All Is Vanity (Meditations in Ecclesiastes, Part I)

April 05, 2018 by Joel Burns in Ecclesiastes, meditations

“Vanity of vanities,” says Solomon. “All is vanity.”

Inconsequential might be the word we contemporary people would use.

Human life as we know it is fleeting, transitory, temporary, futile, and incomprehensible.

There must be something more. Solomon dedicated himself to discovering what that was. And if anyone in all of history was up to the task, it was he. Ecclesiastes is the account of that quest. I hope you continue to join me as I reflect on it.

The Bible Is Not God - Part II

February 27, 2018 by Joel Burns in meditations

The sword of the Spirit is the word of God (Ephesians 6:17). To try and separate the two makes no sense given the case the Bible itself spends so much time establishing. The Bible is not God, but to take it seriously at all is to believe both that He is the one from whom it directly emanated and that it is an essential part of any Christian’s life. For someone to try and claim that the Bible is great but not entirely necessary is akin to telling people that they need to stay hydrated but shouldn’t worry too much about drinking water. It acknowledges the need but pretends that the mechanism for fulfilling the need is unnecessary.

The Bible Is Not God - Part I

February 22, 2018 by Joel Burns in meditations

The Bible goes to great lengths to speak against the kind of hypocritical and legalistic abuses that are the cause of so much undue suffering. Consequently, Christians who are truly dedicated to the teachings of the Bible will be the stalwart enemies of religious abuse and never its proponents.

On Adventure

February 15, 2018 by Joel Burns in meditations

While so many of us claim to want our lives to be filled with adventure, the word we’re using and the reality of our experiences could hardly be more different. In some ways, for many of us adventure becomes not just a preference but a need within us crying out to be fulfilled. We perceive that a life without it wouldn’t be a life worth living. And while that may or may not actually be the case, the fact remains that what many of us conceive of as adventure is in reality anything but.

The Human Book

January 16, 2018 by Joel Burns in meditations

The Bible, divinely conceived, concocted, and compiled, turns out to be not merely divine, but also profoundly, honestly, and unabashedly human. It does not shirk away from the brutality that is mortal life, broken by sin and so often defined by pain. It is honest both about our current reality and our desperate need for God in the midst of it.