Your Worldview Minute with Jonathan Morrow

What Are Spiritual Disciplines?Right off the bat, we need to acknowledge that Paul commands us to discipline ourselves “for the purpose of godliness; for bodily discipline is only of little profit, but godliness is profitable for all things, since it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come” (1 Timothy 4:7 – 8 NASB; cf. 2 Peter 1:5 – 10).They are essential for our growth and not optional when it comes to the Christian life.A discipline is “any activity I can do by direct effort that will help me do what I cannot now do by direct effort.”For example, we practice scales on a piano to learn to play music — not to get really good at playing scales.I don’t practice grammar to get really good at grammar. I study vocabulary and grammar so that I can learn to speak a new language and experience the whole new world that language opens up....

Is Science our only Source of knowledge?With the rise and success of modern science (and these advances have been beneficial in many ways), some people have unfortunately come to believe that science, and science alone offers true knowledge of reality.Famous atheist Bertrand Russell put it this way: “Whatever knowledge is attainable, must be attained by scientific methods; and what science cannot discover, mankind cannot know.”Initially, this sounds sophisticated and intelligent. The only problem is that if it’s true, we couldn’t know it to be true. Why?....

How do we overcome hurry sickness?Dr. Richard Swenson is a futurist who writes about the social and personal factors that afflict America. Swenson has diagnosed the problem of our day as “overload.”If you were to take an MRI of our lives, here is what you would see:“We have too many choices and decisions, too many activities and commitments, too much change creating too much stress. We have too much speed and hurry. We have too much technology, complexity, traffic, information, possessions, debt, expectations, advertisements, and media. We even have too much work.”And all God’s people said — “Amen!”When There Is No MarginWhen we no longer have any margin in our lives, no space between our load and our limits, then we are in a constant state of overload. And that is not a healthy place to be.

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Learning to think in a culture ruled by feelings.The words we use to talk about our faith shapes how the people around us approach Christianity.Have you ever noticed how often people start talking about Jesus, the Bible, or God With “feeling” language?"I just feel that Jesus would…""It doesn't feel like God would…""I just feel that’s not what the Bible says…" more... jonathanmorrow.org

Why listening matters when sharing your faith.If you want to have more effective spiritual conversations, then learn to listen.Francis Schaefer once said:"'If I have only an hour with someone, I will spend the first fifty-five minutes asking questions and finding out what is troubling their heart and mind, and then in the last five minutes I will share something of the truth."Our temptation is to unload all the facts we’ve ever learned in one conversation.....

What is the Role of the Holy Spirit in Interpreting the Bible? Can a non-Christian grasp the content of the Bible? Yes and no. Yes, if we mean the text can be understood by employing a sound approach to literature—to the basic grammar, context, and content of a passage. But an unbeliever cannot fully appreciate and take to heart the truth of the Bible. God’s Spirit helps Christians discern the spiritual realities of the text and then apply them to their lives (see 1 Cor. 2:14). Scott Duvall and Daniel Hays offer helpful insight here: When it comes to biblical interpretation, having the Holy Spirit does not mean that the Spirit is all we need, since he will not make biblical interpretation automatic. He expects us to use our minds, valid...

Why Knowledge Matters for Christians. Unfortunately, many people today think that you can’t know religious or moral truths. Why? Because if physics, chemistry, biology, or genetics doesn’t deal with a topic, then they assume you can’t know it. In other words, it’s fine for you to say you believe that Jesus is God but not […]

What is the purpose of spiritual gifts?Talking about spiritual gifts can be confusing and at times controversial. But what does the Bible teach?1 Peter 4:10-12 says:“As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace: whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ…”Here are three things we learn about spiritual gifts from this passage:First, each believer is given a spiritual gift. We are to receive the gift that the Holy Spirit has given us with gratitude and without comparison because not everyone gets the same gift.Second, spiritual gifts do not exist for us. They are given so that we can serve one another. Spiritual gifts are given to build up the body of Christ.Lastly, spiritual gifts are ultimately to glorify God as we serve one another.If spiritual gifts are being used in a way that magnifies

What’s the difference between knowing and showing Christianity is true? I was first introduced to this helpful distinction by Christian philosopher William Lane Craig. The Bible teaches that a believer knows Christianity is true on the basis of the internal witness of the Holy Spirit. Passages like Rom. 8:16 and Gal. 4:6 make this clear. When we become a follower of Jesus, God’s Spirit then testifies to our spirit that we are His children. In other words, God lets us know directly—without spoken or written words—that we belong to Him, that Jesus Christ has forgiven our sins, and that we have been reconciled to God. This is a kind of rational testimony because the Holy Spirit is a person. And this is how you know that Christianity is true. Showing Christianity to be true involves giving reasons or evidences that are publicly available to everyone. For example, a friend can take you at your word about your assurance that Christianity is true, but he can’t get inside of you to experience it for himself. The task of showing Christianity to be true is ...

What is true tolerance? True tolerance is where we extend to each other the right to be wrong. False tolerance, on the other hand, naïvely asserts that all ideas are created equal and this must be rejected. Not only is this obviously false, it’s unlivable. Unfortunately, as Stephen Prothero has put it, “The ideal of religious tolerance has morphed into the straitjacket of religious agreement.” Contrary to what is commonly believed, the height of intolerance is not disagreement, but rather removing the public space and opportunity for people to disagree. You can still love someone and think they are wrong about important moral and spiritual questions. However, true tolerance is usually not what people have in mind when they say people should be free to believe in whatever God (or no god at all) they want to. Here is the simple, but profound point to grasp—merely believing something doesn’t make it true. Put differently, people are entitled to their own beliefs, but not their own truth. Belief is...