stories written down in the New Testament. He called it childish stories. Of course, there are many people today who might think the same. The miracles and the parables and all the claims and reports of the bible are difficult to understand for so many. How to deal with this situation?
Ideas about the Past …
Of course you could tell people that they do not know what they say. But that is not always true. This guy I mentioned first was one of the brightest human minds of the 20th century. And I was reading his fantastic remarks about science and at the same time his poor treatment of the bible, where I think he just completely missed the points. ... more
On insight into this world ...
Thursday, Jan 4, 2018. It is interesting to think about what is causing us to gain insight into this world. What is creating a path towards better insight? And what is in the way, keeping us from insight at this or that particular point?
Philosophical Preconceptions …
If you look into the history of science, your realize quickly that there were many philosophical preconceptions which kept people from insight into special problems for quite a while. Only when someone managed to break the preconception, the path was free for new insight. What is the nature of our space, the nature of light, the nature of time, the nature of small things and large things, matter and fields? Physics has seen astonishing insight over the past 150 years. ... more
Faith - not Blind but with Open Eyes! ...
Wednesday, Jan 3, 2018. “Rachel, I will pick you up after your meeting at 11pm,” said Thomas. “Just walk down the road, cross the footbridge and I will be waiting there on the other side with my car.” When Rachel walked down the road later that day, it was dark already, and somehow Rachel felt uneasy. What if Thomas would not be there? She felt a little lost alone in a foreign city. But she knew she could trust Thomas, and so she walked a little faster looking forward to meeting her friend.
With open Eyes …
Trust is something which needs a sound basis. Rachel knew her friend Thomas, and she knew she could trust him. She had faith in him, that he would wait for her at the other side of the bridge. Her faith was not a blind faith, but it was a faith based on experience, based on facts. ... more
In Whom do we Trust? ...
Tuesday, Jan 2, 2018. Once there were some young kids trying to cross a river. It had been below zero already for some days. There was ice on the river, and they made a little competition between two guys who were eager to show their courage. One of them, however, was careful. He was a little afraid …
The Icy River Story …
What if the ice would be too thin, if it would not hold him? So he thought about a way to check if the ice was thick enough to carry him. And he realized that he could test it by drilling little wholes with some long old rosty skrew he found at some junkyard nearby. So he first tested, found an area where the ice was sound, and there he could walk over without any problem. ... more
Happy New Year 2018! ...
Saturday, Dec 30, 2017. I would like to wish you a happy new year 2018! May it be a year which is good for you on all levels of your life. May it be a year full of personal relationships, which provide a framework for you to receive love and to give love! May your new year be full of mercy, …
Mercy, Hope, Insight, Faith …
… mercy for yourself when seen by others - with your strength and your weaknesses. But may it also be full of mercy in your own heart when you see the others around you, with what they can do well and where they fail. Let mercy be your guiding thought, the framework and channel of your insight into this world and the people living therein! ... more
Faith in the Modern World III ...
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Friday, Dec 29, 2017. What is your personal way to approach faith and life? Do you believe? When you think a little bit about your own belief, you quickly realize that you believe quite a lot. You have your ideas about what humans are. You have your preferences. You do your choices about what is important to you, and you have ideas why it carries meaning.
We all believe! But what do we believe? And why? …
All humans have their ideas about community, about the role of humans today. We all have our idea about why we do what we do, and why we want others to behave in a particular way. We all pursue happiness of some kind. ... more
Faith in the Modern World II ...
Thursday, Dec 28, 2017. Do you have faith? What is your life built on? What is it that forms the frame of your existence? What is it that shapes your thoughts, your emotions, your decisions, your actions, your relationships? What is the role of faith for a human today? What can it be?
Does Faith have its Space? …
Does faith have its space today? What is its role in our life? Many people today live without God, at least without an explicit reference to God. They follow their daily routine, with sleep and work, with family, kids or parents, with food and drink, with sports and leisure, with various activities. Where is God? What is his role in all of this? ... more
Faith in the Modern World ...
