CWR Blog
Christianity Without The Religion BLOG hosted by Brad Jersak.
“Turn the Other Cheek” – Brad Jersak
“To turn the other cheek is to turn our faces from past pain and toward the face of Christ.”
Reflections Along the Jesus Way
December 21, 2024 - Quote for the Day:
“I AM One of You” is the Christmas card God sends to each of us! When God, through an angel, informed Joseph that Mary would give birth to Jesus, he said: ‘The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they shall call him Immanuel, which means God with us (Matthew 1:23). God assures us, in his Christmas card, ‘How can I ever forget you? In Christ I became one of you!”
Christianity Without the Religion magazine, December 2021
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The Vulnerable Love of God
Our tired, sin-sick old world needs far more than another message of condemnation - thus on this Christmas, as Christ followers we choose to light a candle rather than curse the darkness.
https://www.ptm.org/mp3/FreeDwnld/RCWR514.mp3
CWR Video – Agape Means Respect
In this CWR video, Brad and Laura explore how the Greek word for love, Agape, also means a keen value or worth of the other, or in a word, respect.
https://vimeo.com/1038672199
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God Comes Near – by Greg Albrecht
Imagine, for a moment, that you are part of a team building a skyscraper. Your team building this "high rise" would need, of course, a great deal of expertise to ensure that a sound foundation would be laid. Considerable expense and work is involved in preparing the foundation of any edifice that eventually soars majestically, hundreds of feet into the air.
Skyscrapers are incredibly heavy, so they must be built on much more durable foundations than smaller buildings. In virtually every case, a skyscraper requires a deep foundation, with pilings, drilled shafts and ...
Reflections Along the Jesus Way
December 19, 2024 - Quote for the Day:
“The shopping malls are filled with people whose credit cards are maxed out and whose hearts and souls are empty. Simon and Garfunkel reflected – ‘the people bowed and prayed to the neon god they made.’ In Eleanor Rigby, the Beatles sang of ‘all the lonely people’ in a religious, church setting. Loneliness characterizes the lives of those who have not yet seen or embrace the light of Jesus.
I am not alone at all, I thought. I was never alone at all. And that of course, is the meaning of Christmas. We are ...
The Grace Invasion
According to C.S. Lewis, the birth of Jesus can be likened to the rightful king who parachuted behind enemy lines, encouraging those who followed him to take part in a great campaign of sabotage. It was the grace invasion! It still is!
Jesus is the Reason – Michael North
From CWR/PTM - Enjoy this Christmas song by Michael North.
God Comes Near
Let the peace of God surround and envelop you, as you consider the astonishing miracle and amazing majesty of the coming of God in the flesh.
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Plain Truth Ministries (PTM) is a community of Christ-followers, friends and partners who believe in the spiritual freedom found in “Christianity without the religion.” PTM ministers to and provides spiritual nourishment and resources for religious refugees around the world. PTM offers hope and encouragement to those who have been imprisoned and disenfranchised by toxic and legalistic religion.
Our financial supporters in the U.S. and Canada receive hardcopies of our monthly magazines and partner letters. In addition, ...
CWR Video – The Incarnation – by Steve McVey
A short video on the Incarnation by Steve McVey.
https://player.vimeo.com/video/115912697
The Virgin Birth is a Christological Faith-Claim – Brad Jersak
"For us men and for our salvation,
came down from heaven and was Incarnate
of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary."
Gospel claims to Mary's virgin birth (or conception) of Christ are far more than borrowed mythology, co-opted from a host of earlier hybrid-god myths. The historic Christian faith received the story as a revelation delivered via the Gospels of Luke (1:26-38) and Matthew (1:18-25).
Yes, we know that the original Hebrew prophecy in Isaiah 7:14 was not about an actual virgin (and can be rendered "young woman") nor even, initially, about Mary or her Son. That ...
Reflections Along the Jesus Way
December 17, 2024 - Quote for the Day:
“The world into which Jesus came was not and is not a Hallmark-card Christmas where everyone is healthy, prosperous, well-nourished, living in beautiful homes, giving lavish gifts, gathered around long tables and enjoying sumptuous Christmas feasts.
The world to which Jesus came and still comes is not about perfect families where everyone gets along, with no acrimony or arguments – it’s not a world where there is no oppression, no impoverishment, no disease and no heartache. Jesus came to the weary, dirt-poor, ...
The Greatest Promise
Join Greg as he explains Isaiah 9:6: 1) "For unto us a child is born, to us a son is given, 2) and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called 3) Wonderful Counselor, 4) Mighty God, 5) Everlasting Father, 6) Prince of Peace."
https://www.ptm.org/mp3/FreeDwnld/RCWR303.mp3
Mary, Did You Know?
When she found out that she was pregnant, how did the young teenager we today know as Mary, the mother of Jesus, react? We'll discuss Mary's thoughts, as illustrated by her song - traditionally known as the magnificat (Luke 1:46-55).
https://www.ptm.org/mp3/FreeDwnld/RCWR148.mp3
Christmas at North House – Michael North
On behalf of CWR/PTM, enjoy this Christmas album by Michael North.
The Biblical Centrality of the Heart – Steve Orr
With a career background in computer science, I decided to quantify this Biblical centrality of the heart business. By using computer search tools on the entire text of the King James Bible, I found 975 matches to the word heart and to words containing strings like "hearts," "heart's," "brokenhearted," and others. Of course, you don't need a computer to research this, but if you like doing research, just dig out your concordance and read the nearly one thousand verses about the heart.
Suffice it to say that God has much to say about the human heart. The heart is ...
CWR Video – The Incarnation
In this CWR Video, Greg discusses the meaning of The Incarnation.
https://vimeo.com/1011061833
If this post has helped you, please subscribe and share it freely. We also invite you to help us continue to help others with a donation. Click here if you're able to partner with us
Reflections Along the Jesus Way
December 14, 2024 - Quote for the Day:
“When God came to us, in the person of Jesus, he came to be one of us – in humility. That truth alone – that God humbled himself – seems to be blasphemous to many within religion. How could God become humble?
God determined that he would enter the womb of Mary, a teenage girl who was betrothed, but not yet married. Yes, she was married to Joseph when Jesus was born, but she was pregnant with Jesus when she and Joseph married. The circumstances of his birth caused tongues to wag. Why did God do it that way? ...
He’s Only Just Begun – by Greg Albrecht
Christmas is the hinge and fulcrum of all history. Points in time before the first Christmas are B.C. or B.C.E. (before the Christian era) and events after that first Christmas are A.D. (anno Domini – year of our Lord). The birth of the Christ child, God in the flesh, is a new beginning…his new beginning and our new beginning. But make no mistake, Christmas was not the end of God’s revelation to humanity, it was only the beginning.
God has gradually revealed himself and the abundance of the gospel over time with greater clarity and fullness. In the ...
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