Author: David Ellis

Don: Where does religion come from? Do we need it, and if so, why? After His triumphal entrance into Jerusalem, His cleansing of the temple, and His instant withering of a barren fig tree, the Jewish religious authorities demanded that Jesus reveal the authority for His acts. As was so often the case, He answered…

Don: Humankind was created to be one with God and with each other. This was God’s original plan. But the Fall resulted in the breakup of that oneness. We became estranged from God and from one another. All religions are essentially trying to help us journey back to oneness with God, whether in the Christian…

Don: God’s original plan, it seems, was to be in constant, continual contact with humankind. In the garden of Eden, Adam and Eve walked and talked with Him. Even after the Fall from the garden, God maintained constant conversation with Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Aaron, Elijah, Elisha, and the other prophets. Throughout the theocracy—the period…

Don: How do we make sense of a prayer for revenge? Can God honor such a prayer? More than we might wish, Samson is like us. Each of us is a gift from God. As children, we are drawn naturally to God, which is how we know that children have faith. Indeed, Jesus said that…

Jay: Samson was a “superhero”—a man possessed of exceptional strength who was a hero to his people, the Israelites. He was eventually tricked by his Gentile wife into revealing the source of his strength (his hair), and was lulled by her to sleep so that her servants could cut his hair and render him susceptible…

Jay: Daniel, a Jew, became a favorite of the non-Jewish king of Babylon. The king’s nobles were jealous of Daniel and, knowing his devotion to the Jewish God by seeing him pray at his window (visible from the street) three times a day, they conspired to persuade the king to decree a 30-day prohibition on…

…pray without ceasing;… (1 Thessalonians 5:17) Don: What does this statement mean? It appears within a set of instructions on how to live and behave given to members of the growing Christian church in the Greek city of Thessaloniki by the Apostle Paul: But we request of you, brethren, that you appreciate those who diligently…

Don: There is a universal need to pray to a supernatural power, especially in times of need. And yet, when we analyze the concept of prayer, we find it hard to understand. It seems important to just about everyone, everywhere, at all times. Jesus prayed often, and prayer was only thing the disciples asked Jesus…

Don: I’ve been thinking all week about this statement from Jesus: “And all things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.” (Matthew 21:22) Would that include a prayer for God to change His mind about something? James said that the effective prayer of the righteous man can work wonders: Is anyone among you suffering?…