Outside Fire Department Station 4 in Utica, New York, a hand-made sign stands propped against the front wall.  It reads, “Happy Birthday Jesus We Love You.”  Predictably, the Freedom From Religion Foundation sent a letter to the mayor demanding the sign be removed.  The sign is a “religious endorsement,” the group asserted.  The mayor replied citing legal opinion that the city is within its rights to keep the sign.  The battle continues.

Interpreting The Signs – Both in the Present and in the Future

by WRF Board Chairman, Dr. Rick Perrin 

It happened more than two generations now.  But we must remember as if it were tomorrow.

Communicating the Christian gospel clearly must include deep empathy of the way those in another culture are likely to misconceive it. For instance, Muslims have deep appreciation for intimacy within their families, so a gospel with a Western overly-individualistic setting must be transcended and overcome,

 NOTE:  This item expresses the views of the individual to whom the item is ascribed and does not necessarily reflect the position of the WRF as a whole.]   

I ended my last post on suffering with a comment about “the mysterious will of a personal, powerful, just, and compassionate God.” I can just about hear a critic responding, “Yeah, yeah, yeah! You Christians always take refuge in mystery, but you won’t let us do it.

 NOTE:  This item expresses the views of the individual to whom the item is ascribed and does not necessarily reflect the position of the WRF as a whole.]   

My previous post explored human suffering in the light of four non-Christian worldviews. All of them are fundamentally flawed because they are untrue to our deepest intuitions about life. In this post, I turn to the Christian Scriptures.

 NOTE:  This item expresses the views of the individual to whom the item is ascribed and does not necessarily reflect the position of the WRF as a whole.]

Human suffering is very great. Much of it seems senseless. Much of it is so evil that I cannot comprehend it. Vile violence against women and girls, perhaps more than anything else, pierces my heart like a knife. 

Francis Spufford, UNAPOLOGETIC: WHY, DESPITE EVERYTHING, CHRISTIANITY CAN STILL MAKE SURPRISING EMOTIONAL SENSE. London: Faber & Faber; San Francisco: Harper One, 2012, xiii, 221 pp. $25.99. 

A Book Review by WRF Member This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. John Boyer Chair of Evangelism and Culture Westminster Theological Seminary

Yeshua looks around. He sees the doves in their wicker cages,

 NOTE: This item expresses the views of the individual to whom the item is ascribed and does not necessarily reflect the position of the WRF as a whole.]

 It started when I looked through the Christmas card display—not a single one on Mary and Joseph and Baby Jesus.  I was surprised, but then I remembered how proud I am to be an American.  Not a Massachusetts Bay American