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.
Are we God’s children by nature or adoption?
Greg addresses a reader question about our status as God’s children. Do we come by that by nature or by adoption? Scripture seems to give something of a mixed answer. What’s up with that?
Category: Q&A
Tags: Adoption, God's Character, God's Love, Nature
Topics: Death and Salvation, Following Jesus
Related Reading
That Weird Episode with the Pigs
In my opinion, the single strangest episode recounted in the Gospels is the account of Jesus’ encounter with a demonized man that ended with two thousand pigs drowning themselves in the Sea of Galilee (Mk 5:1-10//Mt 8:28-34; Lk 8:26-39). Some find it morally objectionable that this mass suicide was the result of Jesus allowing the…
Cross-Shaped Transcendence
Hellenistic philosophers traditionally embrace a conception of God as the simple, necessary, and immutable One. They do this in order to try to explain the “unmoved mover” who is absolutely distinct from the ever-changing, composite, contingent world. However, we must be clear that it is misguided for Christian theology to follow this path. If we…
Podcast: Does God ALWAYS Act Out of Love?
Greg talks about the nouns and verbs of God. Dan talks about unicorns named Gary. http://traffic.libsyn.com/askgregboyd/Episode_0411.mp3
Resisting Evil
The New Testament refers to Satan as the “god of this age” and the “ruler of the power of the air” (2 Cor 4:4; Eph.2:2). In the first century Jewish worldview, “air” referred to the domain of spiritual authority over the earth. The author, Paul, was thus saying that the spiritual environment of the earth…
Supported by God
Here’s an exercise that has helped me experience God’s closeness and helped me feel “at home” regardless of my circumstances. It involves using the incredible gift of your physical body to help you remember God’s ever-present love and care for you. Think for a moment about the way God designed the world and the laws…
Violent Parables?
Some try to argue that Jesus did not make loving enemies and refraining from violence an absolute mandate. They make their case on the basis of several passages from the Gospels. The first concerns the cleansing of the temple which we addressed here, while the second is about how Jesus spoke harsh words to the…