655 results for author: Brad

The Color of Truth – Brad Jersak (with Eric Allaby)

On my first visit to Grand Manan Island, I met a new friend. Eric Allaby is a kind and fascinating soul who was born on this lobster paradise off the coast of New Brunswick. In the early 1960s, he was among the first to introduce scuba diving to the herring fishery (cf. weir fishing) and to personally survey the dozens of shipwrecks around the island. Eric went on to survey, map and salvage materials from Bay of Fundy shipwrecks. Mr. Allaby, while continuing diving, would go on to become a map-maker, museum curator, herring fisherman and MLA in the New Brunswick provincial legislature, where he served for 19 productive years. As I said, ...

Your Highest Moral Mountain – Brad Jersak

Photo by Alexey Trubachev Moral Mountains: Every individual and every tribe or nation lives by a hierarchy of moral standards. These standards can vary dramatically across a population or even within a person, like the peaks in a mountain range. But over time, we tend to see one peak dominate the horizon, reaching upward to a higher elevation than the others. That is not to say the highest peak is always that best. It may only be the most dominant. In his book, The Second Mountain: the Quest for a Moral Life, Pulitzer Prize-winning author David Brooks says, "The first mountain is the individualist worldview, which puts the desires ...

CWR Video – Reconciliation – by Lucy Peppiatt

    4 minute video on Reconciliation - Lucy Peppiatt.

Forgiveness is Scandalous Again – Brad Jersak

The Scandal...  Over several years, I have been tracking the results of a rolling survey by a Christian teacher, Dan White Jr. Although we've never met, I would call him an online friend. As Dan visits faith communities across America, he invites Christians to follow Jesus. But wait, isn't following Jesus the very definition of a Christian? You would hope so, but Dan's survey explores that question. Throughout his journeys, he presents active claimants of the "Christian" label with passages from Jesus' own "Sermon on the Mount" (from Matthew 5-7). Then Dan surveys the reaction of Christians to the very words of Jesus Christ, ...

Q&R with Brad Jersak – “Son of perdition”?

A Christ-centered theology begins with the revelation of the Good Shepherd, who never gives up, and whose mercy never fails. Yes, there is such a thing as "lost." A lost coin, a lost sheep, and even a lost son... like Judas. We don't diminish that reality or how seriously destructive our lostness can become. But the Good News Jesus announced was that because of our heavenly Father's self-giving love and relentless pursuit, "lost" is not the last word. We hold out hope that even Judas (and therefore, even I) will testify at that end, "I once was lost, but now I'm found/was blind, but now I see."

Jesus on “What-About-ism” – Brad Jersak

"What is that to you?" - Jesus' final words from his final conversation, recorded in the final Gospel (John 21:23) were gentle rebuke to the apostle Peter. "What is that to you?" is the interrogative form of "None of your business!"  The same reply rings through the centuries to our current era, when our society has a knee-jerk reflex that some call "what-about-ism." "What-about-ism" is a typical form of deflection when we feel the discomfort of our complicity in some wrong. It is a defensive strategy where we are tempted to react, "What about them?" "What about them?" "What-about-ism" tries to redirect attention elsewhere, especially when our ...

Q&R: How do you read Romans 3:23? Brad Jersak

Romans 3:23 -- In my childhood, as a young Evangelical, memorizing Scripture was important to me. I saw and experienced its value and knew it as one way to commune with God. I also appreciated finding short verses that were easy to recall. That's one reason Romans 3:23 made it to my earliest list of well-known passages. The verse is an excerpt from one of Paul’s notoriously long sentences: 22b For there is no difference; 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God set forth ...

Mental Health Care: A Christian Response – Brad Jersak

My dear friend is a good man and faithful Jesus-follower. Truly. Kind and uplifting—effusive in his encouragement—completely love-able. A generous human being and effective communicator of the good news. My friend is also in recovery from a very serious mental health crisis. It has been terrifying for him and his wife, for his children and his friends. His situation required urgent medical intervention. Hospitalization. Rigorous testing. Medication. One and the same man—a beautiful spirit tormented by a physiological meltdown that assaulted his mind and emotions. How is that possible? Aren’t people of good faith who love the Lord ...

