Posts
Absolute Truth and Violence
Category: General
Tags: Enemy Love, Holy War, Love, Self-Sacrificial Love, Service, Truth, Violence
Topics: Ethical, Cultural and Political Issues
A common argument today against Christianity is that believing that Jesus (or any other religious figure or religion) is the only way to God (See yesterday’s post) is “dangerous.” This claim actually has some justification, for…
On Dying and Compassion
Category: General
Tags: Brittany Maynard, Compassion, Death, Jessica Kelley
Last week many of us were talking about end of life issues after we viewed Brittany Maynard’s heartbreaking video sharing her decision to take her own life in the face of her terminal illness and the prospect of…
Lighten Up: Believing in Believing
Category: General, Lighten Up
Tags: Belief, Faith, Lighten Up, Philosophy, Theology
OK, we don’t really think this is the difference between theology and philosophy, but how does this guy not get that not believing in believing is, itself, a belief?
Is God Trying to Tell Us Something Through Blood Moons?
Category: General
Tags: Blood Moons, Four Blood Moons, John Hagee, Signs
This week we experienced the second of a series of four “blood moons.” If you’ve read John Hagee’s book Four Blood Moons: Something Is About To Change, you might be inclined to believe that God is…
Sermon Clip: God Doesn’t Speak Gibberish
Category: Sermons and Video Clips
Tags: Sermons, Woodland Hills Church
This week we finish our short series on the spiritual gifts today with a sermon discussing the gift of tongues and the interpretation of tongues. As the most controversial of the gifts, we will correct…
Is There Room for Doubt in Faith?
Category: General
Tags: Benefit of the Doubt, Doubt, Faith, Jacob, Q&A, Wrestling with God
Topics: Faith & Doubt
Many Christians today assume that faith is the antithesis of doubt. In this view, a person’s faith is thought to be strong to the extent that they don’t question their beliefs or struggle with God…
Greg on Hell
Category: General
Tags: Annihilationism, Hell
What is your doctrine of hell? In this podcast, Greg will challenge your assumptions while he explains how his view of hell has evolved. He introduces his view, some of the objections to his view,…
Are We Supposed to Balance Love and Truth?
Category: General
Tags: God is Love, Holiness, Love, Love One Another, Repenting of Religion, Truth, Wrath
Often people say, “Yes we must love. But we must balance love with truth.” “Love has its place, but we must not forget God’s wrath.” “Love must never take the place of correct biblical doctrine.”…
Lighten Up: Dance
Category: General, Lighten Up
Tags: Dance, Joy, Lighten Up, Soul Pancake
We should dance more.
Why We Can’t Know Why Bad Things Happen
Category: General
Tags: Chaos Theory, Is God to Blame?, Problem of Evil, Suffering, The Butterfly Effect, Variables
Topics: The Problem of Evil
Science has demonstrated that the slightest variation in a sufficiently complex process at one point may cause remarkable variations in that process at another point. It’s called chaos theory. The flap of a butterfly wing…
Is Suffering Part of God’s Secret Plan?
Category: Q&A
Tags: Calvinism, Compassion, Faith, Is God to Blame?, Problem of Evil, Spiritual Warfare, Suffering, Theodicy, Warfare Worldview
Topics: Providence, Predestination and Free Will, The Problem of Evil
In the Christian tradition since Augustine, the most common explanation for the apparent arbitrariness of life and God’s interaction with humanity has been God’s mysterious will—his “secret plan,” as Calvin says. Whether or not a…
Sermon Clip: Mystery of the Miraculous
Category: Sermons and Video Clips
Tags: Greg Boyd, Sermons, Spiritual Warfare, Woodland Hills Church
In this week’s sermon clip, Greg Boyd discusses the supernatural gifts of faith, healing, and miracles Christians receive from the Holy Spirit. He describes what each of these gifts are, as well as how we…
War in the Heavens!
Category: General
Tags: David D. Flowers, God, Quantum Physics, Satan, Satan and the Problem of Evil, Warfare Worldview
What does spiritual warfare look like from the perspective of the physical world? Our friend David D. Flowers speculated on that question in a post he entitled Dark Matter vs Dark Energy: War in the Heavens. Referencing Greg’s…
Reasons God Does Not Control Everything
Category: General
Tags: Change, God, Open Theism, time
First, the belief that God is all-powerful does not mean that God exercises all power. It only means that God is the ultimate source of all power. Fallen people may value the ability to control…
Lighten Up: Looking a Gift Miracle in the Mouth
Category: General, Lighten Up
Tags: Lighten Up, Miracles
Doing the Kingdom, Not Voting It In
Category: General
Tags: Kingdom Living, Love, Myth of a Christian Nation, Unsurpassable Worth
Our central job is not to solve the world’s problems. Our job is to draw our entire life from Christ and manifest that life to others. Nothing could be simpler—and nothing could be more challenging….
Close Encounters of the Third (Kingdom) Kind: A Reflection on the Missio Alliance Conference
Category: General
Tags: Anabaptists, Fellowship, Jesus, Kingdom, Mennonerds, Missio Alliance, Viva la Revolution!
What an incredible gathering we had last week! It was invigorating, informative and fun! What stands out most to me was the family-feel of the conference. Like most of you, I have usually felt a…
Sermon Clip: Extravagant Forgiveness, Extravagant Love
Category: Sermons and Video Clips
Tags: Greg Boyd, Jesus, Kingdom Living, Love, Sermons
Greg Boyd had the wonderful opportunity to guest speak at a great church in Carlisle, PA called Carlisle BIC. He spoke on the topic of forgiveness and love. In this short clip, Greg describes how…
Becoming Like the Accuser
Category: General
Tags: Judgment, Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, Violence
Topics: Following Jesus
When the Adam and Eve yielded to Satan and surrendered their God-given authority over the earth and animal kingdom (Gen 3), Satan became “the god of this world” (2 Cor. 4:4), the “ruler of the…
How Judging Blocks Love
Category: General
Tags: Judgment, Kingdom Living, Love, Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil
Topics: Following Jesus
What keeps us from fulfilling the law of love that is exemplified by Jesus and laid out in the Scriptures (Matt. 22:39-40; Rom 13:8,10 Gal 5:14)? In a word, we like to pass verdicts. To…