536 results for tag: Brad Jersak

Breakfast with Brad – Is Preaching God’s Love Capitulation to the World’?

In which Brad prepares a 'normal' breakfast and answers an important question: Is preaching God's all-inclusive love capitulation to 'the world'? See text beneath the video for the extended Q & A. https://vimeo.com/1007825193 Question: I love your book (A More Christlike God) because it rings true that the "through line" of our theology must be love and radical self-giving. But how do you guard against the idea that God and/or Jesus may be more wrathful and judging than we like to believe? Response: Great question! First, I notice you're assuming that the problem is that God be more wrathful than we'd want him to be. ...

April 2025

CLICK HERE to read now (PDF Format) Greg Albrecht Two Arrivals: Dallas & Jerusalem – pg. 2 Brad Jersak The Last Scapegoat – pg. 4 Richard Rohr Perfect Love Casts Out Fear – pg. 7

Q&R with Brad: “Is reading the Bible through the Gospel ‘eisegesis'”?

Question: Is reading the Bible through the Gospel 'eisegesis'? "What I’m saying is that your criteria for judging a translation is not your linguistic ability or your academic credentials. It is your personal knowledge of who Jesus is, the nature of God as he revealed it, and the gospel he preached." Brad Jersak from "Gospel Before Translation" Brad ... is that not getting a little close to eisegesis? My personal growth is so much dependent on my openness to God revealing things to me about Himself and myself, that are sometimes very challenging of my well-formed, and dysfunctional, personal theology. Response: What a good ...

Q&R: Two Thieves & the Third Cross-piece

Question: ​ I have a question about the cross.​ I have seen what some call the "Russian ​C​ross​." What troubles me about it is the symbol of the third wooden cross-piece at the bottom, because it contradicts my belief in apokatastasis (ultimate redemption).​ Can you help me understand ​the following explanation better or offer an alternative?  "The slanted line reminds us of the two thieves on both sides of the cross. One of them to the right of Christ ascended to Heaven, while the other one sank to Hell. Thus bottom bar of the cross is like the scale of justice and its points show the way to the ...

CWR Video – Heaven and Hell

In this CWR Video, Greg and Brad discuss perspectives on heaven and hell. https://vimeo.com/1013248243 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

Breakfast with Brad – Slow Roast Coffee and Trusting God’s Process

Today in the ancient town of Quedlinburg, Germany, Brad sees how quality coffee is roasted and trusting God in the slow processes of our growth. "2 My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, 3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. 4 But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing." (James 1:2-4) https://vimeo.com/1007820640 We hope that our articles and resources bring comfort, hope, encouragement, and healing to our readers. If you’re experiencing that, please subscribe freely, share freely, and, if you’re able, please consider ...

Breakfast with Brad – Hot Chocolate and God’s Love

Breakfast with Brad - In which Eden has hot chocolate in Germany's winter wonderland, while Brad goes on a rant about God's supposedly wishy-washy Love. https://vimeo.com/1000504847 We hope that our articles and resources bring comfort, hope, encouragement, and healing to our readers. If you’re experiencing that, please subscribe freely, share freely, and, if you’re able, please consider donating freely toward paying it forward by clicking the blue giving at the top of your screen.

“He ran, fell on his neck, and kissed him.” – Brad Jersak

“He ran, fell on his neck, and kissed him.” “Fell on his neck” is such a strange idiom. My inner literalist chuckles if I picture it out of context. It sounds more like a professional wrestling move than an affectionate hug. In the biblical context, the expression appears just four times—three times in Genesis and once in a Gospel parable. The phrase is always connected to family and always to a moment of reunion/reconciliation. The exact verses are: Between Jacob and Esau (twin brothers) – Genesis 33:4 But Esau ran to meet [Jacob], and embraced him, and fell on his neck and kissed him, and they ...

Friends Without Borders – Brad Jersak

Even if we feel powerless over big-news global events, we are not powerless to share the grace we've experienced.

