Exploring Faith and Spirituality

Religion

Turn to God in Suffering

One third of the psalms are prayers of lament. TGC President Mark Vroegop defines lament as “a prayer in pain that leads to trust.” No one wants to learn the language of lament, but when sorrows co...

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AI Promises Intimacy but Delivers Isolation

I keep a running list of books I think are useful for helping Christians understand technology and our relation to it. It includes works by both Christians and non-Christians. I mark titles I highl...

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‘Primetime’ Is a Morally Murky Mess

Late in Lance Oppenheim’s Primetime, Chris Hansen (Robert Pattinson) says to another character, “Your definition of bad and my definition of bad are vastly different.” The line perfectly sums up t...

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The Deep Dish Live: Endurance in the Faith (with Nancy Guthrie and Jen Wilkin)

In this live recording from TGCW26, Courtney and Melissa talk with Nancy Guthrie and Jen Wilkin about how to persevere in faith for the rest of your life. They make the point that we shouldn’t gi...

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Catholic clergy sexually abused nearly 1,000 Massachusetts children over decades, report finds

No new indictments from eight-year investigation as state attorney general says church knew about abuseMore than 270 Catholic clerics sexually abused nearly 1,000 children across three Massachusett...

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How Can Disciples Walk Faithfully in a Postliterate Era?

In a scene that horrified me in fifth grade, the protagonist of H. G. Wells’s The Time Machine wanders through ruins of a museum and realizes the brown and charred rags hanging throughout a gallery...

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Life Is a Canvas: Create Something Beautiful

My daughter dipped her brush into her watercolors. I’m not sure what she was more excited about—making a colorful mess on the floor or forming the landscape with stick figures on her paper. She was...

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Before Your Church Plants, Ask How

Days before our first baby arrived, I had one job left on my list: assemble the crib. I knew I needed to. I knew why. But when I opened the box to find 40 wooden dowels, a tiny Allen wrench, and an...

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12 Books to Help You Think Wisely About AI

AI is already so deeply embedded in our daily lives that it’s naive to suggest we should have a binary position for or against it. AI drives our social media algorithms to capture our attention, it...

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Should We Say ‘Please’ and ‘Thank You’ to AI Chatbots?

“Alexa, please can you turn off the lights?” “Thank you for asking so nicely. I’ll turn them off now.” Back in 2018, Amazon introduced a feature called “Magic Word” for its Alexa devices to provi...

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On My Shelf: Life and Books with Chris Watkin

On My Shelf helps you get to know various writers through a behind-the-scenes glimpse into their lives as readers. I asked Christopher Watkin—professor of European languages and author of Biblical...

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The Case for (Sometimes) Wordless Evangelism

You’ve probably heard the quote attributed incorrectly to Francis of Assisi: “Preach the gospel at all times; use words if necessary.” And since you’re reading The Gospel Coalition, you’ve likely n...

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Looksmaxxing Is a Crisis of Modern Masculinity. The Church Has a Cure.

In corners of the internet not far from where you’re reading this, young men are discussing beauty tips and ways of “maximizing” their physical appearance. It’s called “looksmaxxing,” and it’s dubi...

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Meryl Streep’s casting as Aslan has angered the Christian right. Don’t they have more pressing issues?

The Oscar-winner is voicing Narnia’s wise lion in Greta Gerwig’s adaptation of The Magician’s Nephew, leading to roars of fury from US evangelical commentators It is a confusing time to be alive, g...

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Criticize like a Christian

Jethro criticized Moses. Samuel confronted Saul’s disobedience. Paul challenged Peter when he separated from Gentile believers. Jesus chastised the Pharisees. Many of the Bible’s most faithful fig...

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Better Together: Men and Women in the Church

When men and women work together toward a shared mission and vision in Christ’s church, we get a fuller representation of what it means to bear the image of God. But what does that look like? And i...

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‘Heart of the Beast’ Shows Why Man Should Not Be Alone

Why are we so compelled by “solitary man surviving in the wild” stories? We love TV shows like Alone, Man vs. Wild, Outlast, or the long-running Survivor (season 51 premiered this week!). We love b...

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Impossible for Apostates to Return? The True Meaning of Hebrews 6:4–6

Years ago, a woman wrote me with an agonized question. Despite having grown up in the church, she had left it for a life of sin and now regretted her wayward paths. Yet she was unsure if she could ...

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Tim Keller’s Final Exhortation: Notice the Stories that Shape You

Tim Keller spent some of his last days on earth thinking through the stories our culture tells us. In his hospital room during intensive cancer treatments, he used the whiteboard intended to list m...

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4 Missionary Insights for Workplace Evangelism

When I’m in the United States, people can’t understand my Australian accent. For example, when I go to Starbucks and the staff member asks for my name, he or she cannot understand my pronunciation ...

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Pastor Roundup: How to Prepare a Preaching Calendar

I (Jared) began seminary in 2001. Shortly after I arrived on campus, my Greek professor told all the aspiring pastors in our class that we should attend an after-hours workshop on expositional prea...

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