A call to a new Reformation in the teaching and life of Jesus' followers
I’ve alluded to this several times in other posts, but I think I need to throw it out as a subject in its own right. An awful lot of “doctrines” that are considered by church authorities as standards for faith, even standards for who is orthodox or heterodox, stand on what I submit are fairly tenuous grounds. I’ve been thinking about this a good deal … Continue reading Standards of Truth/Doctrine/Dogma
Last week Trevin Wax posted a review of Mark Driscoll’s new book “Death by Love: Letters from the Cross” on his (Trevin’s) “Kingdom People” blog. It was a detailed and sympathetic review of a book that, according to Wax, concentrates heavily on the suffering and death of Jesus as it impacts the redemption of human sinners. I was troubled, and I raised this question in … Continue reading Atonement and the Resurrection
I have never embedded media in my blog before but this first time is worth it: My gratitude to my brother Dave for working with artists Peter Buffet and Akon to inspire this work, and for sharing it with me. Be sure to check out the artists’ collaborative website Is there Something I Can Do? The issue of human slavery is one that gets far … Continue reading The blood of another. . .
I want to call your attention to an excellent post by Mason over at the New Ways Forward blog. He has done a great job of pointing out why, despite the violent language of Revelation, it is not justifying or encouraging violence on the part of believers. He points out that the violence in Revelation is all done either by the evil powers, the Beast, … Continue reading War and Peace in Revelation – A friend’s post
I’d like to take a sidebar here to introduce you to a new-to-the-web translation of the New Testament. The Pioneers’ New Testament is a wholly original translation from the Greek by my Mom, who studied Greek in college and had planned to work for Wycliffe before a variety of life’s circumstances changed the trajectory. Mom’s translation has appealed to some people who aren’t familiar with … Continue reading A New and Different New Testament Translation
In June of 1984, while I was en route to a two-year assignment at a mission hospital in Shirati, Tanzania, I attended the Mennonite World Conference in Strasbourg, France. There, in front of an audience of about ten thousand Mennonites from around the world, author and professor Ron Sider delivered the most compelling address I have heard anywhere. Sider is, of course, best known for … Continue reading War and Peace – Part 8 – Words from a 20th-Century Prophet
A much briefer statement on Christians participating in the military comes from the third-century bishop Hippolytus. As with Tertullian in my previous post, I must caution that no reasonable person would take Hippolytus’ writings as authoritative at the level of Scripture, and there are plenty of instances within his writings (nude baptism, for one) that we clearly don’t care to emulate today. That said, the … Continue reading War and Peace – Part 7 – Hippolytus
I want to present to you some very interesting writings by some of the church fathers regarding participation in the military. In doing so I am not claiming that the early church was monolithic in its stand against the use of violence, for if it were, the writers I’m about to cite might not have had to make their arguments at all. There have been … Continue reading War and Peace – Part 6 – Tertullian
So far, most of my posts have addressed areas that cause me concern within that part of Christianity that would tend to self-identify as “conservative.” In fact the casual reader could be forgiven for pretty quickly lumping me in with a “liberal” stream of thought. I’m about to change that. A responsible reading of the Christian scriptures according to the “Word of God” hermaneutic that … Continue reading Homosexuality – It’s really about which kingdom you’re in!
Throughout my posts to date I have been careful (and I hope it shows) to qualify my statements with the perspective that I am not absolutely sure that no Christian can ever use violent means for any reason. I sense that some of the commenters so far (and I am grateful for your input–keep it coming!) probably feel a little more strongly on this than … Continue reading War and Peace – Part 5 – My Own Evolution