Unfettered Faith

Fundamentalist Christian views hold the universe to be between six and seven thousand years old, while most scientists believe it to be between thirteen and fourteen billion years old. Why the great disparity? Most scientists, agnostics, and atheists believe in evolution, while many Christians believe anything besides a six day creation story told in Genesis is sacrilegious. Most who are neither scientifi cally minded nor religious are seeking answers in an increasingly troubled world and, with science and religion so far apart, fi nd themselves confused. Which side is right and can the gap between science and religion ever be bridged by the truth? Ignorance, misconception, and division frustrate God’s will, but understanding, knowledge and wisdom bridges all gaps and unlocks the vast storeroom of UNFETTERED FAITH.

"Smith's sage advice will aid Christians in recognizing the simple joys of practicing their faith."--Publishers Weekly Western culture is in a tailspin, and Christian faith is entangled in it: we do kingdom things in empire ways. Western approaches to faith leave us feeling depressed, doubting, anxious, and burned out. We know something is wrong with the way we do faith and church in the West, but we're so steeped in it that we don't know where to begin to break old habits. Popular pastor and speaker Mandy Smith invites us to be unfettered from the deeply ingrained habits of Western culture so we can do kingdom things in kingdom ways again. She explores how we can be transformed by new postures and habits that help us see God already at work in and around us. The way forward isn't more ideas, programs, and problem-solving but in Jesus's surprising invitation to the kingdom through childlikeness. Ultimately, rediscovering childlike habits is a way for us to remember how to be human. Unfettered helps us reimagine how to follow God with our whole selves again and join with God's mission in the world. Foreword by Walter Brueggemann.

Fundamentalist Christian views hold the universe to be between six and seven thousand years old, while most scientists believe it to be between thirteen and fourteen billion years old. Why the great disparity? Most scientists, agnostics, and atheists believe in evolution, while many Christians believe anything besides a six day creation story told in Genesis is sacrilegious. Most who are neither scientifi cally minded nor religious are seeking answers in an increasingly troubled world and, with science and religion so far apart, fi nd themselves confused. Which side is right and can the gap between science and religion ever be bridged by the truth? Ignorance, misconception, and division frustrate God's will, but understanding, knowledge and wisdom bridges all gaps and unlocks the vast storeroom of UNFETTERED FAITH.

In this prophetic call to faithful Christian living, Marva Dawn identifies the epidemic socio-cultural attitudes that destroy hope in our modern lives. Because affluent persons don't know what to value--how to choose what's important and weed out the rest--we remain dissatisfied with what we have and are compelled to want more. Dawn demonstrates, however, how Christians can organize their lives to live in ways that allow them to love God and neighbor and, in the process, alleviate the despair in their lives and in the lives of others in the world.

Searching for and finding a peace that is unfettered by fear, anxiety, and circumstances has been a lifelong dream for Qené. Using her unique writing style of prose, prayers, and modern-day parables, she has crafted many tales of her journey of faith. This is the journey of one who loved religion but finally found her peace in a relationship with the Savior, the one who is the Prince of Peace. Each step along the journey ultimately prepared her for a near-death experience, in which she stood at the door of death with Jesus and asked the all-important question, “Is this to be the number of my days?” This is laced with scripture and study questions, and you will be drawn into each story to examine your own journey of faith and find a peace unfettered. Experience how to let your faith be bigger than your fear.

A century ago, as the United States prepared to enter World War I, the military chaplaincy included only mainline Protestants and Catholics. Today it counts Jews, Mormons, Muslims, Christian Scientists, Buddhists, Seventh-day Adventists, Hindus, and evangelicals among its ranks. Enlisting Faith traces the uneven processes through which the military struggled with, encouraged, and regulated religious pluralism over the twentieth century. Moving from the battlefields of Europe to the jungles of Vietnam and between the forests of Civilian Conservation Corps camps and meetings in government offices, Ronit Y. Stahl reveals how the military borrowed from and battled religion. Just as the state relied on religion to sanction war and sanctify death, so too did religious groups seek recognition as American faiths. At times the state used religion to advance imperial goals. But religious citizens pushed back, challenging the state to uphold constitutional promises and moral standards. Despite the constitutional separation of church and state, the federal government authorized and managed religion in the military. The chaplaincy demonstrates how state leaders scrambled to handle the nation’s deep religious, racial, and political complexities. While officials debated which clergy could serve, what insignia they would wear, and what religions appeared on dog tags, chaplains led worship for a range of faiths, navigated questions of conscience, struggled with discrimination, and confronted untimely death. Enlisting Faith is a vivid portrayal of religious encounters, state regulation, and the trials of faith—in God and country—experienced by the millions of Americans who fought in and with the armed forces.

The Wilderness: A Path to Promise accounts for Bonita’s spiritual descent from the mountain top of blessing, position, and influence into the abyss of isolation and separation. Bonita testifies that a spiritual wilderness is a space of extreme loneliness, trial, and overall discomfort. Bonita examples through her experiences that though God’s presence fills the wilderness, the enemy is there to tempt self-will and self-determination over God’s will and purpose. Bonita uses her story to encourage the reader to look inward at what is genuinely guiding their purpose. The book also challenges the question: What happens once you arrive at your promise? Her story will interrupt hopelessness and offer a different perspective on how we characterize God’s will for our lives.