538 results for tag: Brad Jersak

Q&R: Bumping into unChristlike faith statements – Brad Jersak

Question I am just reading your book, ‘A More Christlike God’. I have been deconstructing and reconstructing my faith for the past 10-15 years. It’s definitely a work in progress. I am so grateful to people like you who are helping others along. I could, would, never go back. In our church statement of faith, there is a section that reads: We believe in the resurrection of both the saved and the unjust. Those saved through faith in Jesus are fully restored to God into a resurrection of eternal life while the unjust are separated from God's presence into a resurrection of judgment. [John 5:28-29; Matthew 25:31-46] This does not ...

Can we ‘make’ God love us more or less? – Brad Jersak

  "We need to let it soak in that there is nothing we can do to make God love us more…and nothing we can do to make God love us less." - Philip Yancey "We all need to know that God does not love us because we are good; God loves us because God is good. Nothing humans can do will ever decrease or increase God's eternal eagerness to love." - Richard Rohr I remember when I first heard these kind of statements and sort of cringed. I was suspicious that those who echoed Philip Yancey or Fr. Richard might employ them to imply, "So it doesn't matter what you do." I don't think I hear Jesus saying, "It doesn't matter what you do," and in fact, that's ...

When Helping Bites – Brad Jersak

Why pets bite their owners I read an article that offered help to owners of pets (and specifically dogs) that become so aggressive that they bite their owners. They listed many reasons why one's dog can become aggressive. These included: 1. Territorial aggression2. Protective aggression3. Possessive aggression4. Social aggression5. Defensive aggression6. Fear aggression I was particularly interested in the way a dog may instinctively snap when it is injured. I remember a friend whose dog had a run-in with a porcupine and was left with heavy needles that penetrated into the dog's mouth through it's cheeks. We couldn't remove them without ...

Q&R with Brad Jersak: Do only Christians Love with Agape (1 John 4:16)

Question Many years ago, I said to a fundamentalist that according to 1 John 4:16 and according to what Jesus says at the Last Supper, loving one another is itself participating in the life of God because God is Love. I think that you made a similar point in A More Christlike Way. The response that I got was that agape referred specifically to the love that is only possible after receiving the Holy Spirit. Therefore, it is not possible for non-believers love in that way. What you have to say about that? Response First, let's read 1 John 4:16 in context: 7 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. ...

Q&R: Why listen to abusive preachers? Don’t! Brad Jersak

Question I used to listen to a podcast preacher every day on my way to work but I really don't know why because I always felt beaten up after listening to it. I think it was that I thought he was speaking God's word so I had no choice but accept everything he said. Response I have asked people about why they regularly attend churches or listen to preachers who scold them week after week. These preachers are typically leading rapidly growing mega-churches with skinny-jeans, neo-Calvinist preachers who are very hip but continually harangue the congregation ... From a local pulpit in my region, I heard this (via a recording): "You ...

Q&R: The N.T. Mercy Seat & Sacrifice – Brad Jersak

Question I am still working my way through the shift from atonement and sacrifice to forgiveness from sin. I like what you say about Jesus reconciling us to God through intercession resulting in forgiveness. However, I would like you to comment on the Scriptures that refer to atonement and sacrifice. In 1 John 4:10, it says God sent Jesus to be “an atoning sacrifice for our sins.”  The other is Hebrews 9:22 “without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.” I have the NIV. Chapter 10 also talks about Jesus' sacrifice. Response 1 John 4:7: says that Jesus is the hilasterion for our sins. What is ...

May 2021

CLICK HERE to read now (PDF Format) Articles: What Is and Who Is the Church? – pg. 1 Break It Up – pg. 2 My Two "Moms" – pg. 5 Buzzy – pg. 7 Quotes & Connections – pg. 8

Q&R with Brad Jersak – “Is 1 Corinthians 3 a judgment of believers? Or everyone?”

Question I’m hung up on one word in 1 Corinthians 3.   “If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.”‭‭ 1 Corinthians‬ ‭3:14-15‬ ‭ESV‬‬ Here’s my hang-up: if the foundation referenced here is Christ, is Paul speaking only to believers? This is nagging me and keeping me from accepting the universality of God’s grace wholeheartedly (or maybe, whole-headedly is a more apropos word). Response Good question. I would certainly not want to make ...

Q&R: Blessings & Curses – Deut. 11:26-28 Brad Jersak

Question I'd like to know if there is somewhere you have addressed Deut. 11:26-28? I've heard you say that God let His people tell the story. But what about God promising blessing or judgment on the land, based on their obedience to Him?   Response I have not written on this text before. Let's look at it together; See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse—the blessing if you obey the commands of the Lord your God that I am giving you today; the curse if you disobey the commands of the Lord your God and turn from the way that I command you today by following other gods,&...

Q & R: Did God the Father Forsake Jesus on Good Friday? Brad Jersak

Question: In the movie, The Shack, Papa says that God never forsook Jesus. But that appears to be exactly what Jesus says in the Bible. When Jesus says this, is he (the man) talking to himself (the God part)? We are told that Christ is fully God and fully man even though apparently there were things that he did not know, but the Father did (e.g. the time of his return). ​Response: That's a common belief for sure, but where does it come from? We developed a whole doctrine of God-forsakenness from one verse! "My God, my God why have you forsaken me?" and we took off from there. What we fail to remember is that ...

