Love
Love and Free Will
Category: General
Tags: Free Will, Love, Open Theism
Topics: Free Will and the Future
God could have easily created a world in which nothing evil could ever happen. But this world would not have been capable of love. God could have preprogrammed agents to say loving things and to…
God’s Church is Not “Pretty”
Category: General
Tags: Authenticity, Church, Community, Honesty, Love, Truth
Topics: The Church
This week we’ve been looking at various aspects of what it means to be the church. Today, I want to address the paradox of how the church can be both beautiful and ugly at the…
Was Jesus Unloving Towards the Pharisees?
Category: General
Tags: Enemy Love, Jesus, Love
Topics: Enemy-Loving Non-Violence
Some claim that Jesus spoke to religious leaders in ways that did not reflect the love of the cross. In his climatic encounter with the Pharisees in Matthew 23, Jesus’ words were undeniably harsh. He…
The Cleansing of the Temple and Non-Violence
Category: General
Tags: Cross, Love, Non-Violence
Topics: Enemy-Loving Non-Violence
Jesus’ cleansing of the Temple is the most commonly cited example of those who allege that he did not absolutize loving enemies or refraining from violence. I submit that this episode implies nothing of the…
Lighten Up: Head and Heart
Category: Lighten Up
Tags: David Hayward, Lighten Up, Love, Naked Pastor, Thinking
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…
The Greatest Mystery of the Christian Faith
Category: General
Tags: Cross, Cruciform Theology, Incarnation, Love, Self-Sacrificial Love, Trinity
God has always been willing to stoop to accommodate the fallen state of his covenant people in order to remain in a transforming relationship with them and in order to continue to further his sovereign…
The Rule of Love
Category: General
Tags: Augustine, Cross, Cruciform Theology, Jesus, Love, Rule of Love
The traditional confession that Scriptura sacra sui ipsius interpres (“Sacred Scripture is its own interpreter”) presupposes that there is one divine mind behind Scripture, for example. Moreover, Church scholars have traditionally assumed that Scripture’s unity can be…
Rethinking Election: Romans 9, Part 1
Category: General
Tags: Christ, Determinism, Love, Predestination, Romans 9, Unconditional Election
Topics: Providence, Predestination and Free Will
Verse: Romans 9
Many people believe that Romans 9 demonstrates that God has the right and power to save whichever individuals he wants to save and damn whichever individuals he wants to damn. I’ll call this the “deterministic”…
Was Jesus Abandoned by the Father on the Cross?
Category: Q&A
Tags: Abandonment, Cross, Jesus, Love, Trinity
Topics: Atonement and The Cross
As Jesus hung on the cross, he cried, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” (Mt 27:46). This is the cry of our God who stooped to the furthest possible depths to experience his own antithesis, as the…
The Cruciform Trinity
Category: General
Tags: Character of God, Crucifixion, Jesus, Kenosis, Love, Trinity
Topics: Trinity
As paradoxical as it sounds, if God is supremely revealed when he stoops to the infinite extremity of becoming his own antithesis on the cross, then we must conclude that stooping to this extremity out…
God is Different Than You Think
Category: General
Tags: Crucifixion, God, Jesus, Love, Sacrifice
Topics: Attributes and Character
The revelation of “[a] God humiliated even unto the cross,” as Pascal put it, flies in the face of what most Jews of Jesus’ time, and of what most people throughout history, have expected God…
Lighten Up: Listening for the Voice of the Father
Category: Lighten Up
Tags: Love, Love of God
Christian comedian Michael Jr. posted this video last week for Father’s Day. What it says about love and connection and God in just a few minutes is so lovely. Enjoy.
The Only Thing That Matters Is Love: The Kingdom of God (Part 3)
Category: General
Tags: Jesus, Kingdom, Kingdom Living, Living in Love, Love
Topics: Following Jesus
To say that living in Calvary-quality love is the most important thing in our life is to grossly understate its importance. This stands in distinction from how we typically define the Kingdom of God. But…
What Does it Mean to be “Holy”?
Category: General
Tags: Holiness, Jesus, Kingdom Living, Love
Topics: Following Jesus
Image by much0 via Flickr People today frequently associate the word “holy” with a list “do’s” and “don’ts” that “godly” people are supposed to adhere to. The concept of “holiness” in the Bible, however, is not…
Does the Doctrine of the Trinity Matter?
Category: Q&A
Tags: God, God is Love, Jesus, Love, The Holy Spirit, Trinity
Topics: Trinity
Jesus reveals the greatest, most beautiful, and mysterious aspect of God when he, despite being himself God Incarnate, relates to God as his “Father” and refers to God as “the Holy Spirit.” There is, of…
Is Islam Inherently Violent? – Further Thoughts
Category: Sermons and Video Clips
Tags: Christian Living, Islam, Love, Non-Violence, Violence
Topics: Ethical, Cultural and Political Issues
Greg originally posted some thoughts on Islam here. In this video, he discusses some responses he received, and further thoughts on a Kingdom posture toward Muslims.
Are You Fully Alive? Here’s the Key
Category: General
Tags: Benefit of the Doubt, Cruciform Theology, Fully Human, Life to the Full, Love, Love of God, Trinity
Image by rashdada via flickr. The cross reveals the full truth about us. This truth reconnects us with our true source of life, which in turn heals our idol addictions. This dimension of the cross is frankly…