R. L. Solberg

Waiting on Jonah

A short story. “So full of artless jealousy is guilt, it spills itself in fearing to be spilt.” The words, spoken in a bold, mellifluous voice, echoed off the concrete ceiling overhead. Beneath the freeway overpass, two men stood side by side, staring into the rain. A long silence passed between them. The older man sighed […]

R. L. Solberg 7 years agoOctober 6, 2019

Faith Theology

When I Tell You…

A few months back I came across a great poem online that really resonated with me. It’s called “When I Say I Am A Christian” and was written by Carol Wimmer in 1988. Wimmer had begun to sense an increasing resentment in American culture toward Christians who had adopted a distorted attitude of self-righteousness about their […]

R. L. Solberg 7 years agoNovember 29, 2020

Theology

From Our Fathers

One of the things that amazed me when we first moved from Minnesota to Tennessee was the history I found here. For a while, my small company rented a house in Franklin, a town founded in 1799 that sits about 15 miles south of Nashville. Our office-house sat right across the street from an old […]

R. L. Solberg 7 years ago

Apologetics Faith Theology

Oh, Henry.

I recently had a very interesting conversation with an old friend. He and I got into a robust discourse on the Christian faith; debating its historical roots, it’s modern-day abuses, and it’s truth claims. It occurred to me that others like myself who are interested in apologetics might find our discussion engaging and thought-provoking, so […]

R. L. Solberg 7 years agoAugust 15, 2023

Apologetics Culture Faith Philosophy Theology

A Piece of Life

The following exchange happened between an unidentified questioner, and an Indian yogi and mystic called Jaggi Vasudev, who is more commonly known as Sadhguru. The questioner asks, “We have light and dark, we have hot and cold, do we have also good and bad?” Sadhguru answers, “Good and bad is not in terms of your […]

R. L. Solberg 7 years ago

Book Reviews Faith Theology

Whom Shall I Say is Calling?

A few days ago a good friend of mine told me of his growing concern about Sarah Young’s incredibly popular devotional, Jesus Calling. This book has captured the attention of a wide audience since it was released in 2004 and has reportedly sold more than 15 million copies. My friend, who has been reading it […]

R. L. Solberg 7 years agoJanuary 21, 2021

Apologetics Culture Philosophy

On Human Decency

Author Christopher Hitchens was brilliant with a turn of phrase. In that sense, I often think of him as the C. S. Lewis of antitheism; charming, clever, intelligent, well-read, British. He had a way of phrasing his arguments so that his point seemed like the only logical position one could possibly hold on the matter. […]

R. L. Solberg 7 years agoOctober 10, 2020

Faith Recovery

How Not To Be A Gorilla

This is a recovery lesson that focuses on confessing the dark secrets of our past out loud to another person. What could be more fun than that? Actually, it’s not as scary as it sounds when we approach it within the context of the 5th step of recovery. And this step is almost always accompanied […]

R. L. Solberg 7 years ago

Apologetics Philosophy

Is Wrong Wrong? (Intro)

Introduction I was recently talking with a colleague about an iterative question-asking technique called the “5 Whys” which was developed by Sakichi Toyoda. This tactic is used by the Toyota Motor Corporation as a tool for drilling down to the root cause of problems. The idea is that by repeating the question “why?” five (or […]

R. L. Solberg 7 years ago

Apologetics Philosophy

Is Wrong Wrong? (Part 1)

17 Years Later The classroom was quiet save for the occasional shuffling of papers. Professor Harris was tapping away on his laptop as the class of forty or so college students sat scattered across the theater-style seats facing him. Most of the students in the class had their heads down, racking their brains in an […]

R. L. Solberg 7 years ago