Julen får sin mening i påsken. Inkarnationen pekar på försoningen; krubban på korset. Faktum är att den enda anledningen till att vi kan sjunga om den stilla natt då Guds Son tog sitt första andetag på jorden är att Gud, från evighet, hade förutbestämt den mörka dag då hans Son skulle överlämna sin ande, upphöjd från jorden. Med andra ord: Jesus föddes för att dö.
What is true? Is there such a thing as truth? Is truth objective or subjective? How can we as Christians converse about truth in a pluralistic society? Here are three helpful and complementary approaches to map out a road for fruitful engagement with our neighbors.
If you watch mainstream media, then chances are you have heard the phrase “my truth.” Whether in movies, TV shows, social media reels and/or posts, it seems that we cannot escape the reality that we are living in the “my truth” era. Oprah even helped popularize this phrase during an acceptance speech in 2018.1 “My/Your/Their Truth” has become a sort of calling card for those who reject outright the idea that there exists anything that could be defined as absolute truth. This ideology holds subjective truth (what a person identifies as their own personal truth) higher than objective truth (truth...
I am, of course, happy that my neighbors are happy. But I grieve for their godlessness. Without the gospel, without God, no person, however happy, has any real hope. But people here don’t seem to care. Perhaps more apatheist than atheist, they simply have other things to worry about. The prosperity, luxuries, and abundant ease of modern life distracts the people of the Nordics, turning their attention from the eternal to the temporal. And they seem to be doing fine.
In the Nordics, we are blessed with spectacular nature: majestic fjords, vast forests, arctic lands encased in ice and snow, megafauna, and more. But why are we so enchanted by these northern lands? Why do we long for the awe instilled by fjords? Why do walks through quiet forests calm our restless souls?
