Wow, this guy nails a description of depression pretty well. From the post Depression, Hope, and Travis Tritt « The Seeking Pastor

I had been used to having success without trying very hard.  Good grades, somewhat decent athletic ability, spiritual growth, a good family–all of these things had come to me quite easily or at least it seemed that way.  But when I moved out, got married, got a job, and became a pastor all I did was fail. 

And fail and fail and fail.

It didn’t matter how hard I tried, how much I prayed, or how many tears I cried.  I kept on failing.  This led me to one of the worst thoughts that people can have about themselves.  I began to think of myself as a failure. 

I know now that a failure is an event, not a person.  I didn’t know that then.  My marriage, job, and church were all having problems and it was all my fault.

From the post Five Final Thoughts on “Love Wins” (and then I’m finished) | Shawn Smucker

When Jesus died on the cross, two thieves died beside him. If I would have been a follower of Jesus on that day, it would have been easy for me to look at those thieves and think, “Those evil men are going straight to hell.” But what would have been unknown to me was the fact that one of those thieves looked at Jesus and said “Remember me!” Simply that. No Roman Road. No prayer of salvation. Did he even know Jesus’s name? We’ll never know. But he asked Jesus to remember him, and Jesus said he would join him in paradise that very day.

Who am I to make a judgment call on whether that person of another faith did or did not go to heaven? How can I possibly know?

From the post Imprecise Language about the Bible’s Authority: The Second Summary Statement of CSBI | The BioLogos Forum

You probably need to read the development of Dr. Enns’ argument building to this paragraph to understand it’s full import, but this is the paragraph that contains the major point of the article so it’s the paragraph that I excerpted.

It should not be presumed that Scripture’s authority in touching on the matter of creation demands a literal reading of Genesis 1. Put differently, it is not at all clear that the Spirit’s superintendence of the biblical writers means that historical and scientific accuracy is now required of a faithful reading of Genesis 1 simply because Scripture is “authoritative” and “touches” on the issue of creation. The Spirit’s superintendence might have led the ancient biblical writers to “touch” on the matter of creation according to ancient ways of understanding Scripture, not beholden to our current notions. In that case, just what we mean by biblical authority with respect to Genesis 1 becomes a far more complicated matter than CSBI lets on.