CWR Blog
Christianity Without The Religion BLOG hosted by Brad Jersak.
Living by Faith
In this first of two programs on the Godly virtue of faith, Greg states that faith is the only way we can thrive in the midst of our troubled times.
https://www.ptm.org/mp3/FreeDwnld/PTR0034.mp3
The Master’s Voice – by Greg Albrecht
by Greg Albrecht
"I tell you the truth, the man who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate, but climbs in by some other way, is a thief and a robber. The man who enters by the gate is the shepherd of his sheep. The watchman opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger's ...
Reflections Along the Jesus Way
September 21, 2023 - Quote for the Day:
“It’s amazing what we humans find impressive. Thinking back to religious places I have been, religious displays I have witnessed and religious rituals I have personally performed, I remember many times when I have been impressed by dead men and women walking. Thinking back throughout my years spent deceived by the devices of institutionalized religion, I have taken plenty of tours in what amounted to spiritually whitewashed tombs. When I was a dead man living within what was actually a spiritual tomb, I ...
Without Hope, What’s the Use?
Without hope we are spiritually empty. Without hope, what's the use of living? Today Greg talks about the hope that God gives us and how it sustains us in difficult times.
https://www.ptm.org/mp3/FreeDwnld/PTR0033.mp3
Hope – A Gift of God
Dostoyevsky said that man cannot live without hope. Join Greg for the first of two programs on the Godly virtue of hope.
https://www.ptm.org/mp3/FreeDwnld/PTR0032.mp3
CWR Video – Grace – Free Refills! – Greg Albrecht
Short video by Greg Albrecht on free and continuing refills of God’s grace.
https://vimeo.com/119404656
Will God Forget Me if I Forget Him? – Greg Albrecht
Question:
I am worried that I might find myself with diminished cognitive capacities – and in some way I might not remember God just like I may not remember other important realities. What if I forget God – surely he won’t forget me?
Response:
Thanks for your comment and thoughts. In brief, as I see God’s love in our lives:
God loves the whole world
God thus loves people even though they don’t seem to know he loves them.
God thus loves people who once seemed to know God loved them and tried to love him back but now they ...
Reflections Along the Jesus Way
September 19, 2023 - Quote for the Day:
“As Christ-followers, we run the race marked out for us (Hebrews 12:1) and are united with all our fellow runners in Jesus, a great cloud of witnesses, both dead in Christ and alive… we need not all pray the same memorized prayers someone else wrote, we need not sing the same hymns or participate in the same traditions, rituals or ceremonies… We are not united because we wear the same uniform or have precisely the same doctrinal answers. As we run our race, our unity in Christ is not a set of humanly produced ...
Love Never Fails
Someone once said that as old as the human race is, you would think we would have learned to love one another by now. Isn’t that odd since "I love you," are the three most powerful words we can hear?
https://www.ptm.org/mp3/FreeDwnld/PTR0031.mp3
The Greatest of These is Love
This is the first program of our six part series on the three Godly virtues of faith, hope and love. The Bible says that the greatest of these virtues is love, and that without love we are nothing.
https://www.ptm.org/mp3/FreeDwnld/PTR0030.mp3
Moralism, Cheap Grace vs Cruciform Love – Bradley Jersak
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
What is Moralism?
Moralism is NOT merely the desire to live a moral life.
Moralism is a compulsion to justify oneself and to judge others.
Moralism replaces living faith and a desire for God with an emphasis on who is included in or excluded from one’s in-group. It prohibits and requires behaviors based on the moral judgments of my religious community or ideological brand.
Moralism often pits holiness against love, pretending that an ethic shaped by love, mercy and grace compromises holiness, truth and ...
Doctrine & Revelation (the Book) – Brad Jersak
Question:
I think I once heard you say something like, "At the council of (something), they concluded that Revelations should not be used for determining theology. It was to be used for worship, etc." Where can find resources to back up that statement?
Response:
Not exactly, but something like that. The idea was the dogma (non-negotiable doctrine) of the ancient church was finalized before Revelation was formally included in the canon of the New Testament. In other words, since Revelation wasn't officially included as Scripture, it wasn't a building ...
Reflections Along the Jesus Way
September 17, 2023 - Quote for the Day:
“In this image, there is no more sea. In ancient times, the ocean was viewed as a realm of mythical monsters, a mysterious and frightening force that regularly took human lives. In apocalyptic imagery, the sea is the source of the satanic beast. The absence of the sea is therefore symbolic of the absence of evil from the earth.
As we read symbolic literature, we are always tempted to try to reduce it to our world of reality; to take abstract, profound truth that is so overwhelming we cannot possibly ...
Worries and Fears – by Greg Albrecht
Worry is a thin stream of fear trickling through the mind. If encouraged, it cuts a channel into which all other thoughts are drained. – Arthur Somers Roche A study conducted about why people worry revealed:
40% of the things people worry about never happen.
30% of the things people worry about already happened.
12% of the things people worry about concern their health.
10% of the topics that people worry about are somewhat trivial.
8% of the worries that people have are legitimate.
One man summed up his philosophy of worry like ...
Thy Will Be Done
Abraham Lincoln said, “I’ve been driven to my knees because I know I have no place else to go.” Hear what other famous people have said about prayer. How much do you know about prayer?
https://www.ptm.org/mp3/FreeDwnld/PTR0025.mp3