Nat Crawford - Executive Coach, Speaker, Leader

“But I say,   walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify   the desires of the flesh.   For   the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other,   to keep you from doing the things you want to do.   But if you are   led by the Spirit,   you are not under the law.   Now   the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality,   idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions,   divisions,   envy,   drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that   those who do   such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.   But   the fruit of the Spirit is   love, joy, peace, patience,   kindness, goodness, faithfulness,   gentleness,   self-control;   against such things there is no law.   And th...

A common statement to defend an atheistic world-view is “There have been more massacres in the name of Christianity than any other religion. Religion is the cause of all our problems.” This is a straw man argument.  It is illogical and frankly worn out. Let me explain: The term Christian is quite loose now days. The term Christian blankets a wide variety of denominations, cults, agnostics, universalists, and pluralists. So what am I saying? There are “Christians” and then there are Christians. I may say “I’m a vegetarian.” But if you see me eating bacon double cheeseburger, you will call me on my hypocrisy.  When a “Christian” creates a heinous crime, rarely is authentic Christianity into question, rather the baby is thrown out with the bath water. Jesus Christ Himself knew His follower’s life would be under radar. That’s why in John 15:8 He said, “ This is to my Father’s glory,   that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.” In the same way Ja...

There is a tension in our culture today. Some are shouting “God is dead! There is no God!” While others contend that if there is a god, surely he is unworthy of any praise. He has abandoned us. Richard Dawkins states in his book The God Delusion “ The God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction: jealous and proud of it; a petty, unjust, unforgiving control-freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser; a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully.”  Is this assessment true? If God is a God of love, can He truly be a God of judgment?  Is Dawkins right? Was God more focused on justice in the OT and focused on grace in the NT?  And why does God seem so different between the Old Testament and the New Testament?  With the daunting task of reading you will find God’s love, mercy, and judgment in the Old Testament and God’s lo...

           Jesus Christ taught and did many things during His life. But did He teach social justice?  What do we mean by social justice?  Social justice is giving each person what is rightfully theirs.  Most people would put say “It is helping those in need get the things they need.” Social justice is a hot topic both in the political and Christian realms.  Depending on who is talking, you may hear the terms redistribution of wealth, socialism, entitlement and communism.  I will not attempt to deal with whether food, clothing, shelter and healthcare are entitlements or whether or not it is the government’s role to fulfill these shortfalls. I will focus on the teachings of Christ in regards to the poor, the sick and taxes. In the synoptic gospels, there are over ten recurring records of teaching on the poor and over twenty on healing. The book of John contains similar passages. Clearly, Jesus had an opinion on ...