John Stoehr of Yale says that most evangelical preachers pay almost no attention to the Sermon on the Mount.

And many Christians don’t agree with the core of it.

Stoehr must be a smart guy. I’ve been saying the same thing for years.

I’ll talk about that next week. This week, I must talk about the concert at St. Matthew Saturday night.

Six o’clock. Dinner after.

Our concerts help support Friday’s Word and other aspects of our outreach.

They are important.

They are also free.

But we do pass that plate.

And we have a great time. (I promise.)

This concert is called Hymns and Sounds Like.

There are three hymns, but the other eight songs are the “sounds like”—pop songs that could be hymns with a couple of word changes.

Like, say, You’ve got a Friend. It has always reminded me of Jesus’ words on prayer.

And our great soloist, Shannon Davidson, will sing Dolly Parton’s I Will Always Love You. Dolly wrote it for someone who was very mad at her.

What about You Raise Me Up? I know—it’s a love song. But I think of Jesus every time.

Throw in a few great old hymns and we end up with a very spiritual and very uplifting evening.

I will sing, too. And tell a story. Four singers, all together.

These monthly concerts take a lot of work. I expect good attendance.

Don’t disappoint me.

Don’t make me have to call you or knock on your door. Just come and enjoy.

That’s Saturday, Aug. 19.

At 6:00.

Plan to stay and eat.

(Not live-streamed.)

Some scientists dismiss religion as myth and nonsense.

They may throw a sop to believers, saying religion is a whole other thing, unrelated to science. So, people can believe in God if it makes them feel good.

But science and religion both seek ultimate reality. And there can be only one ultimate reality, not one for science and one for religion.

If scientific truth and religious truth do not agree, one of them must be wrong. I would never believe a lie because it makes me feel good.

Let’s get real here.

Not only does God exist, God is the ultimate reality for both science and religion.

At the deep level of quantum physics, science and religion begin to merge. Quantum physics and religious experience are doorways to the same transcendent world.

Why is this?

As physicist Bernard Haisch puts it, “God has made all things from himself.” (Let that sink in.)

So, Paul could say, “In him we live and move and have our being.”

We are, then, one with God and one with one another.

And Jesus could say, “Whatever you do to the least of these, you do to me.”

He meant that literally.

Many Christians fear that science will one day discover something that will prove God does not exist.

But that’s impossible.

Every discovery in science takes us closer to God. It is non-believing scientists who need to fear.

The deeper they dig, the clearer God will become.

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Hey! One week away!

Another concert at 6:00 p.m., Saturday, Aug. 19.

Yes, I, too, will sing.

How many people are truly evidence-driven?

Let me suggest a test.

Consider the Shroud of Turin. This old piece of cloth may be the single most important object in the world.

If it is authentic, Jesus was raised from the dead. And that’s a big deal. This event would establish the spiritual and philosophical foundation for all our thinking. It would affirm the reality of God as proclaimed by Jesus.

Now consider this: There have been many efforts to reproduce the Shroud—and all have failed—miserably.

With the most advanced computer technology, an image like that on the Shroud remains beyond reach. Think about it!

You know what we can do now. With AI, we can show FDR giving a speech he never made. There could be a new movie starring Bette Davis 34 years after she died.

(I wish someone would make that. Loved Bette Davis!)

Some folks are afraid AI may rule the world.

But it cannot—and never will be able to–reproduce the image on the Shroud.

There’s only one way to make that image.

You must crucify a man exactly the way the Romans did. And then you must get God to resurrect that crucified man.

That’s the only way.

I know the Shroud was carbon-dated to the Middle Ages. But a lesser-known carbon dating and three other dating methods place it in the time of Christ.

Everyone who is truly a thinking person, driven by evidence, must come to terms with the Shroud.
You can run from it. You can hide. But the Shroud will tell its story.

Can you face reality?