263 results for tag: Q & R

Q&R with Greg Albrecht – “Are Christians commanded to *win souls*?”

Question I am continually told that Christians are commanded and obligated to spread God’s word to the corners of the earth and lead people to salvation through personal witnessing. Some actually teach that personal witnessing is the defining mark of a Christian. Is personal witnessing a commanded part of being a Christian? Soul-winning advocates even preach we are in a way responsible for friends/family burning in hell if we don't witness, a sobering thought. Response There is a great debate on the topic you raise. Many evangelical Christians believe (evidenced by their very name) that one of the primary duties of Christians is to personally ...

Q&R with Brad Jersak: What about “God’s wrath” in the NT?

Question Hi Brad, Just bought and read A More Christlike God. I loved the book! I really want to believe your theology of wrath – but how do you explain these NT verses that refer to wrath? Is it all explained by "giving over"? For example: John 3:36 Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them.Romans 2:8 But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger.Ephesians 5:6 Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things God’s wrath comes on those who are disobedient.Colossians ...

Q&R with Brad Jersak – A Nonviolent God with Violent Prophets?

Question: In a talk I saw you give at an Open Table discussion, you cited 1 Sam. 15, the genocide of the Amalekites, and your conversation with a mentor. You seemed to be okay interpreting the story metaphorically.  That explanation is a big stretch for me. How can verse 3 (the command to slaughter) be a metaphor? Samuel was a bona fide OT prophet... and yet in verse 33, he kills Agag, hacking him to bits! God is good, is not destructive, but are we to believe his prophets are? Sure, they can have their faults, but a metaphor? I need help... lost in translation..." Response: Now you are seeing the reality of the Bible as a "text ...

Q&R with Brad Jersak: What are the Roots of Belief that God is omnipresent, omnipotent & omniscient?

Question Hey Brad, I hope you are doing well in the midst of all this craziness. I have had some questions bouncing around in my head the last week or so I was hoping you could help by pointing me to some resources I could check out. I have been wondering the root of the beliefs that God is omnipresent (everywhere present), omnipotent (all-powerful) and omniscient (all-knowing). Are these beliefs the early church gathered and have passed on similar to the understanding of the Trinity? Or maybe it is obvious from scripture and I am just completely unaware. My roots for these beliefs are that I was told in Sunday school and in sermons. I am not ...

Q&R “What’s the Deal with Hosea’s Angry God?” Brad Jersak

Question I'm working through Romans right now because I want to understand Paul's theology. I am also reading through Wright's simple "For Everyone" commentary and John Stott's commentary. In all of my reading, I am trying to step outside of my human, 21st century, North American understanding of justice (and justification), instead looking at the text as God's plan for setting the world back to the way he designed it to function, which will ultimately culminate in a new heaven and a new earth.  In reading Stott on Romans 2:6, "God will give to each person according to what He has done," I was directed towards Hosea 12:2. I was instan...

Q&R with Brad Jersak – Is suffering “necessary”?

Question I have often read Christian authors (especially the great "saints" of history) who say that suffering is necessary. Is it? Or is that a superstition? Response Good question. The difficulty is what "necessary" means.  If it means, God needs you to suffer, no. Not any more than I need my children to suffer. But if it means, the structure of the universe and the nature of humanity in a fallen world is that suffering is inevitable, but remarkably, these challenges can become occasions for growth and that without them, we seem to atrophy, okay. In that case, "necessary" is descriptive of our reality and only prescriptive of ...

Q&R: “Saving Grace Appeared to All People”: Offer or Gift? (Titus 2:11) Brad Jersak

When ideology presses you to change the Bible to dumb down salvation: NIV - For the grace of God has appeared that *OFFERS* salvation to all people. – Titus 2:11 *OFFERS* appears nowhere in any manuscripts. Not anywhere. Why add it? NT Wright lays out what's actually there in the Greek: God's saving grace, you see, appeared for all people (NTE). See? There's nothing there at all about it being offered. Christ IS the saving grace who appeared to everyone.But surely "offered" is "understood." Is it? How about context? Why not instead of "offering," use David Bentley Hart's suggestion, "Giving": For the grace of God appeared, *GIVING* ...