Wednesday, Dec 27, 2017. Faith in the modern world is always an adventure. Today, in the 21st century, we have learned a lot about nature. We have been able to invent and manufacture many goods which enable us to live in a way different from the time 100, 300 or even 1500 years ago. So everything seems to be different, right?
Faith Today …
It is highly exciting to think about faith today, to think about God, to think about who we are, what we know, what we feel, and how we come to our decisions, to our ideas, to our actions. ... more
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Love Your Enemies ...
Monday, Oct 16, 2017. We all have heard about the Christian command to love your enemies, right? But usually it is burried somewhere deep in our memory, and it is far away from playing an active role in our daily thought or daily life. But this provoking command formulated by Jesus has the potential to give crucial input into our life!
Offer the other …
First of all, before we discuss what Jesus says, let us listen to the words as recorded in the Gospel of Luke. It is a part of the sermon on the mount, in the version written down by Luke. Read with an open mind … ... more
Godly and Dignified ...
Dienstag, 10. Oktober, 2017. How to live? What is our goal? What is driving us? Let us look at the raw model which we find in the New Testament. Too often, we take our ideas from somewhere, from the culture around us. We hear about victories, about champions, about riches and fame. And all this shapes our mind and our heart. But there are better ways. We are not bound to the illusions which surround us day by day!
Jesus and Paul's Mission …
The apostle Paul writes about Jesus, about the purpose of his life and death. It is an invitation to a life which comes down to earth. Living in faith means to be fully human. Let us read from 1 Timothy 2: ... more
Source of all ...
Thursday, Oct 5, 2017. God is the source of all. We know that he is the creator. But he is more. When we look into the biblical books, God is described as the one who holds the whole world. He is above all, in all, beyond all. He sees all. He provides all. There is nothing which could happen without him knowing it before. Looking into the life of David, we will explore fascinating words .
Greatness …
God is the source of all in this creation. He is our creator. All what is great is his. Let us look into the prayer of David as written down in 1 Chronicles 29, where he puts God's greatness into the center of his attention: ... more
Trouble and Honor ...
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Monday, Oct 2, 2017. Human life can face trouble. Often, our trouble is caused by human affairs. We live in a community, with different strengths, different priorities, different perceptions … Community can cause trouble. Some of us love to fight, to hit others whenever they like. Others carry out their own type of manipulation. Responsibility, systematic approaches to build something up … there are so many layers of our daily activity. Trouble can come in the middle of all of this … when you are giving your best to move things forward.
Justice …
The question of who is strong and who has what type of power is one of the underlying questions of any community. The questions of justice is another good question, linked to the question of power. But before we get into a deeper discussion, read Psalm 4: ... more
A Path to Go ...
Friday, Sept 22, 2017. Sometimes we ask ourselves: how can we go on. Various problems come into our way. We face illness. We face resistance. We face bad words. We face rejection. We face our own guilt and our own failure. Where to go? How to find a way into life? How to find a save place?
A Save Place …
The bible talks about a saviour. It talks about a door to go through. It talks about peace to be found. It talks about someone who cares. It talks about someone who saves! Jesus is in the center of this message. He is the son of God, the messiah, the human who was given the task to pave the way. John, the evangelist and disciple, talks about him in his gospel: ... more
What kind of Proof? ...
Thursday, Sept 21, 2017. How do we know what to think about faith? There are many religions on the planet. And they all tell their particular story? Is any of these different from the others? Is any of these more true than others? Or are they all the same, all true, or all false?
Check it out! …
First of all: they cannot all be true. Religions have quite different concepts of the world and of God. There are some who resemble each other - those messages which speak about one God, the creator. But even these cannot be true at the same time. There are severe differences in who God is, and in very basic concepts of how he interacts with mankind. ... more
Who is great? ...
Tuesday, Sept 19, 2017. The question of who is great and what is great is important to humans again and again. We all have categories in our mind which search for importance around us. Who is it we need to take into account? Who is leading, who determines the framework of our life?
