520 results for tag: Brad Jersak
Our Final Authority: Bible or Jesus? Brad Jersak
Our final authority
It was one of my classic last-minute cancellations. A church whose pastor and elders had invited me to speak on prayer found themselves awkwardly withdrawing their invitation. The pastor had moved on and the interim minister had done some digging. He was offended that my church (Fresh Wind at the time) had nothing in our statement(s) of faith about the Bible. That was because our doctrinal statements were the Nicene Creed and the Apostles' Creed. I told him that I was not comfortable with creating statements of faith or redacting the great creeds. In the end, what he explicitly demanded was this confession, similar to many confes...
The Logic (and limits) of “Christus Victor” – Brad Jersak
The Logic of Penal Substitution
As a young, gungho Calvinist in the 1980s, I composed a 180+ page M.A. thesis / apologetic for penal substitutionary atonement, titled "The Nature of Christ's Suffering and Substitution." In retrospect, I'm embarrassed by my anachronistic reading of the early church, my inability to distinguish the difference between "exchange" and "substitution," and my assumptions about the necessity of wrath-appeasement. If that's all gobbledygook to you, the reader, no worries. We'll get to the good stuff momentarily. I will say in my defense that at least I knew the Cross was central to Christian faith, whatever it might mean.
D...
December 2019
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Brad Jersak: Mary: The Second Eve– pg. 3
Scott Erickson: O Eve!– pg. 7
Greg Albrecht: Wrapping an Idea in a Person – pg. 8
Jim Fowler: The Reason for the Season – pg. 10
Felicia Murrell: Advent Poem – pg. 12
Richard Rohr: Christ in the Face of the Other – pg. 13
Greg Albrecht: Was Christ a Created Being? -pg. 15
Q & R with Brad Jersak – Were Adam & Eve perfect people living in a perfect paradise?
Question
I have a question regarding the literality of Scripture, particularly concerning Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden story. Like most stories from Genesis, I have generally been open to a metaphorical or symbolic—rather than literal—reading of this account. However, one particular facet of non-literal readings does trouble me somewhat. Namely, whether or not creation originally existed in a state of perfection, until it was sullied. If the story is literal, then this is certainly the case. However, if this story is to be taken symbolically, does this still allow for room to say God made the world in a state of perfection until it ...
“Be Perfect”? A Fragile Faithfulness, Fraught & Freighted Brad Jersak
Question:
In light of Christ’s revelation of God’s saving grace, how are we to understand his statement, “Be perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect”? (Matthew 5:48)
Response:
Imagine trying to be the perfect human! Imagine striving to be perfect like Jesus was perfect! Imagine trying to be as perfect as God himself! If we were to take Jesus literally there, we’d either be deluded in our perfectionism or exhausted all the time. It’s just not possible and even seems completely pointless.
Religious or moral perfectionism makes for a fragile faithfulness … fraught with peril and freighted with crushing ...
Christ or Crake? Mortality is the Fear of Death – Brad Jersak
In Oryx and Crake, the first novel of Margaret Atwood's dystopic Maddaddam trilogy, a character nicknamed Crake argues that mortality is not merely death, but also the anxiety-inducing and violence-producing foreknowledge and fear of death. Crake's solution to mortality is profoundly catastrophic, but his diagnosis is in some ways, spot on.
Two great thinkers who've shed important light on the phenomenon of "death-anxiety" are Ernest Becker, in his 1973 work, The Denial of Death, and more recently, Richard Beck in The Slavery of Death. Both writers think about the ways we live in denial of death and how this creates deep-seated neurotic ...
Q & R: Beloved Children or Worthless Slaves? Brad Jersak
Question
I am discovering that God is a loving Father and I'm experiencing the joy of knowing I'm his dearly loved child. I am basking in his goodness and mercy, I'm rediscovering my true identity in Christ and I'm finding real belonging in his family and at his table.
I'm also taking Jesus more seriously than ever. But some of his teachings are difficult. For example, how should we read Luke 7:7-10? Doesn't this completely undermine the way Jesus sees us?
7 “Suppose one of you has a servant plowing or looking after the sheep. Will he say to the servant when he comes in from the field, ‘Come along now and sit down to eat’? 8 Won’t he ...
Q & R: A Question about “Ultimate Redemption”
“Can’t everyone respond to God, even if it’s in the next life?
QUESTION:
Why can’t everyone come to know God’s grace and mercy, even if it means doing that in the next life? God is much more powerful, loving, understanding and his ways of making that happen are past our finding out.
RESPONSE:
I do share your hope that, in view of God’s infinite power and love, Christ might also ultimately redeem everyone, including those the world judges as irredeemable. As my friend Robin Parry has said, “God can save everyone (because he’s all-powerful) and God wants to save everyone (because he’s all-loving)—so he ...
Inter-faith Dialogue with Christian Atheists – Brad Jersak
In October, 2019, Paul Young and I were fielding a Q&R time at the Grand Embrace retreat in Aldergrove, Canada. It was the first time I've been asked for a response to "Jesus-following Atheists" (aka "Christian atheists"). The question was raised by another dear friend, musician Kevin Boese. He's a huge fan of the Canadian rock band, RUSH, and an avid listener of the Liturgists Podcast, which might be where Kevin first became familiar with this idea of Christian Atheists. I did my best to respond in the moment, but left unsatisfied. I feel that to engage them, I'd want to assume far less about what they believe and practice, and I'd like to ask ...
