Sam Hardman In politics we have the Right and we have the Left. We have the Conservatives and we have the Liberals. And so often people think that what we really need is a Moderate – someone who can find the right balance and bridge the gap between Right and Left. I have often heard …
Author: Sam Hardman
Sam Hardman Someone recently asked me about the short and rather shocking account at the end of 2 Kings 2 (vv. 23-25), so this is an attempt to summarize how I think this passage is to be understood, based on the insights of recent biblical scholarship. It’s one of the strangest stories in Scripture, and …
Sam Hardman How grim the world often seems, O Lord. Violence and oppression prosper in the hand of the wicked: Brutal murders of Your sons and daughters – princes and princesses in Your kingdom – in lands far away while the world looks on – or looks away – in silence. But truly not in …
Sam Hardman This is a prayer of devotion, posted here with the goal of encouraging suffering Christians to let the hard things they are dealing with drive them to Christ. Suffering and Glory O Lord, You have said that our sufferings in this present darkness are not worth comparing with the glory to come. This …
Sam Hardman O Lord of the harvest, You have planted us in your garden not to be barren, but to bear much fruit. Yet we resist your cultivation. We see the Pruner’s saw and shrink from painful cuts, unwilling to yield to loss of branch or limb – believing the lie that fruit-laden branches may …
Sam Hardman I’ve written in a prior post that what we call the “Triumphal Entry” of Jesus into Jerusalem is better thought of as a provocation to the powers of darkness to launch the onslaught that would lead to the cross than as an act of triumph. It is indeed a true presentation of the …
Sam Hardman Have you ever asked yourself the question, “Why does Jesus enter Jerusalem for the final time during his earthly ministry in the way that he does – what Christians call ‘The Triumphal Entry’ – when he knows that in a matter of days he is going to die?” We know that he knows he’s going …
Sam Hardman As more and more Millennials walk away from the Christian faith they once claimed to hold, it’s tempting for Baby Boomer Evangelicals like me to decry this state of affairs and to worry about the trajectory of the Church in America. Millennials are leaving the Church in droves. They say they can no …
Sam Hardman Recently an interesting letter to the editor appeared in a Kentucky newspaper called the Lexington Herald-Leader. In it the writer, speaking of Christians, said in part that “these people have been trained from childhood to believe in fairy tales…. From childhood, they were told stories that were fascinating but simply not true. This …
Is the Story of the Cross Too Fantastic to Believe?Read More »
12/17/2019 Did you know that singing Christmas carols with a true heart is, fundamentally, an act of war? You may think this is a joke – or the musing of a madman. But on the contrary, it is an entirely serious claim made in a moment of singular sanity. This war is not primarily cultural …