The greatest …
Great or not important? When we come to general elections, that is a core question? Who should lead the country? When we are in science, this is what often bothers people. We are less interested in the results, we are more looking into who has found them. When we come to economy, people are discussing revenue and money - and who is the one who earns the most. Sports looks for the winner. It is everywhere in our society. Who is the greatest? ... more
Far Away or Close?
Often, living somewhere in the world, biblical stories can appear far away in a time long gone.
However, when you come to the places where it all happened, they can be very close. Spending, for example, a week in Jerusalem and in the modern state of Israel, biblical history can be very close.
Everything is here - all the historical monuments as well as all the interpretations, all the faith of the different groups, Jews, Arabs, Christians, with orthodox churches, catholic churches, protestant churches … the world meets in Jerusalem.
Jerusalem today is an invitation to think about faith, and about your faith as well. What do I know about God? What do I know about the biblical books, about Jesus, about spiritual matters - and where to I find my way to faith?
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Ask, Knock, Search! ...
Friday, Sept 8, 2017. The general atmosphere and philosophy of the New Testament is quite amazing. Jesus describes the relationship between his heavenly father and himself. And he invites all humans to enter the same type of relationship: a relationship of trust and love, of truth and honesty!
Invitation to come …
Within the relationship to God, we are invited to bring him our needs. We are invited to ask, and we are promised to be given. We are invited to knock at his door, and he will let us in. We are invited to search him, and we will find! ... more
Seek first ...
Thursday, Sept 7, 2017. As humans we first need to make sure that our primary needs are met. This is about water, about food, about clothing, about shelter. Then, we need company. And further, we need purpose. All these are primary needs, you cannot live without it.
Our Concerns …
Clearly, we need to be concerned about our primary needs. It is first for ourselves, for our own person. Then it is for our family, for dependents and partners. And it is for whatever environment we live in and we are responsible for. This can be our company, our institution, even our church. Is all going well? Can we pay the bills? Do we have someone to talk to? Do we know, what we live for? ... more
Pray in Secret ...
Wednesday, August 30, 2017. God is real. And we can talk to him. We can pray, tell him our needs, our dreams, our wishes, our sorrows. God is there, he listens, he hears.
God cares …
God wants us to talk to him. He wants a relationship. You might think, he knows everything anyway. Yes, he does. But he wants ujs to involve him. He wants me to tell him, and then start to discuss the issues of my life! ... more
God sees in Secret ...
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God sees …
Can we imagine that there is a God, who is as majestic as the universe. Can we imagine that he sees everything? Nothing is hidden to him. Jesus claims this unbelievable ability of God. He claims that God can do anything. And he know everything. He can see into the tiniest parts of our life. He hears all our words. He knows all our fears. He knows our hope, our dreams, all what is there in us and around us. ... more
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Yes and No - In the Middle of our Life III ...
Friday, August 25, 2017. Is God in the middle of our life? Yes, he is. If you doubt, listen to Jesus and what he says about your life, your actions, your words. We are looking into the Sermon on the Mount, and this is truly realistic, it is in the middle of everyone's life, young and old, rich or poor. It is a sermon for all of us.
Yes and No …
We have a problem with truth. It is everywhere in our society and our community. It is in politics, it is in business, it is in families, it is in all the personal relationships. Who wants to speak the truth, admit the truth, be fully truthful. What would that mean at all? We have our problems to even define what the truth might be in many cases. Let us listen to Jesus: ... more
In the Middle of our Life II ...
Thursday, August 24, 2017. How do we know that God wants to be in the Middle of our life? How do we know that he is there? What is it that makes us believe? In the New Testament Jesus says to some of his disciples who had their difficulties to understand his death at the cross: “And he said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken!” (Luke 24) What does that mean for us today and for our quest for God?
