A call to a new Reformation in the teaching and life of Jesus' followers
This Monday, May 30th, is Memorial Day in the United States. On this holiday, Americans remember those who have perished in the military service of the nation. Readers of this blog already know that I am convinced that service in any nation’s military is incompatible with the call of Jesus Christ. But as Ronald Sider said so powerfully in 1984, just because followers of Christ … Continue reading Remember the fallen
I’ve written against the usual doctrines of hell and eternal punishment now and again on this blog…you can see the works by choosing the Hell category from the list at right. However until we changed to WordPress I never had a good way of providing my original source material for others to evaluate or critique. This post is just to make that material available. At … Continue reading New Testament Survey on Hell
A common phenomenon within theological, political, and other discussions that get us worked up, is that someone frames a question as “either-or” and then others jump onto that argument as “for” one side or the other…without anybody really stopping to consider whether the question itself was properly framed to begin with. The recent controversy surrounding Rob Bell’s book “Love Wins” seems to me a prime … Continue reading Burn-them-all vs. Universalism: A false choice
I encourage you to pop over to my friend Kurt Willems’ blog and read his post If You’re Reading This Post, You’ve Been “Left Behind.” Kurt does a beautiful job of casting what our role must be in the current “Tribulation” of this world. Borrowing nearly every catchphrase of an eschatology neither one of us can stand, he’s got a masterful call to live as … Continue reading For all of you who’ve been "Left Behind"
I want to take this opportunity to introduce my readers to my dear friend Ben Bajarin. Ben and I have been spiritual relief valves for each other for the better part of three years now. Though we attended the same church for over a decade, it took nearly nine years before we met each other and discovered that God had stirred some common–though unusual–thoughts in … Continue reading Nailing it to the Door is becoming a joint venture!
I’ve said before that Greg Boyd has produced some really good arguments on the Open View of God. Greg’s got a great post on his blog from about a month ago (OK, so I’m a little behind) briefly outlining three really good reasons why determinism (a la Calvinism) is logically untenable. Go check it out! Greg is actually responding to a previous New York Times … Continue reading Food for thought – Greg Boyd on why Determinism must be false
In my previous post on this subject, I examined a number of Biblical references commonly used to promote the idea that God is unchanging. We saw in those scriptures, that the issue being addressed centered largely on the premise that God can be depended upon to keep his word…in other words, unlike humans or other gods of legend, he’s not capricious or fickle. On the … Continue reading Does God Change? Part 2 of 2
Today is Good Friday, the day we honor the supreme sacrifice Jesus Christ made when he went to his execution on the cross. While I have argued before that Christians tend to spend too much energy and emotion on Jesus’ death and too little on his resurrection, it is still right and good that we soberly and gratefully acknowledge the suffering Jesus voluntarily accepted on … Continue reading Did God really abandon Jesus on the cross?
In recognition of holy week, I’m going to resurrect a piece I wrote five years ago at Easter, after I saw the film The Passion of the Christ. Released in 2006, the film itself is clearly not news; however, as recently as this month I’ve heard fellow Christians speaking positively—almost reverently—of the film and its portrayal of Jesus’ suffering. Notwithstanding the excellent work on Jesus’ … Continue reading Misplaced Passion
I just learned of a fellow who goes to my folks’ church in North Carolina, who has written some interesting stuff on the flag in church, the Kingdom of God, and related topics. I encourage you to take a look at his site, www.kingdomofgodflag.info. In particular, I was intrigued by this comment in his post on “Patriotism:” When people say “Freedom isn’t Free,” what they’re … Continue reading Recommended reading on nationalism and peace