545 results for tag: blog

Jesus’ Dysfunctional Family – Doug Schroeder

Matthew 1:1-16 When Matthew records Jesus’ family tree in the opening words of his gospel, he is writing to his Jewish neighbors who were asking, “What qualifies Jesus to be this Messiah we have been awaiting so long?”  Qualifications are everything.  Does Jesus have the right pedigree?       When you write a resume you don’t want any smudges in your personal or employment history.  But who does Matthew include in Jesus’ resume?  The inclusions are stunning. Included are 5 women. Shocking. Women had no status back then.  They were excluded from any genealogy.  But here, in the ...

Just War, Just Deserts, Just Hell – Wayne Northey

There is an arresting statement about God in I John 4:8: Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. “God is love” is an essentialist statement about God: who God is in God’s essence. There is also an arresting call to Christians in Ephesians 5:1 & 2:  1Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children 2 and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. The family trait of a Christ-follower is love: God’s essence is love; so should Christ-followers’ essence be love. “Following God’s example” means being “imita...

The Greatest Commandment – Laura Urista

I've always liked to watch detective shows. Growing up, two of my favorite detective shows were Columbo and Dragnet. Remember Sergeant Joe Friday of Dragnet? Sometimes when Sergeant Friday would interview a witness they'd get a little long winded or off topic. Sometimes they would give their own ideas about how to solve the crime. When that happened, Sergeant Friday would say in a very calm, monotone, no-nonsense voice: “Just the facts…just the facts.” In fact, that quote became such a popular catch-phrase or slogan that they started to sell T-shirts with the slogan “Just the Facts.” In Matthew we read about a Pharisee, described as “an ...

Judging others is self-condemnation (Matt. 7:1-5) – Lazar Puhalo

Judging others is self-condemnation.  Seek after the Light and find life.  MATTHEW 7:1-5:  Why are we equally judged when we judge others? "Do not judge or you will be judged; for you will be judged by the same judgment with which you judge others; and it will be measured out to you with the same measure you have used" (Mt. 7:1-2). If we judge others, we confess that we have a complete knowledge of truth and righteousness and can readily discern them. Nevertheless, not one of us actually fulfils righteousness and perfection in our own lives; thus we stand condemned by our own judgement, for the Saviour says elsewhere, "If you ...

Jesus Died for Us … Not for God – Brian Zahnd

“You killed the Author of life, whom God raised from the dead.” –The Apostle Peter, Acts 3:15   Golgotha is where the great crimes of humanity — pride, rivalry, blame, violence, domination, war, and empire — are dragged into the searing light of divine judgment. At Golgotha we see the system of human organization that we blithely call “civilization” for what it is: an axis of power enforced by violence so corrupt that it is capable of murdering God in the name of what we call truth, justice, and liberty. Golgotha is also the place where the love of God achieves its greatest expression. As Jesus is lynched in the name of religious ...

What does the Cross reveal? – Caleb Miller

The cross of Christ is much more than just a horrendous method of torturing someone. The cross reveals to us the heart of humanity, rather than the heart of the Father. The cross gives us a picture each and every year of the depths of human depravity and violence. For the life of me, I cannot make sense of any atonement theory that says the Father punished Jesus, emptied his wrath upon Jesus, used Jesus as a cosmic go-between to save people from the fury and anger of the divine dungeon master or any variation thereof. That is extremely basic faith. The church fathers didn’t propose PSA1 as a view on the atonement because it laid waste to the ...

How Jesus Used Scripture – Richard Rohr

Looking at which Scripture passages Jesus emphasizes (remember, the Hebrew Bible is his only Bible!) shows he clearly understands how to connect the "three steps forward" dots that confirm the God he has met, knows, loves, and trusts. At the same time, Jesus ignores or openly contradicts the many "two steps backward" texts. He never quotes the book of Numbers, for example, which is rather ritualistic and legalistic. He never quotes Joshua or Judges, which are full of sanctified violence. Basically, Jesus doesn't quote from his own Scriptures when they are punitive, imperialistic ("My country and religion are the 'only'!"), classist, or exclusionary. ...

