CWR Blog
Christianity Without The Religion BLOG hosted by Brad Jersak.
Bradley Jersak
We Don’t Need Perfect Mothers – by Rachel Ramer
When my sisters and I face relationship challenges, we occasionally say to each other, “What would Mom have done? Let’s not do that.” This may seem disrespectful, casting our mother as a horrible role model, but the truth is, we sympathize with the struggles she faced and how she dealt with them. She grew up in a world where females were openly taught to acquiesce to the will of the men in their lives. The church, the workplace and the home all reinforced this. Society taught her not to stand up for her own needs, and she passed this tendency on to her daughte...
Tender Mercies: “Mothers Day Cards” – by Ruth A. Tucker
Bless the Lord who crowns you with tender mercies (Psalm 103, NKJV).
One of my favorite short stories is “Mothers Day” by Octavus Roy Cohen. It was Saturday night, the eve of Mothers Day. Dan Clancy “neither knew nor cared.” He was a police detective, “square shouldered” who “thought only of himself.” But on this particular night his thoughts were on a “narrow-shouldered and furtive” drifter, “a sneak-thief” hiding under the freight cars. Of course, Dan could have picked him up willy-nilly as a vagrant and seen to it that the man received ...
Reflections Along the Jesus Way
May 10, 2025 - Quote for the Day:
“Religious zealots who populate Christ-less religion, to use the words of a man named Reinhold Niebuhr, spend much of their time focused on the ‘temperature of hell and the furniture of heaven.’ They can think of little else than the grand rewards God will lavish on them because of their hard work – and the eternal torture to which they presume he will subject others, who fail to meet their religious standards.”
Originally published in:
Spiritual Soup for the Hungry Soul, Volume 1
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Love and Suffering – Part 2
Discover an answer for your own pain and suffering, and that experienced by our loved ones, when it intersects with the love and suffering Jesus demonstrated and endured for us.
10 Percent Grace and 90 Percent Law? – by Greg Albrecht
Recently I was asked about a church pastor who preaches 10 percent grace and 90 percent law. Apparently this church has a clock counter on its website to show how fast people are getting to hell. This church believes that one of the methods of "saving" people is to expose their sins, and (by embarrassing them) guilt them into obeying God.
This church is but one of many which believes that the Ten Commandments (and at times other portions of the old covenant) must be preached to sinners to prepare them to accept Christ.
The idea is taught in several different ...
Reflections Along the Jesus Way
May 8, 2025 - Quote for the Day:
“Did you ever stop to think that Jesus did not start his ‘professional life’ ministering, teaching, comforting and healing – by posting a sign outside of a building announcing healing services and prophecy seminars? Jesus didn’t wait for people to find him. Instead, he found people in the midst of their daily problems, dilemmas, challenges and struggles. Much of the time Jesus arrived in people’s lives unannounced and unexpected. Jesus didn’t expect people to get in their cars or jump on their ...
Love and Suffering – Part 1
We celebrate Mother's Day by considering the contrast Paul provides between Hagar, the slave woman, and Sarah, the free woman. We study human love and suffering from a Christ-centered perspective.
Here Is Your Mother
Celebrate Mother’s Day in the context of the love and admiration Jesus had for his mother.
CWR Video – He Loves Us Anyway by Greg Albrecht
Short video on God's love by Greg Albrecht.
https://vimeo.com/124723042
We hope that our articles and resources bring comfort, hope, encouragement, and healing to our readers. If you’re experiencing that, please subscribe freely, share freely, and, if you’re able, please consider donating freely toward paying it forward by clicking the blue giving at the top of your screen.
“Why Seek the Living Among the Dead” – Brad Jersak
Violated, Grieved, Relieved & Liberated
A dear friend of mine recently experienced humiliation by patriarchal connivers in her church. It took me back to the era when unwed pregnant teens were forced to stand before their congregation for public shaming and shunning (no father named or present!). Their experiences were violations and overt spiritual abuse.
But my friend is no teenager. She felt the violation, allowed herself to grieve, then relatively quickly moved on to relief and even liberation. Why? Because she can simply leave and, gratefully, safer ...
Reflections Along the Jesus Way
May 6, 2025 - Quote for the Day:
“Some people think God must not exist, or if he does, he doesn’t care because he allows disasters and accidents to happen. But God never told us in the Bible that such things would not happen. In fact, he said they would, to those who are believers as well as those who are not.”
Originally published in:
Between Religious Rocks and Life’s Hard Places
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Sample One of Our Daily Audio Messages
"Mothers and Grace"
If you’ve ever munched on a bag of cookies you thought you purchased with your own “hard earned” money, only to find out that you were eating someone else’s cookies, you know the answer to the question: What do we have that we did not receive?
We hope that our articles and resources bring comfort, hope, encouragement, and healing to our readers. If you’re experiencing that, please subscribe freely, share freely, and, if you’re able, please consider donating freely toward paying it forward by clicking the blue giving at the top of your ...
Mothers and Grace
If you’ve ever munched on a bag of cookies you thought you purchased with your own “hard earned” money, only to find out that you were eating someone else’s cookies, you know the answer to the question: What do we have that we did not receive?
When did the ‘Finished Work’ start? – Brad Jersak
"It is finished!"
One of the beautiful catchphrases in the Christian tradition is "the finished work of Christ." We typically associated the phrase with Christ's decisive declaration from the Cross, "It is finished!" In this post, I'd like to ask what is finished and when it started.
The words, "It is finished," in Gospel context are found only in John 19:30. The full verse says, "When Jesus had received the drink, Jesus said, 'It is finished.' With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit."
What was finished?
First, the word we usually translate ...
Wisdom in the Information Retrieval Age
Where is the wisdom that comes from heaven in this most educated and knowledgeable era in human history? What is that wisdom?
The Great Tribulation – Greg Albrecht
Question:
Can you please tell me who will be going through the tribulation? Is it the unconverted, is it God's people?
I have heard so many things about it and they don't make sense. Some say those a part of their church will be, just before the great tribulation, jetted away to safety on the wings of a great eagle. Some speak of a three and ½ year tribulation just before the Second Coming, others say it will be seven years. Who will have to endure it, and who will be saved from it? Surely the great tribulation is not God’s anger being taken out on ...
CWR Video – The Wrath of God
In this CWR Video, Brad discusses progressive revelation and how the concept of Wrath has been used in Scripture.
https://vimeo.com/1015771501
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Reflections Along the Jesus Way
May 3, 2025 - Quote for the Day:
“Penal substitution is a legal term, a forensic model of our relationship to and with God. But the gospel is not about forensic punishment, evening the score or paying our debt. The gospel is about forgiveness, grace, mercy and love, so that God seeks our love, not his satisfaction. God in Christ is not worried about the holiness of his name or reputation – they are set aside on the Cross, when Jesus endured and consumed all hatred, evil and sin forever. How? Not by a legal mechanism, but through ...
God = Grace, Love and Fellowship – Greg Albrecht
May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all (2 Corinthians 13:14).
God is love. That’s the most concise biblical definition given to us. God IS love… which is infinitely beyond love being one of many of his attributes. Love is his essence, his totality and center of his being.
It seems that God as Triune is embedded within this passage in Corinthians. However, while I believe the best biblically-based explanation about God is a Trinitarian definition, I also believe it is “the best ...
Saints and Sinners
Today's sermon assures us from the Bible that Christians are both saints and sinners at the same time and that Jesus does not turn his face from us.
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