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-Andrew Sveda | Monday, August 29, 2022
If you had told me three years ago that I’d be a theology major, I probably wouldn’t have believed you. Leaving high school, I thought I knew exactly what I wanted to do and who I wanted to be. God had other plans for my life, and I am incredibly grateful for it. But why
Andrew Sveda | Monday, April 4, 2022
“If you are a preacher of grace, then preach real and not fake grace,” Martin Luther wrote in a letter to Philipp Melanchthon in 1521. “If grace is true, then you must bear true and not false sin. God does not save those who are only fake sinners. Be a sinner — believing and rejoicing
Andrew Sveda | Monday, March 21, 2022
Listening to a playlist one night alone in my dorm room, a new song started playing. It began: “Not what my hands have done / can save my guilty soul…” I didn’t even get that far before skipping to the next song. I had heard it many times before and had some particularly fond memories
Andrew Sveda | Monday, February 28, 2022
The Bible says, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17:9). There is much we don’t know about our own hearts. So many are the idols there, and how little we understand the depths of them. We oftentimes surprise ourselves with our own actions. When faced with
Andrew Sveda | Monday, February 14, 2022
“[S]hould a man so carelessly cast away himself” the character Worldly Wiseman exclaims to Christian in John Bunyan’s famous allegory “The Pilgrim’s Progress.” In this tale of a Christian named Christian’s journey from the City of Destruction to the Celestial City of Mount Zion, Christian meets many different individuals trying to lead him off the
Andrew Sveda | Monday, January 31, 2022
The Bible speaks in unequivocally clear terms that Christianity is the only true religion and that Jesus Christ is the only way to God. “For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (1 Timothy 2:5). “[T]here is salvation in no one else, for there is
Andrew Sveda | Monday, December 6, 2021
For those interested in politics, this is quite a special time of year — one of merrymaking, fun, laughter and, most importantly, that seasonal debacle in the culture war known as “The War on Christmas.” The controversies often seem rather silly, though some, like the use of the word “Christmas” vs. “holiday,” bear significance. But,
Andrew Sveda | Monday, November 22, 2021
The idea that Christianity is simply wish-fulfillment is a common line of attack among skeptics. “It just seems too good to be true,” I could imagine someone saying. “Sure, we all want purpose and meaning in this life and a reason why things happen. But it’s just wishful thinking. We’re tricking ourselves. We need to
Andrew Sveda | Monday, November 8, 2021
Politicians love to talk about the “right” and “wrong side of history.” It is quite powerful imagery, after all, and is a strong invocation of moral authority. But boiled down to its simplest form, the phrase effectively says, “The future is on my side. In 50 or even 20 years, all will utterly reject your
Andrew Sveda | Monday, October 11, 2021
When it comes to vaccine mandates, many conservatives are borrowing a pro-choice mantra: “My body, my choice.” On one hand, this is a smart tactic. It points out a logical inconsistency in the pro-choice, pro-COVID-19 vaccine mandate camp. If what I do with my body is my choice, how can you force someone to take