What is a gospel-centered home? What might distinguish the home of a Christian from the home of their secular or Muslim neighbour?
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...
The evangelical churches of the Nordics that want to hold fast to the gospel often find that they must take a clear stance of resistance to the invitations of secular Nordic culture. Many churches claim to stand on “sola scriptura,” but when encouraged to preach sequentially through a book of the Bible, one is often met with a yawn or a sneer. We must have courage to stand firm even in the face of cultural disdain, while not giving into a cynical marginalized mentality.
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?