“It Is Finished”: The Cross as our Cosmic Axis – Brad Jersak

“Tetelestai,” cried Jesus, “It is finished!” (John 19:30). God’s redemptive plan, which began its arc in ages past, comes to its telos—its end-goal, its climax, it fulfillment—on the Cross. The “Lamb slaughtered from the foundation of the cosmos” (Revelation 13:8), now dying in space-time history under Pontius Pilate, calls out, “It is finished! Accomplished!” Christ knows this by revelation—Abba’s sure response to the cry of dereliction (Matthew 27:46), for God heard and answered him (Hebrews 5:7). “Tetelestai,” whispered Abba to his beloved Son, “It is finished! Accomplished!” And thus, the Cross became the axis ...

That hopeless (?) other thief – Brad Jersak

Mark 10 35 Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to him. “Teacher,” they said, “we want you to do for us whatever we ask.”36 “What do you want me to do for you?” he asked.37 They replied, “Let one of us sit at your right and the other at your left in your glory.”38 “You don’t know what you are asking,” Jesus said. “Can you drink the cup I drink or be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with?”39 “We can,” they answered.Jesus said to them, “You will drink the cup I drink and be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with, 40 but to sit at my ...

April 2021

CLICK HERE to read now (PDF Format) Greg Albrecht: When Jesus Rode into Town– pg. 2 Laura Urista: The Heart of the Matter– pg. 4 Ed Dunn: Let Not Your Heart Be Troubled– pg. 5 Brad Jersak: Pastoral Perspective – pg. 7

Why Did Jesus Die? – Brad Jersak

Tom Wright, in his book, The Day the Revolution Began, struck a nerve with the candor of his critique of any gospel that implies, “God so hated the world that he killed his only Son.” Of course, laying bare that image of God draws charges of strawmanning – but if Wright is wrong, then I will rejoice when evangelists stop communicating that very impression. The gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ is far more beautiful than what Wright terms the “paganized” message of wrath-appeasement through divine violence. But Evangelical children of the Reformation have been so conditioned with this ethos of ...

Q&R with Brad – “Does God have enemies?”

Question Does God have enemies? Response What a fascinating question, and one I have thought about both theologically and personally. To answer it biblically, I am drawn to two important texts:  Matthew 55:44 - “Love your enemies.”Romans 5:10 - “For while we were enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son...” What both these verses show us is that enmity—the disposition of being an enemy, in opposition, or hostile toward—can be one-sided.  While God’s enemies (or ours) are those who have chosen to hate, mistreat, or even kill God’s Son (or God’s children), God refuses to be ...

Q&R with Brad: If ‘his mercy endures forever,’ how can death separate us from God’s love?

Question I posed this question at our pastor's fraternal meeting in our area. "Seeing that we all believe God's mercy endures forever, why is it that his mercy has no bearing on us after we die? My question is: Why do we believe that death has the last or final and decisive word and not his mercy? Any comment that you could make? Response I think your question is spot-on. In my young evangelical days, I would have cited a couple of key texts as our "gotcha deal-killers." 1. "It is appointed unto man once to die and after that the judgment" (Hebrew 9:27). We used this verse in isolation as an ultimatum with a ...

Q&R with Brad Jersak: If not penal substitution…?

Question: If there is no penal substitution, which I want to believe, how do I deal with passages such as Isaiah 53 or 1 Thessalonians 1:10? I have a hard time reading so much of the Scripture in any other way. I always wonder how any less educated, less theologically trained person can read these scriptures in any other way (even if he was never taught them in this way)? Could that person come to any other conclusion? And if not, would the most obvious interpretation not be also the one God wanted us to get? I have struggled with my faith over these issues for so long, and I just don't seem to be able to "exorcise" the penal substitution idea ...

George Costanza, NT Wright and Angry God (Romans 8:3-4) by Brad Jersak

If we refrain from imposing Calvinist atonement theory back onto the text, what else might Paul mean by "God condemned sin in the flesh"?

March 2021

CLICK HERE to read now (PDF Format) Articles: The Crux of Our Faith – pg. 1 A Far, Far Better Rest – pg. 2 When I AM Lifted Up – pg. 5 Places I've Been – pg. 7 Quotes & Connections – pg. 8

10 Affirmations on Divine Judgement: A Inclusivist Perspective — Brad Jersak

Hopeful Inclusivists believe in Divine Judgment “Hopeful Inclusivism” - definition: 1. The belief, held by John Wesley, Billy Graham and many others, that while Christ alone is our means of salvation, those who have never heard his name might yet be saved by him because when they turn to the Light they do have, Christ is that Light. 2. The belief, taught by Hans Urs Von Balthasar, Kallistos Ware and Brad Jersak, that because Christ has conquered death for all, the event of death cannot separate us from God’s love (Romans 8) and God’s mercy indeed endures forever. Thus, in principle, Christ opens up the gates of possibility that all might ...