Greg Boyd
Be the Change Now
Category: General
Tags: Justice, Kingdom Living, Non-Violence, Racial Reconciliation
Topics: Following Jesus
Ghandi once said, “Be the change you want to see in the world.” It’s a profoundly Kingdom teaching. It seems to me, however, that few people adopt Ghandi’s philosophy. It’s far easier to focus our…
How Are We To Love the Soldiers of ISIS?
Category: Q&A
Tags: Enemy Love, ISIS, Jesus, Kingdom Living, Love Your Enemies, Non-Violence, Sacrifice
Topics: Enemy-Loving Non-Violence, Ethical, Cultural and Political Issues
Over the last several weeks I’ve received some form of this question almost every day. In some cases the question is asked rhetorically, as though the very question exposes the absurdity of suggesting we are…
Confronting Divine Determinism
Category: General
Tags: Calvinism, Determinism, Free Will, Love, Open Theism, Predestination, Responding to Calvinism, Woodland Hills Church
Part of the fallen human condition inclines us to shirk our moral responsibility and accept that everything is predetermined, whether by God, the gods, fate, or blind chance. Various forms of determinism have been prevalent…
Why Can’t I Feel God?
Category: Q&A
Tags: Cataphatic Prayer, Experiencing God, Experiencing Jesus, Imagination, Imaginative Prayer, Prayer
Topics: Hearing God, Prayer
Question: Greg, you’re always talking about how we need to keep our eyes fixed on the cross to see and experience God’s love for us. But I find myself arguing with God, asking him: “How…
God Does Not Always Get What He Wants
Category: General
Tags: Choice, Free Will, God's Will, Love, Problem of Evil, Salvation
Topics: Providence, Predestination and Free Will
One of the ways the Bible makes it clear that humans have free will and that God doesn’t predetermine human decisions is found in the responses God has toward human choices. Scripture consistently depicts God…
The Risk of Love & the Source of Evil
Category: General
Tags: Free Will, Love, Problem of Evil
On Sunday Greg tweeted the following: Love IS a tremendous risk. But if humans ever concluded the risk was not worth it, we likely become extinct rather quickly. … Yes, love is risky. It costs…
Revolting Against the Cosmic Hitler
Category: General
Tags: Hitler, Kingdom, Kingdom Living, Nazi, Revolt
Greg returned last week from Europe where he was able to visit some Nazi death camps. In the following, he reflects on a story of a German teenager who actively resisted the Nazi agenda…
Ferguson, Racism, & the Kingdom
Category: General
Tags: Breaking Down Walls, Ferguson, Kingdom, Michael Brown, Myth of a Christian Religion, Racial Reconciliation, Racism, White Privilege
Topics: Ethical, Cultural and Political Issues
In light of the issues that have arisen in Ferguson, Mo this last week (for more on this click here), we thought we would offer some reflections on this topic from Greg that he wrote…
Do You Have Enough Faith?
Category: General
Tags: Benefit of the Doubt, Covenant, Doubt, Faith
What does it actually mean to have faith? This is a topic I address at length in Benefit of the Doubt, but this post provides a very basic answer to this question. To appropriately understand…
How Can Salvation by Grace Involve Free Will?
Category: Q&A
Tags: Calvinism, Free Will, Grace, Salvation, TULIP
Topics: Death and Salvation, Responding to Objections
How does salvation by grace work if people have free will? If salvation hinges on whether individuals choose to be saved or not, is salvation based on grace or works? If we have to choose…
God is Not What You Expect
Category: General
Tags: Attributes of God, Character of God, God is Love, Jesus
Jesus came, in part, to finally reveal the absolute truth about God. He is the way and the truth (alethia) and the life (Jn 14:6). The word “truth” means “uncovered.” And what we find once…
Is God Immutable? Part II
Category: Q&A
Tags: Attributes of God, God's Character, time
Topics: Attributes and Character
Yesterday, we looked at the common understanding of divine immutability and the problems inherent to it. Click here to read that post. Today, let’s look at what the immutability of God actually means. Instead of…
Is God Immutable? Part I
Category: Q&A
Tags: Attributes of God, Character of God, God, Jesus, time
Topics: Attributes and Character
For a number of reasons, Plato believed that something changes only to become better or to become worse (Rep. II). Since a perfect being can’t be improved or diminished, he argued, God must be completely…
What Hinders Answers to Prayer
Category: General
Tags: Angels, Free Will, Prayer, Warfare Worldview
Prayer is powerful and effective, but it’s not magic. There is no automatic guarantee that what we’re praying for is going to come to pass, even when we’re praying with faith and in accordance with…
Analogies For Understanding Prayer
Category: General
Tags: God's Will, Partnering With God, Prayer, Warfare Worldview
Topics: Hearing God, Prayer
God is all-powerful, which means he owns all the “say-so” there is. But when he decided to populate the creation with free agents, he gave each human various units of “say-so.” [Click here for yesterday’s…
Your Spiritual “Say-So”
Category: General
Tags: Kingdom Living, Prayer, Relationships
In yesterday’s post, I summarized what Jesus and the rest of the Bible says about prayer. For many, that is enough. “God said it, I believe it, that settles it for me.” But for others, like…
Does Prayer Really Make a Difference?
Category: Q&A
Tags: Kingdom Living, Prayer
Topics: Hearing God, Prayer, Open Theism
I know the traditional cliché that prayer is for our sake, not God’s. It changes us, not God, or God’s plans. Even C .S. Lewis said that! I have the greatest admiration for Lewis, but…
A Visit to Auschwitz
Category: General
Tags: Auschwitz, Blueprint Worldview, Calvinism, Europe, Theodicy, Warfare Worldview
Ever since I first learned of the full horror of the Holocaust when I was a freshman at the University of Minnesota I have had a kind of obsessive fascination with it. I’ve studied every…
Revolting Against Judgment
Category: General
Tags: Blessing, Discipline of Blessing, Judgment, Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil
Topics: Following Jesus
A few years ago, I committed to blessing all people at all times. (See yesterday’s post for more about this.) The first thing I noticed was how many “non-blessing” thoughts I had about people. I…
The Kingdom of God While Mowing the Lawn
Category: General
Tags: Blessing, Discipline of Blessing, Ed Silvoso, Kingdom Living
The Kingdom of God is first and foremost characterized by the kind of love Jesus demonstrated on Calvary and throughout his life. Everything we do, Paul says, is to be done in love (1 Cor….