Other Religion-related Posts

If you'd like to read other blogs I've written for The Christian Century's online magazine (theolog.org), feel free to read them at http://theolog.org/2006/01/tom-johnson.html

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My Life in Baseball

MY LIFE IN BASEBALL My earliest memories of baseball haunt the side yard of the "farm" I grew up on in Troy, Michigan. Most of our 12-acre property was a corn field or lay fallow, but about two acres was laid out like the diagram below. On this field we played softball . . . carefully. Breaking windows in the house in shallow center field could result in the neighborhood season being canceled, at least until the window was fixed and paid for out of our meager allowance. So, we all, including we right-handed hitters, learned to hit to right field (a skill that came in handy later in church league softball!). You could also pull the ball to left field, but not too deep, so you wouldn't get a muck ball from the leaky sewage drain field. (How did we not get hepatitis, dysentery, hoof and mouth disease, or some other noxious crud? But we didn't.) The barn made a decent backstop, though you had to stay out of Mom's rhubarb that grew along the barn near home plate. ...
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Eleven Beliefs That Cause Problems

From Albert Ellis , edited by Kathie Keeler and Tom Johnson Our behavior is determined by what we believe, whether we are aware of it or not. Anxiety, depression, sadness are all caused by what we believe. Below are listed eleven common beliefs that cause problems. The list is adapted from the work of Albert Ellis , one of the originators of cognitive-behavioral therapy. His pioneering research brought a significant paradigm shift to the world of psychology. 1. I must be loved by everyone. Actually, everyone doesn’t have to love me, or even like me. I don’t necessarily like everyone I know, so why should everyone else have to like me? I enjoy being liked and loved, but if someone doesn’t like me, that’s OK. I will still feel loved and am OK. I can’t make someone like me anymore than someone can get me to like them. I don’t need everyone’s approval all the time or anyone’s approval all the time. They don’t approve of me: that’s OK. I don’t approve of everyone else either. 2. I mu...
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Instead of T.U.L.I.P.

In a recent Koinonia blog ( http://www.koinoniablog.net/2014/05/tulip-is-so-20th-century-proof-is-a-modern-framework-of-dort-and-gods-irresistible-grace.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+typepad%2FpQHu+%28Koinonia%29 ), Pastor Jeremy Bouwma, cited, but did not recommend, a revision of the traditional Calvinist T.U.L.I.P called P.R.O.O.F. If this stuff interests you, check out the link above. Let me offer my alternative to both of these, a version that emphasizes God's grace: Instead of Total Depravity      1. Sin - it affects all aspects of our humanity. We cannot turn to God without God’s saving GRACE. Instead of Unconditional Election      2. Salvation - it is entirely by God’s GRACE that we are saved and come to know God. We do not merit or earn salvation. Instead of Limited Atonement      3. Sacrifice - God in GRACE and mercy accepts the the death of Christ as a perfect and suff...
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