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If you’re like me, the first time you ever took the trouble to learn the Beatitudes it was a list you had to memorize in catechism class. For most people, that is all the Beatitudes has been: a list, and now likely a forgotten list. What many don’t realize is that the Beatitudes were at the very heart of the teaching of Jesus Christ, and that they are a not a memorization exercise but way of life to be lived.The world first heard the Beatitudes proclaimed overlooking the Sea of Gali …

One evening I had the sad duty of attending my neighbor’s funeral. The assistant pastor from the church stood up and after a few remarks about the deceased began to give a sermon. The first ten minutes was dedicated to how he knew that my neighbor believed in Jesus and was in heaven, so there was no need to pray for her or offer Masses or anything like that. The next thirty minutes or so (it’s difficult to tell since it seemed like eternity) was dedicated to explaining why it doesn& …

The history of Christianity is one of debate. As the Gospels reveal, Jesus was challenged right from the start. Rival schools like the Pharisees and Sadducees posed pointed questions to him, trying to trap him in his words and even to get him in trouble with the authorities. Some of Jesus’ most famous statements were responses to challenges from his critics: “What God has joined together, let man not put asunder.” “A house divided against itself cannot stand.” &ld …

In 1983, at thirteen years of age, I walked into a United Pentecostal church and had the experience of “speaking in tongues.” I was then taken, along with my mom and sister, to a baptismal tank and baptized “in the name of Jesus.” All of this took place at a “revival” service we attended at the invitation of a lady my mother knew from work.My family attended a Southern Baptist church in those days. Although we were not associated with a church in my earliest …