Abp Lazar Puhalo on the “More Christlike” Trilogy

"I am not at all sure I see the value in all of the 'high theology'. Much of it is really theological philosophy. It is of value for keeping false images, potentially idolatries, from developing, but Christians really need a simple faith. That is why I think your 'More Christlike' series is of such great value. Much theological writing is really for an intellectual elite. It can discourage the faithful because of its complexities. Of far greater value to the faithful is the presentation of a simple faith - a presentation that is guarded by the boundaries set by the Fathers, but presented in a manner comprehensible and meaningful to everyone. ...

“Follow Me”: Footprints in the Snow – Brad Jersak

Matthew 4:18-22 -- 18 As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. 19 “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.” 20 At once they left their nets and followed him. 21 Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John. They were in a boat with their father Zebedee, preparing their nets. Jesus called them, 22 and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him. "Follow Me" When Jesus called the core of his band of ...

Q&R with Brad Jersak – “Leave your gift at the altar” (Matthew 5:24)

Question: In Matthew 5:24, Jesus says, "Leave your gift at the altar." What does that mean in context? Does it mean we need to go and apologize to those we've hurt, or God won’t talk to us? Response: Let's begin with the context, as you suggested. This is a section of Jesus' Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) where he is citing the Law of Moses and explains how the spirit of the law goes deeper than external conformity to obvious rules against murder or adultery (for example). God's intent is to transform our hearts so that in following Jesus Christ, grace will weed out the roots of murder and adultery while they are still inward hatred or ...

Two Faces of “Humanism” – Brad Jersak

HUMANISM: As a child of faith raised in a fundamentalist tradition, I regularly heard preachers decrying the evils of "humanism." They were profoundly disturbed by the secularizing forces of the Enlightenment (longer term) and, more recently, at that stage, the 1960s. The biggest concerns at that time were the evils of Darwinism in the classroom, pushback against prayer in school, and society's descent into "sex, drugs and rock n roll." Humanism was shorthand for what the revivalists often condemned in full as "secular humanism." SECULAR HUMANISM: These itinerant doomsayers peddled in fear, condemnation, Armageddon and hellfire, but that's not to ...

Q&R with Brad – “Can God feel anger even if he’s not an ‘Angry God'”?

Question: I listened to a recent podcast on your thoughts, breaking down the "angry God" worldview. You couched it in the language of "worshiping Molech," which was a sharp wake-up call to me, even though I have been moving away from the "Angry God" view for some time. It got me wondering about something and I am hoping that you might be able to provide some context for it. Even though God is not the "Angry God" of modern Evangelicalism ... is it still possible for God to have the emotion of anger? Case in point ... the cleansing of the temple. What do Jesus' actions in the temple reveal to us about the nature of the Father? ...

“Drop Your Stones” – Brad Jersak

“Drop your stones.”  Did you catch the reference? Many readers will recognize that phrase as an allusion to John 8, where Jesus’ opponents drag a woman into the Temple—they’ve caught her (or framed her) on the charge of adultery. Under the law, they could stone her to death. But in fact, the plan was to trap Jesus in a double bind. “Shall we stone her?” If he says no, he’s guilty of abolishing the Law of Moses. And if he says yes, he’s abandoned his prophetic stand for the law of mercy. You may remember his beautiful one-liner: “Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.” Jesus kneels beside the woman and ...

Q & R: Does John 10:35 Teach Inerrancy?

Question: I am wondering what Jesus meant when he said, “The Scriptures cannot be broken” in John 10:35. I have heard this bit of a verse used as proof of inerrancy. I would like to hear an explanation of the context of Jesus’ words, and especially how it relates to Psalm 82:6.  Response: Such an important question! Let’s begin with the phrase itself. The “Scriptures” to which Jesus refers are indeed the Psalms, part of the Jewish holy books of his day. And these Scriptures, he says, “cannot be luthenai.” That precise word is used in this form three times in the New Testament: Luke 13:16 — ...