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Showing posts from May, 2023

A modern disciple's doubts

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  The eleven disciples traveled to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had directed them.   17  When they saw him, they worshiped, but some doubted. (Matthew 28:16-17) I try to be faithful to the Scriptures when I write or preach. I aim to draw out the lessons I can and apply them to today’s daily walk of faith without saying more than the biblical witness. I want to get everything I can from the diligent study of the Bible and share that with others without putting words in God’s mouth. I can’t help but wonder, though; I don’t recall that I’ve heard anyone focus—I mean really focus—on that doubt. That’s what I hope to do in this essay, and I hope what follows does not stretch the biblical sense far beyond what Matthew ever intended. “But some doubted.” The disciples were moved to worship in the presence of the risen Christ. Yet, even in this profound moment, some still wrestled with doubt.  We hear it said that “seeing is believing.” Yet even as the discip...
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Dear Self-Published Christian Author

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by Bart L. Denny, Ph.D., Th.M.  Dear Self-Published Christian Author, I am rooting for you. I admire you. I have no doubt that you have a message that needs to be out there. I’m glad you think your book would look good on the shelves of the Christian bookstore for which I buy inventory. If we sell your book, you win and we win. So, I am writing to ask, as Tom Cruise’s character, Jerry Maguire, so famously pleads with his client, “Help me help you!” I want to lovingly disabuse you of a few notions as I get rolling. The first one is that because you are local to the store, customers will automatically be interested in your book. I’m sorry, but they won’t. Not only that, but you have a lot of competition from other local, self-published authors and plenty of local authors that publish traditionally with the major Christian publishing houses. You must have at least some local notoriety—and a way to let people know your book is available locally at fine Christian bookstores. Second is t...
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