Dr Paul Allen

Christ and fhe Adulterous Woman (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) I am a sinner. And as a sinner I exhibit all kinds of behaviors both odd and ugly. The more I come to know myself, the more I see the ways in which I am a product of my sin, in which I view the world through the lens of my sin. When I look outward, and when I look at others, I see them through sinful eyes and interpret them through a sinful mind. As I do that, I fall into the trap of sin projection. Sin projection is when I project my sin upon others, assuming that they are prone to the very same sin and, therefore, falling into it as much as I am. I am not the only one who does this, either. The adulterous husband wonders if his wife is committing adultery. The lying child assumes that he has been lied to by his teacher. The angry mother is quick to accuse her children of being angry toward her. The power-obsessed pastor believes the associate pastor is maneuvering to displace him. The young man with the lustful eye ha

English: Good shepherd (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him. And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.” So he told them this parable : “What man of you, having a hundred sheep , if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.’ Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance. (Luke 15:1-7 ESV ) One of the challenges I face when it comes to maturing as a disciple of Jesus is working through passages familiar to my head (knowledge) but unengaged in my heart (life change). The

The Meal at the House of Simon the Pharisee (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) And [ Jesus ] also told this parable to some people who trusted in themselves that they were righteous , and viewed others with contempt: “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector . The Pharisee stood and was praying this to himself: ‘ God , I thank You that I am not like other people: swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I pay tithes of all that I get.’ But the tax collector, standing some distance away, was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, the sinner!’ I tell you, this man went to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted.” Luke 18:9–14 What intrigues me about the Pharisee in this passage is that he thanked God for his moral uprightness and religious de

The Tax Collector (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) And [Jesus] also told this parable to some people who trusted in themselves that they were righteous , and viewed others with contempt: “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector . The Pharisee stood and was praying this to himself: ‘ God , I thank You that I am not like other people: swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I pay tithes of all that I get.’ But the tax collector, standing some distance away, was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, the sinner!’ I tell you, this man went to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted.” - Luke 18:9–14 - This parable from the lips of the Lord Jesus is very instructive for us in the wake of all the attention being given to the Catholic Church,