Do you, like me, have a complicated relationship with the news? I find it almost magnetic—I want to know “what is going on,” to think myself part of current social dramas. I also find the news disorienting and discomfiting—it depicts a world out of control.

Many people in ministry and others could sympathize with the declaration of Rev. John Newton (1725-1807), author of the famous hymn, Amazing Grace, that he had:

Why is it that Christians—particularly evangelical Christians—are increasingly seen as the enemy of the common good?  A Google search for “evangelical” in The New York Times quickly locates numerous articles about the evils of Christian evangelicals.

Jesus talked a lot about money. Though I haven’t done the accounting, I suspect that money is one of his primary topics. Think of Jesus’ parables: the lost coin, the two debtors, the rich man and Lazarus, the Pharisee and the tax collector, the talents, and so on.

Perhaps I shouldn’t admit this publicly, but I don’t understand why Christ died. I am confident that I know the reason for it: sin’s hold on humanity. But, how Christ’s death changed that—about that, I am not so sure.

Ruth Bartlett is the 2018-2019 Senior Student. She is in the MTSD and the MDiv combined-degree program.  She hopes to be ordained with the Canadian Baptists of Ontario and Quebec. 

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Sex and Sin have a long history together.