Too slow to believe …
Jesus refers to our heart, when it comes to faith. The heart is the image of our existence, of all what drives us, of our will, our decisions, our trust. Our heart is the center of what is important to us. It is the center of what we value, how we see ourselves and others. Our heart is where our love and our hatred is located. ... more
The Images of Salt and Light ...
Wednesday, August 23, 2017. Often, Jesus uses images from everyday life. It seems that he wants to be in the middle of our life, and wants us to understand his spiritual message in a way that it is as concrete and lively as everything in and around us. And indeed, he wants to be there, day by day, morning, afternoon, evening. He wants to be there as the salt which we put into our food, as the light which we need to carry out all what we do.
Salt …
The first image Jesus uses in his sermon on the mount is the image of salt. We are meant to be like salt - the salt of the earth. Everyone who likes to cook knows that you need salt to cook. Without salt, food does not taste well. You cannot eat it, it is just terrible. Without salt, we cannot live, we need it, in exactly the right dilution. As people who trust Jesus we are needed as much as salt - and we need to keep our trust, our faith, which is what makes us salt. Without faith we loose what makes us alive. ... more
“And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying: 3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 4 “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.”
Jesus is opening a new era. The mercy of God is there, his compassion, his love!
His invitation stands: come to me!
In the Middle of our Life I ...
Monday, August 21, 2017. Where is God in our life? Where is he? With all the difficulties of this life, the problems on this earth, with all the trouble we have - where is God? Is it possible to believe at all? Is he there? Where? Is it all an illusion? Perhaps we should just give up completely.
Questions …
Can we find God in the middle of our life? Or do we need to go to a remote mountain, or any other remote place? What is it that lets us find the creator? Where is he hiding? This is what many of us ask sometimes. How to find God? And it seems to be difficult. ... more
Believe in God, and believe in Jesus!
God is Father, Son and Holy Spirit … He wants us to discover him, to trust him, to believe in him. We can meet him, listening to the words and deeds of Jesus, written up in the New Testament. He is there, in the middle of our life.
Come and See!
Solid Foundation ...
Friday, August 18, 2017. Talking about a “solid foundation” of our life, I would like to touch two things which may sound very different when you first hear them. But we will see that they are closely linked. Let us talk about foundation of life and of faith …
Foundation of our Life …
First, what is the foundation of our life? What is it that makes you what you are. What is it that holds you? What is it that keeps you going? ... more
Be sincere in what you do!
Know that God takes you serious in everything. Your tears, your joy, your pain, your achievements … he loves you and wants to be with you in all what you are.
He wants you to trust him, and to bring all to him in prayer.
The Bible in My Life ...
Thursday, August 17, 2017. What is the role of the bible in my life, in my days? What are the options? What are the possibilities? The bible collects the story of Jesus and his disciples in the New Testament. And it collects the stories about God and his people - the people of Israel - in the Old Testament. The texts are written to be alive, to be texts for both daily use and for deep study. They are words of life!
For You Today …
Today no one does not know the bible at all. We all know some things. But do we know Jesus? Do we realize that God in father, son and holy spirit wants to be there with us day by day? Do we realize that the bible wants to be a love letter, which conquers our heart and leads us into a life in dense community with the eternal god? ... more
Ask God today, he wants to listen to you! Pray!
Ask him to come to you, to come into your life, to guide you along his path.
Jesus says (Matthew 7,7): “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.”
Arguments on the Bible ...
Tuesday, August 15, 2017. The bible is a fantastic book. Do we know it? What do we know about it and what is our idea on how it was written. When you explore the history of the biblical texts, it is highly amazing! The texts go back thousands of years …
Fantastic Sources …
The biblical sources are far better preserved than anything we know from the ancient world! When you explore these things, it is really fantastic. There are so many more manuscripts on the New Testament than on any other source of that time - by far more, factor 5, or 8, or 10 more. And the oldest pieces of evidence we have are much closer to the New Testament than any other source we have. We have even evidence of the Old Testmaent coming from the time of Christ itself. It is nearly unbelievable! ... more
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Fullness of God ...
