511 results for tag: blog

Q&R with Brad: Why did God put us on earth in the first place?

WHY?LIFE is precious QUESTION: If God's final word for humanity is mercy rather than eternal conscious torment, then that sits better with me. This question remains for me: why would God even put us on earth in the first place, if we are just going to freely choose him anyway? We didn't consent to be put through all of this suffering. God doesn't need more glory. I was always taught that free will was just because God wanted someone to freely choose to love Him, which is a cool idea, but at what cost to us? RESPONSE: I wonder if it’s the same reason we keep having babies. Because despite the suffering humanity both causes ...

Who Are You? by Greg Albrecht

Friends and Partner Letter From July 2014: Margaret Thatcher, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979-1990, was the longest-serving British Prime Minister of the 20th century. While she was in office Mrs. Thatcher visited a home for seniors, the kind of place often referred to as an “old folks’ home.” As she made the rounds shaking hands, she came to one older lady who seemed to be suffering from dementia. She gave no indication that she had any idea that she was shaking hands with the Prime Minister. Mrs. Thatcher asked the woman: “Do you know who I am?” The dear lady replied, “No dear, but if you really want to know ...

On the Grill: An Inquisition of the Sincere – Brad Jersak

    On the Grill: An Inquisition of the Sincere.   Questions. Interviews, investigations, inquisitions. Grilling.   I’ve been on the grill a fair bit over the decades. Questions, so many questions. And I love questions. There is no greater favor you can do a vocational teacher than ask him or her a question.   These include the happy experiences of Q & A sessions where I really knew my material. Others were designed to be positive, yet felt stressful because the stakes involved were high: job interviews, candidacy committees or the closing viva (oral exams) for my post-graduate degree. Some ...

Between Religious Rocks and Life’s Hard Places – Greg Albrecht

  Don’t you just hate it when you are in church, and the preacher finally utters those sweet words of promise—“and in conclusion” —but your idea of a conclusion and his are like ships passing in the night? When you hear the words “and in conclusion,” you heave a sigh of relief and start dreaming about beating the lunch crowd at your favorite restaurant, but the preacher keeps going on and on and on.    Okay, I’ll make this brief (that’s another thing that preachers like me say that drives me crazy because when they do I know it will be anything but brief ).   In the “Introduction” to my ...

Q&R with Brad Jersak – On Abraham’s Attempt to Sacrifice Isaac

"Woah there, big fella!" QUESTION: My husband and I were missionary children, and have been impacted by the perceived “child sacrifice” practices/ideology (boarding school, prioritization of ministry and the unevangelized, etc.) of the mission organization our parents worked with at the time. As adults, we find the story of God asking/demanding Abraham to sacrifice Isaac to prove his loyalty extremely troubling. Your teaching about the love of God being the nature and character of God resonates with me. I thought you might have a way to approach this story. Response: This is certainly an important question, probably best handled ...

Q&R with Brad Jersak – “What will become of the ungodly?”

Question: How do you understand 1 Peter 4:17-18, which reads: 17 The time has come, you see, for judgment to begin at God’s own household. And if it begins with us, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel? 18 And "if the righteous person is scarcely saved, where will the ungodly and the sinner appear? I'm especially wondering about what "the judgment" that begins with the church means, but also what verse 18 could mean for "where will ... the sinner appear." Response: Excellent question! The best way to respond begins with the bigger picture of Peter's purpose for writing this community and what they ...

“I Believe I’m Right” – Grant Corriveau

“It can’t be about having ‘right’ beliefs,” my pastor said. The day our pastor’s mother died our church followed some very strict beliefs. Some would call it ultra-legalism. Others would have identified it as a cult. But then the church doctrines changed radically and he (all of us) were faced with the question, “What about those who apparently died “in error?” “It can’t be about having ‘right’ beliefs.” Suddenly we were confronted with the understanding that our faith in God, our eternal life, and all the most important issues of eternity, could NOT possibly be tied to our often flawed and always incomplete ...

Zacheus Makes Amends – Brad Jersak

Luke 19  Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. 2 And behold, a man called by the name of Zaccheus; he was a chief tax collector and he was rich. 3 Zaccheus was trying to see who Jesus was, and he was unable due to the crowd, because he was short in stature. 4 So he ran on ahead and climbed up a sycamore tree in order to see Him, because He was about to pass through that way. 5 And when Jesus came to the place, He looked up and said to him,“Zaccheus, hurry and come down, for today I must stay at your house.” 6 And he hurried and came down, and received ...

Q&R with Brad – What is the difference between the kingdom of God, eternal life & salvation?

Question: I am trying to understand the difference between the “Kingdom of God”/“Kingdom of Heaven” and “salvation”.  Do you have any thoughts on this?   Response: Great question.  "Kingdom of God/heaven" is the dominant gospel of Jesus in the language of the synoptic gospels. It's a complex phrase in Jesus' teaching, as he sometimes uses it to describe his work in the world of here and now, the transformative work inside of people, and the life of the age to come. Simply put, the kingdom on earth as it is in heaven, the kingdom within you, and the kingdom yet to come.  In John's gospel, ...

Q & R: Christ in a Violent World – Brad Jersak

At CWR/PTM, we've received some excellent feedback re: our response to violence. We really do appreciate this kind of input and our readers' thoughtful questions, especially as we see our readers as partners in our ministry and its mission.  The following are some direct responses to the concerns from one of our readers, as well as a formal response.   The reader (in bold) began: The issue of CWRm left me with some negative feelings about our response with violence based on Jesus' teaching, and your claim that Christendom is on the violent, wrong, side of the Cross. Not very surprising, especially since it's very difficult for believ...

