Spokane Faith & Values

Father Knows Best: Should I go to seminary?

Martin Elfert | May 21, 2013

Hey Rev! Sometimes I feel an overwhelming pull toward seminary. Other days I don't. How do I know whether or not I'm supposed to go?
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Four weddings and a…

Liv Larson Andrews | May 20, 2013

"I would much rather do a funeral." All you clergy types have heard it. Especially around this time of year.
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My friend and I were discussing the purpose of church, and he named the various reasons people attend: a sense of obligation or guilt, because it’s the socially acceptable thing to do, to see friends and have a community, or because someone else (often a significant other) “makes” them go. Every Saturday night or Sunday morning, I make a choice: I decide whether or not I will go to church.
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The Bible discourages marriage for the sake of your spiritual life

Eric Blauer | May 17, 2013

In an era when everyone is crying out for the right to marry, the wisdom of the Apostle Paul might be good to heed. Paul penned some pretty shocking words about the single's "better" life to a society that almost worshipped marriage. His words echo to us in this day when we still frame our society around the institution of marriage.
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Can empathy be dangerous?

Ernesto Tinajero | May 16, 2013

While working on a book about compassion and empathy I became interested in Paul Brown’s essay “The Baby in the Well” in the New Yorker. Paul Bloom argues about the limitations of empathy. Morality should be beyond empathy and he uses known phenomena “the identifiable victim effect” to claim that empathy leads us astray in moral judgments.
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Downtown Coeur d’Alene church: remodeling sacred space

Bruce Meyer | May 15, 2013

First Presbyterian Church of Coeur d’Alene has been downtown since 1888. But their membership hasn’t always been growing as fast as it is today. Until last summer, the church only needed one worship service. Recently, thought, the church became so full they were forced to add a second. And now their sanctuary is getting a makeover.
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Father Knows Best: Do people who commit suicide go to hell?

Martin Elfert | May 14, 2013

I was a friend of “Dave,” the man whose suicide you wrote about two weeks ago. According to the authority of the Bible, does his suicide determine his destination in the afterlife? In other words, is he in hell? It is a VERY hard question to ask, but if his premeditated murder of himself purchased hell, others need to know about it in order to save their own souls.
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