Friday, July 21, 2017. What is our image of God? Do we think of him as the big creator? Do we see him as some strange figure, who has a white beard, but is not good for anything? What is it that we think if we hear the word God, or Christ, or Jesus? Is our image shaped by some films we have seen? Is it shaped by church services?
It is important to look critically into our own image of God. The reason is not that we would like to destroy faith, but we want to strengthen faith. God is fantastic, but he is different from the many images which are floating through parts of our everyday cultural heritage. There is a lot to be discovered here for you and for me … ... more
Bow my Knees ...
Monday, July 17, 2017. Do you sometimes feel the need to bow before God? Do yo feel the need to tell him that he is great, and that you fully acknowledge that you need him, his wisdom, his guidance, his forgiveness, his love?
When we look into our life, and what we do, what we feel, what we hope for and dream of … what is it that builds our inner core? What is it that keeps us upright, that keeps us going, that helps us? What is our hope built upon? Where is our strength coming from?
Strengthened …
Where is your strength coming from? What do you see? What do you feel? In the letter to the church in Ephesus the apostle Paul talks about the spirit, about the father, and that he is the source of all our strength, of all what we have. Listen! ... more
Mystery of Christ II ...
Thursday, July 13, 2017. We talked about the mystery of Christ yesterday, and I would like to stay at this topic for a moment. Even though we have a high percentage of Christians in some countries, it seems that Christ Jesus is still a mystery, even to many who see themselves as Christian. Do we understand Jesus? Do we know what he means with the passages which have been passed down to us through the New Testament? What about you personally?
Does he remain a Mystery? …
Sometimes I think that Christ remains a mystery to most of us. And in particular those who make progress realize more and more how deep the wisdom we find in him - and how deep the mystery of the gospel and the mystery of his life and death! ... more
Mystery of Christ ...
Tuesday, July 11, 2017. Christian faith is openly known and available. Today, in principle everyone can read the bible, everyone can study the sources. It is open for you and me, for any human on the planet. But it has not always been that openly known. It was known in part by the prophets, by the Old Testament books, for a long time. But then, through Christ himself, through the disciples and apostles, the full depth of the Gospel became known. We will read a passage today, where the apostle Paul talks about the unravelling of the mystery of Christ.
This mystery is …
What is the mystery, that is in Christ? What is it that is openly available today? It is that through the Gospel of Christ all men and women can be heirs of the glory of the creator. It means that through faith we can be part of the family. Forgiveness is openly available through faith in Christ. Restoration, new life, love, truth, joy … there is an unbelievable promise in Christ. This was a mystery for a long time, it is now openly available! Have a look into the original words of Paul: … ... more
Abundant Grace ...
Thursday, June 29, 2017. The New Testament has a large number of passages which talk about grace, about love, about the joy of the community with the Lord. God in himself is fantastic - and he offers us a friendship and community which is deeper than anything we could ever experience with other humans on the planet. His spirit is the origin of all spirits, he is the origin of life, and he has and is life abundant, and abundant grace, abundant love, joy beyond measure.
Love and Grace …
One key point with the love of God is that he loves unconditionally. He loves us anyway. In a human framework, we do not always experience this kind of love. Some even think they never find it. But still it is there, in the relationship between parents and kids, and in many relationships. Let us read a passage from Ephsians, where Paul talks about this fantastic grace of God: ... more
Trials, Choices, Judgement ...
Tuesday, June 27, 2017. The bible speaks about trials, which can happen to Christians. What is it that trials can be? We hear about it in different places of the New Testament, and we can summarize in two or three sentences: trials come from all layers of our life. Trials can be external, come from other people who do not want us well. But they can also come from close friends who think in a way different from God's love and truth, and they often come from within us. We are the cause of our trials ourselves.