Q&R with Brad Jersak – “Eternal Destruction” in 2 Thessalonians 1:6-10

Question:  Flikr|Timmy Please explain the meaning of 2 Thessalonians 1:6-10. Does it mean that those who were disobedient and did not know God are going to punished with everlasting destruction?    6 ... since it is just, on God’s part, to pay back with suffering those who inflict suffering on you, 7 and to give you, with us, respite from your sufferings.This will come about when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his powerful angels, 8 in a flaming fire, meting out punishment to those who don’t know God and those who don’t obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. 9 They will pay the penalty of eternal destruction ...

Q&R with Brad Jersak: What happened to souls before Christ conquered death?

Question "What was happening to all those (During their incarceration) who died prior to Christ’s descent and deliverance of the so-called captives?" Response That's quite easy to answer! I don't know. It really is a mystery.  But I suppose we can say a little bit in ignorance. I think we can say a little bit why it's a mystery: One reason: Nobody who experienced it directly and came back ever described it. (Namely, Jesus and the people he raised from the dead). Modern descriptions from near-death experiences are so completely personal that I would regard them as saying very little about the nature ...

Q&R with Brad Jersak: “What is the worm that never dies?”

Question: I have read a Q & A you have answered on Mark 9 and found it really thorough and very interesting. The one thing I do not see is what the worm represents in this passage in Mark 9. It says "the worm never dies." I have heard that it represents the eternal worm that basically torments you for eternity in hell. I haven't been able to find an explanation for was the "worm" means. Would you be able to explain the best interpretation you know? Thank you very much. I really appreciate you.  Response: In Mark 9, we see Christ is simply citing the imagery in the very last verse of Isaiah: 24 “And they will go out ...

Q&R with Brad Jersak: What if you’re wrong about hell?

Question: Recently, in response to my rejection of the hell of eternal torment, one of my readers offered a fairly common objection: “I hope you’re right about that. BUT if you’re wrong about hell, then a lot of people will go there … and it will be your fault. Wouldn’t it be better to play it safe just to be sure?” The following response was adapted from a much longer essay from Clarion Journal, titled, “Let's Talk about Hell BETTER or “If You’re Wrong, a Lot of People Will Go to Hell & It's Your Fault” by Brad Jersak. Response: The Wager This high stakes objection is worthy of a careful response. “Wrong about hell” ...

Q & R (x2) with Brad – “But why did Jesus NEED to die? Why not simply declare victory?

QUESTION: "If not to appease the wrath of an angry God, then WHY did Jesus NEED to die?  If to conquer Satan, sin and death, WHY did Jesus NEED to die? Couldn't he just declare it?"        Why did Jesus need to die? Okay, I can accept that it's not to placate God's wrath directed at humanity. But then why? I  believe that you have answered elsewhere, 'To defeat Sin, death, and the Destroyer.'        But the question is not so easily resolved. Why was his death necessary for Jesus to die to defeat Sin, death, and the Destroyer? If God chose to forgive without preconditions - as ...

Q&R with Brad Jersak – Does God “intervene”?

Question I have read and studied your book,  A More Christlike God.  And I have a question that is tormenting me. Part 1 of your book is very well done. It provides a strong and credible explanation for parts of the OT that don’t resonate with a Christlike image of God. But in Part 2, I got hung up on what I interpret as your “noninterventionist God” theory. I’m happy to bid farewell to Calvinist doctrines. But I want to better understand your thesis and the implications. Are you saying that you believe that we have unlimited, unharnessed free will; that while God is not responsible for evil (or bad things happening), neither is God ...

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 ...

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 with Greg Albrecht – “Are Catholics Christians?”

QUESTION Is there a difference between a Christian and a Catholic? RESPONSE No, there isn’t necessarily any difference between a Christian and a Catholic, or a Christian and a Lutheran, or a Christian and a Baptist. On the other hand, not all Catholics, Lutherans or Baptists are Christians simply because of their membership in a specific denomination. Christianity is a personal relationship between God and humans, and no human organization has the exclusive right to represent God on earth. Some doubt that there are any Christians at all in certain churches, and some Protestants typically have this view toward Catholics. This issue goes back to the ...

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 ...

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 ...

“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 ...

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 ...