Thoughts in the Night on God’s Grace and Our Response – by Brad Jersak

Jet-lag woke me up again last night, but happily, instead of assaulting me with half-asleep worries or false epiphanies, the night-owl left me with a few follow-up thoughts to my article on Free Will, the Nous and Divine Judgment. For me, at least, they felt like clarifications on ye olde grace vs free will double-bind. Briefly, classic Calvinism creates a double-bind re: the will. If grace is a unilaterally gift given by the will of God to the elect (Calvin's irresistible grace), then human response can seem either pre-determined or unnecessary. This seems wrong to me, since clearly, the Gospel is an authentic invitation calling for a ...

From Hellfire to Laundromat – Brad Jersak

TURN OR BURN BE WASHED! “Behold, I send My messenger, and he will prepare the way before Me.And the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come into His temple,Even the Messenger of the covenant, whom you desire.Behold, he is coming,” says the Lord Almighty. “But who can endure the day of His coming?And who can withstand His appearance?For He enters like a refiner’s fireAnd as soap in one’s wash!” Malachi 3:1-2 FIRE is the dominant image for divine judgment across the Scriptures. The Fire image varies from foreign invasions to the passionate love of God for his bride. The Fire image can signal forthcoming destruction ...

Is It Possible To Be … Spiritual But Not Religious? Greg Albrecht and Brad Jersak

GREG: Is it possible to be … Spiritual But Not Religious? I’ve previously addressed this topic in sermons and we’ve touched on it in shorter articles as well. But the question is huge because it goes to the morphing of what it means to be church and do church.  Typical 'spirituality surveys' demonstrate that many North Americans believe one can be spiritual without necessarily being religious. Of course, definitions of both words must be considered when this question is pondered. Does ‘spiritual’ refer only to one’s own inner life, or does it acknowledge a spiritual world (including a God) ...

Question & Response: How should we understand God’s ‘Sovereignty’? – with Brad Jersak

  QUESTION: Bradley, my wife and I met you recently at the Grace Conference. I asked a question about sovereignty, and your response addressed misunderstandings of what sovereignty means. Would you please elaborate and give some additional sources for me to look into. We enjoyed the conference and the material you presented. MUCH food for thought and reflection. -- David RESPONSE:  I cover the topic of sovereignty quite thoroughly in A More Christlike God: a More Beautiful Gospel.   I would summarize that work like this: 'Sovereignty' is a biblical synonym for governance or rulership or kingdom. That is, sovereignty denotes the function ...

Healing our image of the Holy Spirit – Brad Jersak

Photo credit: Fr Lawrence Lew OP/Flickr It's frustrating when our impression of the Holy Spirit of Beauty and Truth is tainted by previous, spiritually abusive associations. Sects that emphasize the work of the Spirit are as prone to spiritual striving and rigid legalism as any religious movement, despite vociferous claims to "freedom." Whether it's the "fire" of Evangelical revivalism, the Pentecostal two-step, tongues-speaking "charismania," the "prayer lines" of the renewal movement, or the politicized "prophets" who are still ranting away, I can testify firsthand that the sought-after "Presence" is not always so sweet when it blows through. ...

The Stretch Marks of a Mother’s Love by Greg Albrecht

Several years ago, an ad agency created a campaign for their clients to impress upon the public at large how important mothers are. They created a set of calculations to help everyone determine how much they owed their mother. The first measurements were all about the time and effort a mother invests in her growing baby during her pregnancy and during her labor when she gave birth. The calculations asked each person to include the time their mother spent in labor delivering them—the amount of weight she gained carrying them and the diet she voluntarily followed while she was pregnant to ensure her new baby was as healthy as possible. ...

Salvation by Faith Alone? – Greg Albrecht

Question How can you justify saying that salvation is by faith alone or as you often say “faith alone, grace alone and Christ alone” when James 2:14-20 says something different? Answer Some suggest, from the passage in James 2:14-26, that works or deeds in some way conditions of God’s acceptance of us.  By way of response: 1. If this passage can be perceived to say such a thing would one passage (a proof text if you like) invalidate the gospel of Jesus Christ and the many passages in the New Testament that emphatically teach that salvation is by Christ alone – faith alone, grace alone and Christ alone?  This ...

The Good & Beautiful Shepherd – Kenneth Tanner

Middle Eastern shepherds in the time of the Bible did NOT break the legs of sheep and carry them on their shoulders to keep them from running away again, or “hold them close to their heart” or whatever myth you heard growing up.  It’s terribly impractical, for one thing. Sheep can weigh up to 75 pounds. It’s a tremendous hindrance to properly caring for the whole flock. It can also permanently disable the sheep.  Imagine having a number of immobilized or broken sheep in a flock. What a mess that would be. The rod of the shepherd was used to defend the flock from predators, not beat the sheep. And the hooked staff was ...

The All Star Game of Faith – Greg Albrecht

Baseball season is in full swing, and, as always, this season includes controversy and arguments – not always about the game played on the field.  Once again this year politics are creeping into Mom, Apple Pie and Baseball.  Reacting to political decisions made by the state of Georgia, the hierarchy of MLB has decided to award the All Star Game, previously scheduled for Atlanta, to Denver, to be played on July 13. While I have my opinions about this year’s MLB All Star Game, I will not here enter the swamp of political debate about this decision, but rather propose a far more interesting game in which two teams play an All Star ...

Unwavering Faith? Greg Albrecht

A friend of mine, enduring some painful struggles, asked me to continue to pray for him.  He was particularly concerned, as he said, that “my faith doesn’t waver.” I started thinking about “unwavering” faith.  Everything human wavers – love, commitment, trust, honesty, fidelity, patience – it all wavers.  Human faith wavers.  We are not the rock – Jesus is.  Jesus is the unmoved mover.  He is always here for and with us.  Jesus never walks away and abandons us.   He is perfectly faithful.    It may well be the most faithful ...