Many principled folks, when approaching the question of who to vote for in an election, think in terms of issues. (Some of my own research, in fact, has been based on this very premise.) To decide on the best candidate, we size up each one’s viewpoints on immigration and guns and Gaza, and choose whoever…

An end-of-the-year reflection: what percentage of your waking hours do you spend considering what to do with your life, versus actually doing it? Clearly we all spend more time doing than considering, and it could hardly be otherwise. We can’t let ourselves be paralyzed by thought, or we’d accomplish nothing. Still, the “considering” part shouldn’t…

The New Testament tells us that those who are in Christ will be “sanctified”; that is, progressively purged of their sin and made more like Jesus over time. You’d think this would mean that the believers you encounter in life would be more Christ-like, on average, than the non-believers are. I’m not sure I’ve actually…

Like all children, I was taught the two “magic words” (“please” and “thanks”) from a young age. One of them always came more naturally to me than the other, though. “Please” is used when you’re in a position of wanting or needing something, and you’re blocked because someone else holds the key to it. I…