We run our website the way we wished the whole internet worked: we provide high quality original content with no ads. We are funded solely by your direct support. Please consider supporting this project.

Parable of the Jerk Loser Son

The Parables of Our Lord - The Prodigal Son by John Everett Millais

Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery via Compfight

Peter Enns blogged about the parable of the prodigal son, or as he likes to call it, “the parable of the jerk loser son.” It’s actually a reflection about the unbelievable and scandalous love of God. I guarantee it will bless you.

From the article:

The story isn’t about conversion to Christianity. It’s about God being on the look out for those in the family who have wandered off, and God simply can’t wait to welcome them home.

I read stories like this and I wonder, What if this is actually true? What if there is a God who is really like this?  What if God can’t wait to have us around–even with the garbage we keep carrying around and our half hearted “I’m sorries?”

What if God is glad to see us?

Related Reading

How Much Does the Cross Really Matter?

The cross is as foolishness and weakness to nonbelievers, but Paul wrote that to those who are being saved it is both “the power” and “wisdom of God” (1 Cor 1:18, 24). In sharp contrast to the controlling power and wisdom that has been ascribed to God or the gods throughout history—including in much of…

Podcast: Can We Really Have a Personal Relationship with Jesus?

It’s all about parts and wholes in this rip-roaring journey through the historical development of certain pietistic trends as Greg introduces his listeners to Depeche Mode Theology. http://traffic.libsyn.com/askgregboyd/Episode_0228.mp3

Does Jesus’ Abandonment on the Cross Destroy the Trinity?

In my previous blog I argued that Jesus’ experience of God-forsakenness on the cross was genuine and that, as a matter of fact, there was a genuine abandonment of Jesus by the Father on the cross. In fact, I am convinced that a good deal of our theology hangs in the balance on our affirming…

Why the Rapture is a Bad Idea

Is the Rapture really what you think it is? Most Christians believe that God will take his followers up to heaven before the really bad stuff starts on earth, but is this what the bible says? Is this view consistent with the loving God that Jesus shows us in the New Testament? View the full…

Why Bart Ehrman Doesn’t Have to Ruin Your Christmas (Or Your Faith) Part 6

This is the sixth of several videos Greg put together to refute Bart Ehrman’s claims published in the article What Do We Really Know About Jesus? In this segment, Greg addresses the apparent discrepancies in the genealogies of Luke and Matthew and the implausibility of the idea that they were simply fabricated. We’ve been hearing that people are using…

Did Jesus Have Two Minds?

As I laid out in the previous post, I believe Jesus is fully God and fully human. The question is: How is this possible? How do we talk about the way that Jesus was fully God and fully man? The Creed of Chalcedon (451) tries to answer the question this way: We, then, following the…

Topics: