What good is forgiveness if it doesn’t ‘work’ when you actually need it? I raised this question in response to some negative responses to this awesome blog post by David Zahl: The Subjective Power Of An Objective Gospel I thought the response was important enough to repost on my own blog, so I’m sorry in […]
I watched a video teaching recently where the teacher portrayed Jesus as taking the few loaves and fishes from the clutches of an unwilling boy’s hands, and made a whole message out of this, that God sometimes takes things from us that we want to hold on to for some greater good that we don’t […]
in the vast grand quiet at the center of the mystery of existence if it is possible that a voice […]
OK, it’s finally time for the fire and brimstone! See, read all of these passages where Jesus teaches about hell! What do you have to say about that Mr. Grace and forgiveness?! Well, actually, I have quite a bit to say. 22 “But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother […]
Grace, true scandalous 100% forgiveness and acceptance, get-out-of-jail-free fire-insurance easy-believism grace, is the essential foundation for true virtue. Why? Let’s start by reading a few verses: 14 For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law, but under grace. 15 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under […]
One of the things to understand about me is that I’m working through the idea that maybe, in Christ, we are really totally and absolutely forgiven and accepted. It is real. The single condition is belief in His favor and forgiveness, in the sufficiency of His blood. If that is true, what does the Christian […]
“So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.” Philippians 2:12, 13, NASB. […]
“For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ.” John 1:17, NASB. I’ve been thinking about this statement a good bit. The Law given through Moses is juxtaposed against grace and truth. The law was “given”; grace and truth were “realized.” The law was written and imposed, but not […]
“Then Jesus entered and passed through Jericho. Now behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus who was a chief tax collector, and he was rich. And he sought to see who Jesus was, but could not because of the crowd, for he was of short stature. So he ran ahead and climbed up into a […]
“And which of you, having a servant plowing or tending sheep, will say to him when he has come in from the field, ‘Come at once and sit down to eat’? “But will he not rather say to him, ‘Prepare something for my supper, and gird yourself and serve me till I have eaten and […]