Jim Novell

Does your life matter?  Does any life matter?  When I ask this question, I am using the word matter as a verb, to inquire if your life has any intrinsic or inherent significance and importance, any meaning and purpose, any ultimate dignity or value.  If you say yes, my next question of course will be,

On June 11, 1776, the Second Continental Congress of our emerging nation, made up of representatives from the then 13 colonies, established a committee of five men to write a Declaration of Independence from British rule.  It listed 27 grievances and our previous attempts to peacefully redress them with Britain. Their grievances were based not

In the Gospel of John, Chapter 1, we read in the opening four verses the following: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.  All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him

In the New Testament of the Bible, we have Jesus Christ, God the Son, presented as both the revelator (John 18:37) and embodiment (John 14:6) of truth, the truth of God. He graciously takes on the form of a man, so that as a man He can accomplish everything necessary to reconcile men and women

The Bible is God’s written self-revelation of the truth of His glory, of His incomparable beauty and dignity found in the infinite perfections of His eternal being.  It is the revelation of His glorious purpose in creation, particularly His creation of mankind in His image and likeness so that He could manifest/display His glory in

In the classic Christian allegory, Pilgrim’s Progress, John Bunyan tells the story of Christian (who represents the true Christian), as he travels from the City of Destruction (this present evil world) to the Celestial City (Heaven), and the challenges he and all Christians face on that journey.  Christian and his friend Faithful come to an

I want to begin this post with a multiple-choice quiz.  The question to be answered is twofold; Why does anything exist and why do I exist? There can be only one correct answer, and if you get it wrong it has both present and eternal consequences. Please choose from the following answers:  There was a

One of the most famous pieces of English literature written is an epic poem by a man named John Milton, and the title of the poem is Paradise Lost.  It was written in 1667.  According to Milton, his purpose in writing this was to justify the ways of God to men, which is ultimately the

Near the end of my previous post we were left with a question voiced by Pontius Pilate, a governing official of what would have been the most civilized and just empire in the world at that time, Rome.  The question, “What is truth?” From about 500 BC to about 30 BC Rome existed as a

No justice – No peace is a slogan that has been ever present in the recent world-wide marches protesting what appeared to be a brutal, senseless murder of a black man by four Minnesota policemen, one who committed the act and three who stood by and allowed him to.  The death of George Floyd at