175 results for tag: Q & R

Q&R with Brad – How do we pray regarding natural disasters, like these fires?

Question How do you pray these days regarding natural disasters, like the fires we're seeing in the Northwest and in Turkey?  Is God in control? Is God controlling?  As you mentioned in A More Christlike God, God set the parameters for natural law to take place. So is there any point asking God to intervene and stop the fires? Does God do that?  Response First, let's remember that God doesn't DO control. BUT God's love is mediated into this world through willing human partners who invite God's participation. WE mediate God's goodness as image-bearers in this world. God enters our world by invitation, and our prayers ...

Q&R with Brad – “Is sex before marriage a sin?”

Question: I have a question. Is sex before marriage a sin? It seems it is best to wait considering the risks. But, the Bible isn't clear on this. The word fornication comes from the Greek word, porneia which means whoredom, harlotry, idolatry, and selling off sexual purity, or marital unfaithfulness (adultery). However, what about in committed relationships where people are not married? Response: This is such a poignant question in this sex-positive, post-"purity culture" era. It seems like a risky question to address ... almost a lose-lose as we straddle 21st-century reality and yet hope to stay anchored to some sort of sex ethic that ...

Q&R with Brad – “But God is holy…”

Poem by Franki (@frankiwritespoetry on Instagram) When yourperception of thelove and acceptance of Godis less than what ahuman beingwould offer a stranger, it'sprobablywrong. Reader's question: But he's God. He's holy and I can't get past how that makes me view him as a judge of my behavior. He doesn't accept sin. And I "was born in sin". I don't want to see myself as sinful needing a savior from my evilness, but I feel the Bible tells me this story. If he accepts me, why do I need to do anything at all? Response: This is such an important line of inquiry that it bears answering in stages. "But he's God." I don't see that "but" ...

Q&R with Brad: How does God interact with the universe? Control vs. Love

Question: I am about halfway into A More Christlike God (I ordered A More Christlike Word a few months ago as well!). Your work is refreshing to my soul. In fact, I conduct research among secular, Gen Z college students, and some of your insights address precisely their struggles with the Christian faith, most notably the wrath of God and Christ pitted against the Father. Anyway, as I have been reading A More Christlike God, I’m struggling with what seems to be a contradiction of sorts, and I would greatly value your insight. In Chapter 7 (pp. 129-32 in my copy) you discuss “secondary causes.” Here, you discuss natural ...

Q&R Dealing with Doubts – Brad Jersak

Question I get caught up in my 5 senses. I want to move past these things and accept God and Jesus and the afterlife and in my good moments, I do. But I have these sad downturns where I question everything. How is your faith so strong? Do you ever have moments of doubt? How do you move past them or how can I build my faith up so I no longer doubt? Response I'd probably be a bit worried if you never had doubts. Doubts are often an invitation to bring our hard questions to God and it's exactly at those moments (or seasons) that our wrestling turns into deeper convictions. For example, those who experience suffering may have deep questions that ...

Q&R: Eternal Life – now or later? Brad Jersak

Question The more I experience this beautiful gospel, the more I feel that it’s all about NOW, the present. And trying to know the Father (eternal life) more and more and experience His love for me more and more as well as living out this Love so that others around me could get to know Him and His love for them.​ What are your thoughts on this? Response This is ESPECIALLY true in the Gospel of John where both 'perishing' and 'eternal life' are NOT treated as afterlife concerns (heaven and hell). In John's Gospel, Jesus comes to a world that is already perishing now. Christ comes because his children are in a downward ...

Question: Women in Pastoral Ministry – Greg Albrecht

QUESTION: I spent some time in two church organizations both of whom believed women should not be involved in pastoral ministry.  But I now question this view.   I did make  a sort of peace with the idea over the fact that I'd rather hear a woman speak truth than hear a man speak nonsense. In spite of that though, I'm still a bit troubled by the Epistles of Paul on this issue. I'm aware of the argument that Paul's statements were directed to a male dominated culture but that raises the question that if the culture were wrong, why did God cater to it? What I want to understand is the theology of this issue. I don't ...

Q&R with Brad Jersak – “Do ECT & PSA hold any theological merit for you?”

QUESTION Do ECT (eternal conscious torment) and PSA (penal substitutionary atonement theory) hold any theological merit for you? RESPONSE Only in that some of my brothers and sisters hold these views and I believe we’re meant to continue in fellowship around our shared love for Jesus. I only wish that more Christians who hold those views felt the same way. When these positions are held as essential dogmas necessary for salvation, they too easily become a cause for breaking fellowship (in the name of 'faithfulness'). QUESTION So, is fellowship the best way to treat a theology that was born out of the Genesis 3 disease? RESPO...

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 ...

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 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 “Religion Burnout” – Greg Albrecht

Greg Albrecht - President PTM Question: Is it possible to have a personal relationship with God and Jesus Christ without the religious ties? The reason I ask is because I have been involved with different religions that are cultic in nature since the age of 15 years, ranging from Mormonism, Jehovah's Witnesses and Seventh-day Adventism. I've been told that SDAism has strong tendencies towards cultism, so as far as things go for me, it's very difficult to get involved with any church of any kind. I guess that's what they call church/religion burnout. Is there such a thing called that? Would any materials you may have dealing with religion ...

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 ...

Q&R: The Lord’s Supper: if not penal substitution, what’s communion about? – Brad Jersak

Question Once one has left a penal substitutionary understanding of the Cross behind, how do you understand the meaning of the Lord's Supper? Response The Eucharist (which means "thanksgiving") is a beautiful gift whereby I join the great banquet, one of Jesus' favorite images for the Kingdom of God. This is the Passover meal that commemorates our exodus out of slavery and death passes over us. This is the table of Psalm 23 that he spreads before us when the Good Shepherd anoints us with oil and presents us with his overflowing cup. This is the celebratory banquet the Father prepares for every prodigal who comes home. This is a foretaste of ...

Q&R with Brad Jersak – Who is Paul’s “antiChrist” in 2 Thessalonians?

Fresco showing the Antichrist directed by Satan by Luca Signorelli in the San Brizio Chapel (Capella della Madonna di San Brizio) in the Orvieto Cathedral. c. 1505. Question I left dispensational eschatology a long time ago but it seems to be on the rise again. What do you think this passage in 2 Thessalonians is referring to? 2 Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, we ask you, 2 not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come. 3 Let no one deceive you by ...

Q&R: “If hell is not eternal conscious torment, why share the gospel?” Brad Jersak

Question: If hell is not eternal conscious torment, why share the Gospel? Response:  This reader rightly perceives that I would balk at the idea of hell as eternal conscious torment in a lake of fire. That a good and loving God could somehow inflict his children with everlasting torture in a fiery furnace would render the words 'good' or 'loving' utterly meaningless and call into question how his character is any better than that of Satan. The good news (or gospel) is that in his love, God sent his Son as Savior of the world. He is the means by which God conquers "the wages of sin" (death) and flings wide the gates of ...