Month: January 2008
Where do you find your security?
Category: General
In Matthew 6:24-34 Jesus taught us it’s impossible to serve two masters. He illustrates this by saying we “cannot serve both God and money.” But he could just as easily have said we “cannot serve…
Will people get married in heaven?
Category: Q&A
Tags: Afterlife, Heaven and Hell, Q&A
Topics: End Times
Question: I lead a Bible study group for teenagers. One recently asked a question: “Will there be marriage in Heaven? And if not, why? God created marriage when He created the perfect earth, so why…
Satan, Government and Christian Anarchy
Category: General
Inspired by my reading of Jacque Ellul, I’ve been talking about Christian Anarchy the last couple posts. I want to remind folks that “anarchy” used in this way does not denote chaos. It rather means…
Does religious faith make someone a better politician?
Category: Q&A
Tags: Politics, Q&A, Social Issues
Topics: Ethical, Cultural and Political Issues
Question: A recent poll showed that a majority of Americans agreed with the statement: “Religious faith makes someone a better politician.” In fact, a majority said they would never vote for a candidate who had…
Should churches have armed security guards?
Category: Q&A
Tags: Christian Life, Church, Peacemaking, Q&A, Social Issues, Violence
Topics: Enemy-Loving Non-Violence, Ethical, Cultural and Political Issues
Question: Recently (December, 2007) a security guard at New Life Church in Colorado Springs shot and apparently killed a man who was shooting people in the church parking lot. The pastor (Brady Boyd) hailed her…
The Insignificance of Governments and Armies
Category: General
Isaiah 40:15,17 Behold, the nations are like a drop in a bucket, And are regarded as a speck of dust on the scales; Behold, He lifts up the islands like fine dust… All the…
What makes the claim that Jesus rose from the dead unique?
Category: Q&A
Tags: Jesus, Q&A
Topics: Jesus: Lord or Legend
Question: What makes the story of Jesus’ resurrection different from other pagan resurrection stories, such as those surrounding the Egyptian god Osiris? Answer: In Lord or Legend? (and more academically, The Jesus Legend), Paul Eddy…
How can you believe Matthew’s report about the Jewish cover up of the resurrection?
Category: Q&A
Tags: Jesus, Q&A
Topics: Biblical Reliability
Question: In Matthew it’s reported that Jewish authorities tried to cover up the resurrection of Jesus by saying the disciples stole the body while the guards were sleeping. I don’t buy it. How would Matthew…
The Lord of Legend and Love
Category: Essays
Tags: Apologetics, Essay, Faith
Topics: Jesus: Lord or Legend
However secularized a person may be, if they have any sense at all that life has a meaning, they know it must have something to do with love. Indeed, one could argue that all of…
Jesus: True Myth and True History
Category: Essays
Tags: Apologetics, Essay, Jesus
Topics: Jesus: Lord or Legend
Though the Jesus story gives us every reason to believe it is substantially rooted in history, it has a curious, and fascinating, relationship with myth and legend. The story of God coming to earth, being…
Why do you have such a pessimistic view of government?
Category: Q&A
Tags: Politics, Q&A, Social Issues
Topics: Ethical, Cultural and Political Issues
Question: I’m a Christian and serve as a servant in government and I find your book The Myth of a Christian Nation, as well as some of your sermons on Christians and politics, highly offensive….
God, Government and Christian Anarchy
Category: General
Hello blogging buds. The last two days I’ve been reading Ellul’s The Presence of the Kingdom. Fantastic book — though many readers will find his somewhat elusive “dialectical” style challenging (Ellul writes, and thinks, in…
The Bible, Government and Christian Anarchy
Category: Essays
Tags: Essay, Kingdom Living, Politics
Topics: Ethical, Cultural and Political Issues
This “essay” contains my informal reflections on biblical texts that I believe support what some call “Christian Anarchy.” Consider it a very rough draft of a future project. I’ll argue that Kingdom people are called…
WHRV, VA Radio Interview – 1/04/07
Category: Press
Greg was a guest for an interview (8.5 mb mp3) about the book on the Virginia Public Radio program, “HearSay.”
The Kansas City Star – 11/30/06
Category: Press
The KansasCity Star ran an article called “Evangelicals Take Political Uneasiness Public” (16 kb pdf) which mentions Greg and his book.
Bethel University – 10/23/06
Category: Press
Greg and author Jim Wallis spoke at an event called “Faith & Politics: Should They Mix?” (19.8 mb mp3) at Bethel University. Each speaker gave a short presentation and then answered questions from audience members. Bethel University…
Does your “dispositional” ontology avoid substantival categories?
Category: Q&A
Tags: Metaphysics, Q&A
Topics: Theological Method, Trinity
Question: In Trinity and Process you argue against a “substantival” ontology and instead advocate a “relational,” “process” and/or “dispositional” ontology in which being, being-in-relation and being-in-process are one and the same. In your view, entity…
Does the Bible teach total non-violence?
Category: Q&A
Tags: Christian Life, Peacemaking, Q&A, Social Issues, Violence
Topics: Enemy-Loving Non-Violence
I wouldn’t say the whole Bible teaches non-violence, for you find Yahweh engaging in quite a bit of violence in the Old Testament. But I would say that the whole Bible clearly presents non-violence as…
Isn’t God “changing his mind” an anthropomorphism?
Category: Q&A
Tags: Open Theism, Q&A
Topics: Defending the Open View, Providence, Predestination and Free Will
Question: Traditionalists argue that passages that refer to God “changing his mind” are anthropomorphic, depicting God in human terms. Open Theists take these passages literally, however. But if you’re going to take these passages literally,…
Doing Martin Luther King Jr. Justice
Category: General
Today is Martin Luther King Jr. day, so I’d like to share a reflection on this great man and the movement he birthed. For the first time in history, we have an African American who…