Parchment & Pen Blog

I spent seven years as a singles pastor.  Can you imagine the issues I had to deal with regarding sex? How far can we go before marriage? What if we are engaged? What happens when we have already crossed that line? Is it okay to try living together if we don’t have sex? As well, I knew [...]

Thanks to a friend who gave me some wonderful quotes about sin in the life of a believer. Matthew Henry The more pure and holy the heart is, it will have the more quick feeling as to the sin that remains in it. The believer sees more of the beauty of holiness and the excellence of [...]

An email I recieved: “I have seen your website and read through some of the things on there. I have already prayed to receive Christ and feel God calling me to ministry. But right now I am really struggling with a particular sin in my life and I cannot seem to get victory from it in [...]

(Lisa Robinson) That question sounds radical, I know. But bear with me and hear me out. For all of my Christian life, when I’ve sinned I’ve asked the Lord to forgive me. And observing the landscape I know I’m not alone. How many of you do that when you sin? Lord, please forgive me. I’ve [...]

John, First of all, let me say how much I appreciate your work. Your Gospel was the coup d’état of your writings. Chapter 14 was a lifeline to me as a kid. Thanks for spending so much time (four chapters!) focusing on what we call the “upper room discourse.” It is tender and comforting in so many ways. [...]

An old adage: “You are not who you think you are. You are who you think other people think you are.” Who do we want to be? As Christians, what is our goal? How do we want others to view us? Chuck Swindoll used to say (and I quote loosely from an impaired memory), “If [...]

I am so often torn by my own sinfulness to the point of despair. I wonder, “How can a Christian such as myself be so sinful?” This is because I know myself. If you know yourself well enough (and are not in denial), I imagine you often say the same thing. I am comforted by the fact that [...]

Added to the “and other stupid statements series.” During my ordination, one of the questions that I was asked by a seminary professor was “Are all sins equal in the sight of God?” I hesitated. Not because I did not have a strong opinion on this, but because I was not sure what the answer [...]