Q&R: Codependent Christianity – Brad Jersak

"I thought I was going through a depression, but turns out, it was just my religion!"  The following is an email conversation about "codependent Christianity" that I'm sharing with the writer's permission. READER Hi Bradley, am so grateful for your teachings and guidance for those of us deconstructing.  I thought I was going through a depression, but turns out, it was just Evangelicalism!  If only that didn't mean that I now have to sort out the tangled mess that has intertwined in my best faith practice.   My biggest hurdle is repairing my relationship with scripture when it's neurologically sewn into my ...

CWR Video – Progressive Revelation in the Bible

In this CWR Video, Greg and Brad discuss the topic of Progressive Revelation in Scripture. https://vimeo.com/1013235827 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

When “God cares” doesn’t cut it – Brad Jersak

I remember the day when the assurance that “God cares” no longer cut it for me. Worse, it felt offensive. It particularly seems trite when we’re faced with the unmitigated affliction of children who suffer war, abuse, disability, disease, and painful death. God cares? How so? The image that gnawed at my mind and heart and evoked anger was a divine king, seated on a throne, telling me, “I care,”… as in, “I have this caring feeling in my heart toward you,” while failing to provide protection, provision, consolation, or healing as families searched through the rubble of homes flattened by earthquakes or hellfire missiles. God cares? So ...

CWR Video – by Brad Jersak – “Spreading Hospitality”

Short video by Brad Jersak about spreading hospitality as Christians. We hope that our articles and resources bring comfort, hope, encouragement, and healing to our readers. If you’re experiencing that, please subscribe freely, share freely, and, if you’re able, please consider donating freely toward paying it forward by clicking the blue giving at the top of your screen.

The Unsolvable Problem of Evil – Brad Jersak

QUESTION: How do you solve "the problem of evil?" RESPONSE: I don't. We can't. To clarify for readers, the problem of evil refers to the question of how we can reconcile the reality of evil and suffering with belief in an all-powerful and all-loving God. Unlike 'apologists' for faith (Christian or otherwise) who try to calculate their way to a solution and imagine they can harmonize divine goodness and human affliction, I don't believe there is a rational solution to the problem of evil. We call such attempts "theodicies." While God does respond to human suffering, I never see God offer a philosophical argument that solves the problem, ...

February 2025

CLICK HERE to read now (PDF Format) Greg Albrecht "You Don't Love Me!" – pg. 2 Richard Rohr God, the Lover of Life – pg. 5 Brad Jersak "God is Love, but..." Nothing! – pg. 7

Breakfast with Brad – Agents of Judgment or Messengers of Invitation?

In which judgment makes Brad defiant rather than repentant ... adding sour cream and salmon flakes to his Kraft Dinner. What if God understands that dynamic, too?

The Unforced Love of God – Brad Jersak

Intrinsic to the all-inclusive claims of passages such as Philippians 2:10-11 and John 12:32 is the companion truth that God honors human freedom and our voluntary faith response to Jesus’ work of reconciliation. To harmonize the twin biblical emphases on human freedom and ultimate redemption, we must acknowledge that our rejection of Christ is rooted in a dysfunction of the will, a blindness of our spiritual eyes. But through the gospel message, personal encounter, and an ultimate face-to-face with Christ, our eyes are healed and our wills are freed so that we are restored to our natural state: a joyful and willing “Yes!” to God’s ...

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. ...

Breakfast with Brad – The Land of the Law & the Land of Mercy

"Breakfast with Brad" - farmer sausage, hash browns & onions wrapped in savory crepes ... OR pirogies for break! ... and a few words on "The Land of Mercy & the Land of the Law" https://vimeo.com/1007815087 We hope that our articles and resources bring comfort, hope, encouragement, and healing to our readers. If you’re experiencing that, please subscribe freely, share freely, and, if you’re able, please consider donating freely toward paying it forward by clicking the blue giving at the top of your screen.

Hyperbole that’s Truer than Facts – Brad Jersak