Two Types of Knowing God – Maximus the Confessor

This excerpt is from Maximus the Confessor, Ad Thalassium 60: On the Cosmic Mystery of Jesus Christ (CCSG 22:73-81). It is a minor paraphrase (for readability only) of the translation by Paul Blowers and Robert Wilken (St. Vlad's Press, 2003). Scripture teaches us two ways of knowing God, two kinds of knowledge of divine things. First, there is what we might call 'relative knowledge,' which is rooted in human reason, ideas and conceptions. Relative knowledge lacks the kind of direct, experiential perception that we get by active engagement or a living encounter. This relative knowledge is what we typically use to order our affairs ...

One Thing Is Needed – Lazar Puhalo

But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her. Luke 10:42. Christians need to regularly examine whether we have mere religion, or are rather struggling to have a life in Christ and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, which is the true goal of our Christian life.  Perhaps we might consider spending less energy trying to judge and condemn and correct others and focus far more on the condition of our own spiritual lives. It seems to me that the myth of a "holy nation" (i.e., one in which extreme political repression forces people to externally observe what one or another religious group ...

J is for Jesus – Bono

At this time of year some people are reminded of the poetic as well as the historic truth that is the birth of Jesus. The Christmas story has a crazy good plot with an even crazier premise - the idea goes, if there is a force of love and logic behind the universe, then how amazing would it be if that incomprehensible power chose to express itself as a child born in shit and straw poverty. Who could conceive of such a story? If you believe it was the protagonist, as I do, then we should try to be really respectful of people who think the whole thing is a bit nutty or worse... Religious people are the best and worst of us...handle us with sceptici...

Does the Bible Teach Love or Hate? Peace or Violence? Derek Flood

In discussing my new book on violence in the Bible, which focuses on reading the Bible from the perspective of peace and love, I often hear this objection, "But doesn't the Bible speak of God's wrath?" or "But doesn't Jesus use fear and threat to motivate people?" or "What about this verse here [fill in the blank] that seems to promote violence?" All of these questions are asked by people who want to believe in compassion, who see the moral problems with fear and threat as moral motivators, who recognize the problem with the connection between religion and violence. They want to have a Bible that is just about grace and peace and love. They ...

10 reasons why the cross is the perfect symbol for Christian deconstruction – David Hayward

My deconstruction. I not only documented my own deconstruction in my graphic devotional book, The Liberation of Sophia, but I also launched The Lasting Supper where we help each other through the deconstructive process and find fellowship in the process. The cross is an important Christian symbol. But for me it is more than that. It has become an important human symbol. For me, it symbolizes deconstruction. Why do I say that? It destroys human theology. It frustrates ambition. It throws God into question. It demands a kind of total death. It exposes raw human existence. It challenges the status quo. It mocks magical ...

The Story of Jonah: Dare we hate those whom God loves? – Lazar Puhalo

Coptic Icon of Jonah The story of Jonah presents a quandary. The history of Nineveh and the Assyrians is well known and documented. The Assyrians left their own records and the nations around them had much to say of them. They were hated by all and proud of it. Nineveh, however, never accepted the God of Israel and certainly never repented "in sackcloth and ashes." So what is the story of Jonah about? This story unfolds at a time when Judah and Israel had become particularist. They were turned in on themselves and not even attempting to engage other nations with the worship of the true and living God. Indeed, the population of the two ...

Every Grain of Sand – Brian Zahnd

The Sleeping Gypsy by Henri Rosseau, 1897 In the fury of the moment I can see the Master’s hand In every leaf that trembles, in every grain of sand –Bob Dylan, Every Grain of Sand I had a dream. I dreamed I was riding a yellow bicycle. While riding my yellow bicycle I was intently observing the beauty of creation, especially the vibrant colors — the green of the grass and trees (the human eye is more attune to the green spectrum than any other), the blue sky, the red roses, the yellow dandelions. During my colorful dreamland bike ride I was thinking about the nature of salvation. When I awoke I wrote down my nocturnal thoughts: When ...

God said it, but that doesn’t settle it: Questioning the Bible – Derek Flood

I've been noticing a growing trend of people who are becoming increasingly troubled and unsatisfied with a literalistic approach to the Bible. The objection they have is a moral one: They observe that a "straight forward" and "plain" reading of Scripture inevitably leads people to do things that are against their conscience, against the most basic understandings of morality, and to justify doing these immoral things "because God said it, that settles it." In short, we've learned to read the Bible in a way that makes people immoral and proud of it. One example of this is corporal punishment of children. Many parents feel that it is wrong to hit ...