Author: Benjamin Bjorkman
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Greed, Sloth, and Welfare
Welfare is a common controversial topic in the modern age. It’s noble to sympathize with the downtrodden, to accommodate those who cannot provide for themselves. Charity is a universally loved virtue for good reason: a voluntary act of benevolence warrants merit. Mandated charity (in this case, welfare), on the other hand, tends to discomfort the…
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The Rains
I want to share what happened to me a few weeks ago. Here in northern California, we’ve had an extremely wet winter; storms have been “on” more than they’ve been “off.” In an evening of respite, while expectant clouds painted the night sky, I visited the old town grocery store to fetch my daily bread.…
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Rules for Me, Not for Thee
The Bible talks a great deal about brothers and neighbors. We must love our neighbor as ourselves, reconcile with our brother before we present our offerings to God, and not bear false witness against our neighbor. I wish now to discuss protocol towards those who are not our brothers or neighbors. Just as the Good…
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Unity: God or the Church?
Unity in the church is a very important notion, especially now. It’s the champion concept of nondenominational churches, and particularly applicable to the fragmented sects of Protestantism. Even so, I consider it one of the most misused and abused concepts in the faith. I’d like to bring one case in point to the forefront. I…
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Pruned Branches and Full Silos
The skies were smoky orange last week. That doesn’t have anything to do with today’s piece; I figured it was worth denoting. I love living in California. About a month prior, I listened to a sermon on Luke 12:13-21. While I haven’t tackled this chapter specifically, its themes echo through articles I’ve already written (“Salvation…
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The Majesty of Evensong
Over the past couple weeks, I toured Great Britain. There were a few wonders there, though I might say that there were few so universal yet so outstanding as the churches there: massive architectural wonders, even in the small towns. As someone who once attended church in a synagogue, I valued highly the Christian imagery…
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Five Tips for Handling Agnostics
Tonight was tiring. I was reviewing James 3 with my bible study. We had moved into the lounge of the host church’s foyer, which someone had already occupied. I wanted to discuss how James’s critique of the tongue was contextualized with a preface on teachers, and how his analogies for the tongue controlling the body…
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On Haman and Pettiness
Our Bible study finished Esther this month, and we decided to celebrate it by watching the 2006 film One Night with the King. It was partly well acted and very well-funded but laughably inaccurate and overall rather bad. You know your film is a poor retelling of the biblical story when it’s based on a…
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God Is Real: Surrender with a “Yes!”
When Sally was in elementary school, she was sharing God with her fellow students. Her teacher scoffed and walked up to her. “God doesn’t exist!” Sally responded patiently, “Oh yeah? Prove it!” The flustered teacher said, “There’s never been any evidence of God, so He can’t exist!” Sally remembered what her parents had told her.…
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Taking Up the Sword – On War and Revolution
Honestly, I didn’t plan for this to coincide with the Russian invasion of Ukraine. This has been in the back of my mind for years; I’m quite surprised that I didn’t write about this sooner. The final impetus was derived from a Bible study a couple weeks ago, the week before the invasion. We were…