We cause them …
It is really interesting that we are the cause of our trouble ourselves. If you think more about it, you will realize that this is quite natural. We are part of the world, and we are part of freedom. We are influenced by a lot of things, many of which do not try to follow God's love and mercy. Why should we be surprised if some of this, driving our own ideas, our emotions and actions, causes quite some trouble in our life? But let us read more about trials, as written in 1 Peter 4: ... more
Angry ...
Monday, June 26, 2017. Sometimes we are angry about something. That can be some event in our work environment. It can be words of a colleague, of your boss, or of any other staff member in your group or in another. It can be in our church as well. There are different characters, and different expectations. It would be strange if nothing would ever happen which makes you angry …
How to deal with it? …
The New Testament knows this situation very well. It knows about our difficulties with each other. It knows well our natural impulses, when we feel hurt. Yet, it does not just let things go along as they come. But it invites us to come to him, to the Lord, with our anger - listen to the following passage from Ephesians, Chapter 4: ... more
Biblical Images ...
Thursday, June 22, 2017. The bible is full of fantastic images. They appear on different levels: there is the strength of the historical events themselves. They are fact, but at the same time given to us as templates of faith to relate ourselves to what happened long ago. There are the parables and images which Jesus uses when he preaches. And there are the images which we find in the letters of the New Testament and in the Revelation, the last book of the bible, with far reaching prophetic words.
Do you like them? …
Do you like biblical images? Perhaps they are difficult to understand? Do you feel frightened by these images? Or do you like them, do they talk to you? All humans have an emotional level, a level of conscieous and unconscious feelings and processes, and we have a conscious level of reason. All of these levels of our existence play a role when we read biblical texts, and all of them are addressed by the biblical images. Have a look into the first chapter of the Revelation, for example: ... more
Empty or Full? ...
Tuesday, June 20, 2017. The bible talks about gifts which the holy spirit gives to Christians. They are some kind of talent - something which can be used to serve others and to take part in the community and organization of the Christian church, the Christian community. But the apostle Paul also puts a warning into the middle of his passages about these spiritual gifts. His warning is a fantastic piece of text …
Empty? …
I can have a lot of talents, yet be empty on my inside. I can be very gifted, very intelligent, even very skilled with my hands, or with my tongue - yet it can be that I do not touch others on an emotional level, or that I have features in my character which cause a lot of trouble. ... more
Faith ...
Monday, June 19, 2017. We had a discussion about faith recently, Christian faith. It took place in a Christian bible study group - and we talked about the description of the gifts of the holy spirit in 1 Kor 12. There, you find “faith” as one of the gifts of the spirit. It is given to some believers, not to others. But what does it mean? They all have faith, don't they?
What is Faith? …
What is faith? There are different layers and different measures we need to talk about. First of all: faith in Jesus is the beginning of all of this. Without this faith and trust in Christ, we will not come to any relationship with God. It is the generic faith which is mentioned in the gospels by Jesus himself. ... more
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Role of Jesus ...
Friday, June 16, 2017. Jesus has a special role in the bible. He is the center of the New Testament. The four gospels describe elements from his life. They provide some detail about his passion and death, and then talk about the resurrection. And all the other books also talk about him.
Son of God
Why is Jesus so special. The message of the New Testament is: he is the son of God. He is God himself who became flesh, who became human. But there is more! He died at the cross to open a door for us. It is about love, about justice, about truth, about forgiveness - deep things which are important for each and every human on the planet. ... more
Topics Collections
In our Topics Collections you find a large variety of texts written as a Christian blog, see
- Topics Collection IX (17) “Got it”
- Topics Collection VIII (16) “Breakthrough”
- Topics Collection VII (15) “Silence”
- Topics Collection VI (14) “Trouble”
- Topics Collection V (13) “Patience enforced”
- Topics Collection IV (12) “Fight comes”
- Topics Collection III (11) “Responsibility”
- Topics Collection II (10) “Change”
- Topics Collection I (9) “The beginning”
Come in and browse ideas and experiences! Our God is an exciting God, who wants to live with us on a daily basis …