Posts
Should Christians Arm Themselves?
Category: General
Tags: Current Events, Discipleship, Guns, Jerry Falwell Jr, Non-Violence
Jerry Falwell Jr, the president of Liberty University, recently encouraged the students to arm themselves saying, “I always thought that if more good people had concealed-carry permits, then we could end those Muslims before they…
God is Not a Monster
Category: General
Tags: Attributes of God, Character of God, God is Love, Jesus
Pastor Brian Zhand has a way with words that captures the imagination. And he is a pastor that has taken time to read the church fathers. In a recent post, he quotes Saint Antony who wrote, “I no longer…
Kingdom Now
Category: General
Tags: Already Not Yet, Kingdom
Topics: Following Jesus
Yesterday, I introduced the tension of living in the “already-not yet” kingdom. (See post here.) There I referred to the fact that we are living between D-Day (the point at which WW2 was won) and…
The Victory is Already Won, But Not Yet
Category: General
Tags: Eschatology, Kingdom, Warfare Worldview
Topics: Spiritual Warfare, Cosmic Conflict
Christ came “to destroy the works of the devil” (1 John 3:8), to disarm “the rulers and authorities” (Col 2:15), and to “destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil…
The Full Meaning of Salvation
Category: General
Tags: Forgiveness, freedom, Salvation, Sin, Warfare Worldview
Many view salvation as a legal transaction, which means that it’s a mere acquittal from the consequences of sin. While forgiveness of our sin is certainly involved, the NT view of salvation goes far beyond…
Gratitude
Category: General
Tags: Gratitude, N.T. Wright, Thanksgiving
“When we learn to read the story of Jesus and see it as the story of the love of God, doing for us what we could not do for ourselves–that insight produces, again and again,…
Thankful for the Passion of God
Category: General
Tags: Attributes of God, Character of God, Classical Theism, God, Jesus, Thanksgiving
The classical view of God has held that God is impassible, meaning he is above pathos (passion or emotions). The main reason the church came to this view was that, following the Hellenistic philosophical tradition, they associated…
Thankful that God Outsmarted Satan
Category: General
Tags: Salvation, Satan, Thanksgiving, Warfare Worldview
Concerning the cross, Paul wrote that God’s intent was “that through the church the wisdom of God in its rich variety might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places…
Free Will in the Bible
Category: General
Tags: Determinism, Free Will, Open Theism
Topics: Providence, Predestination and Free Will
Scripture portrays humans as having minds and wills of their own. They are, in a real (though limited) sense, creators of their own behavior and determiners of their own destinies—whether this behavior and destiny is…
Lighten Up: The Jesus Eraser
Category: Lighten Up
Tags: Jesus, Peacemaking
“For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility…” Ephesians 2:14 Image by David Hayward @ www.nakedpastor.com.
The (Spiritual) War on Terror
Category: General
Tags: Open Theism, Prayer, Warfare Worldview
Jesus’ ministry was a ministry not of resignation but of revolt. He was about revolting against the cruel tyranny of a world ruler (Satan) that was oppressing God’s people. He was about seeking to give…
Theology That Accounts for Terrorism
Category: General
Tags: Augustine, Evil, Satan, War, Warfare Worldview
The general assumption of both the Old and the New Testaments is that the earth is virtually engulfed by cosmic forces of destruction, and that evil and suffering are ultimately due to this diabolical siege….
Anabaptist Response to the Attacks in Paris and Beirut
Category: Essays
Tags: Anabaptism, Bruxy Cavey, Non-Violence, Peace, Violence
Topics: Enemy-Loving Non-Violence
https://youtube.com/watch?v=paUtIl-oRpM&feature=youtu.be Our friend Bruxy Cavey, the pastor at The Meeting House in Toronto shares some thoughts on how to respond to the violence that is going on in the world. He writes: The Meeting House…
So Much Evil. Why?
Category: General
Tags: Evil, Free Will, Open Theism, Warfare Worldview
In light of the profound evil being experienced by the people of Paris and countless other locations around the world, we thought we would raise again the question that many ask when things like this…
Lighten Up: Head and Heart
Category: Lighten Up
Tags: David Hayward, Lighten Up, Love, Naked Pastor, Thinking
How Calvinism Misses the Point About Salvation
Category: General
Tags: Calvinism, Election, Open Theism, Predestination
Topics: Defending the Open View
Calvinists sometimes argue that various passages in John teach that the Father chooses and then “draws” certain people to Christ. Those who are “drawn” certainly come to Christ (John 6:37) while all who are not…
Hungry Hearts
Category: General
Tags: C.S. Lewis, Love, Spiritual Hunger
Every human being with normal mental and emotional faculties longs for more. People typically associate their longing for more with a desire to somehow improve their lot in life—to get a better job, a nicer…
Support for Open Theism from Science and Experience
Category: General
Tags: Determinism, Einstein, Open Theism, Polkinghorne, Science
Topics: Defending the Open View
I have discussed the scriptural support that depicts the future as partially open and that God knows it as such. I do this in God of the Possible. If a position is true, every avenue of…
Prayer When You’re Anxious
Category: General
Tags: Practicing the Presence of God, Prayer, Present Perfect
The following is adapted from a prayer exercise that Greg wrote for his book, Present Perfect. If you’re feeling anxious today (or even if you’re not anxious at all) we encourage you to spend a little time…