The Finished Work (before, during & after the Cross) – Brad Jersak
INTRO – “The Finished Work”
“The finished work” has become a popular catch-phrase among those who faithfully teach God’s unconditional grace. This reassuring phrase comes to us from Christ’s dying declaration of divine love’s great victory. “It is finished!” he cries with his final breath (John 19:30).
Although Christ’s last words were likely spoken in Aramaic or Hebrew, the Greek word John the Beloved uses to translate Jesus’ words in his eyewitness account is tetelestai (from teleo, the verb form of the noun telos). This bit of linguistic trivia matters because to John, Jesus was saying something far more than “it’s ...
Q & R with Brad Jersak – The Quran, Safi Kaskas & Jesus-following Muslims
Question:
Brad,
I'm a fan of your books. But I saw something on page 142-143 of A More Christlike Way that I'd like to caution you on. I need to advise you that Mr. Kaskas is not being truthful as far as Surah 5:28 is concerned. Verse 28 looks hunky-dory but in verse 29, Abel tells Cain to "Go to hell!" Literally! And the hell Islam represents is the ever-burning Augustinian type.
I would also advise you to Google Taqiyya. Also Kitman. Without knowing about Taqiyya, non-Muslims are liable to believe lies told in the name of Allah.
Also, you wrote as if Allah and the Christians' God were the same. This is not the case. Look ...
Of Heretics, Kings and Foxes – Brad Jersak
The [heretics] act just like someone who finds a beautiful image of a king that has been constructed by a skillful artist out of precious jewels, and then breaks down this statue of the king into pieces and rearranges the gems into the form of a dog or a fox, and even then, does a poor job of it. And then they maintain and declare that this was the beautiful image of the king which the skillful artist had constructed. They point to the jewels that had been beautifully assembled by the original artist in the image of the king, but have now tragically transposed the king into the shape of a dog. And exhibiting the jewels, they deceive the ignorant who ...
“Are you saved?” and other Cringe Questions – Brad Jersak
Over the years, a constellation of questions, common to some Christian traditions, increasingly makes me cringe. And to be honest, I used to ask them.
Are you saved?
Is he/she saved?
When were you saved?
I know what is intended. We were identifying ‘saved’ with the moment I ‘invited Christ into my heart’ through the faith confession expressed in ‘the Sinner’s Prayer.’ We would even write our names and the date of our conversion/salvation in the back cover of our Gideon New Testaments. If that is how and when I was saved, I suppose you could say I was ‘saved’ when I was six-years-old. That’s when I personally and consciously ...
Seven Facets of the Jesus Way – Podcast interview: Brad Jersak with Karl Forehand
CLICK HERE to listen to Karl Forehand interview Brad Jersak about his new book, A More Christlike Way (51 minutes).
A More Christlike Way
In his previous work, A More Christlike God, Brad Jersak looked to the Incarnation of Jesus Christ to reveal the true nature of God as self-giving, radically forgiving, compassionate Love. In this follow-up book, after deconstructing four counterfeit ways, Jersak explores seven facets of the Jesus Way. Christ's radical revelation of true humanity beckons us, "Would you be human? Take up your cross and follow me." A More Christlike Way
$18.00 US - $25.00 CN includes shipping (25% off bulk ...
October 2019
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Monte Wolverton: Making Change– pg. 3
Brad Jersak: The Truth About Condemnation– pg. 6
Brian Zahnd: Trying Hard Not to Be Ugly – pg. 8
Laura Urista: What Are We Really Singing? – pg. 10
Blair Baker: Music Ministry: Beyond Manipulation – pg. 12
Richard Rohr: God Is Good – pg. 14
Greg Albrecht: But What About Works -pg. 15
Christian Polytheism – Brad Jersak
This article is an excerpt from A More Christlike Way (CWR press, 2019).
It was risky business for early Christians to hold up Christ as the image of the one true God. Their gospel confession demanded a rejection of Rome’s pantheon of pagan gods and the emperors’ demand for worship. And that meant persecution. But at least the choice was straightforward: Jesus is Lord and Jupiter is not. Jesus is Lord and Diana is not. Jesus is Lord and Caesar is not.
But today, how are we to navigate the problem of polytheism (the belief in many gods) within Christianity? Let’s say there’s still a militaristic god of war, a patriotic god of ...
September 2019
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Articles:
Creating God in Our Own Image – pg. 1
Heart and Soul – pg. 2
Blessings and Curses? – pg. 5
My Cousin Valerie – pg. 7
Quotes & Connections – pg. 8
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Q&R with Brad Jersak – A Christlike God or no god at all?
Reader's Comment
From E. Stanley Jones (1933), "Christ and human suffering" I was reading this today in the early morn. Thought of you.
E. Stanley Jones (1933), "Christ and human suffering"
Response
Fascinating!
Despite the fact that our Trinitarian confession frequently slips badly into Tritheism (worship of three gods), Christians follow Jesus Christ's claim that we worship the one God of Abraham. In these, we share significant common ground with Judaism and Islam. But when it comes to the Incarnation of God in the flesh of Christ, that seems completely forbidden for them, especially a God who suffers and ...
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