CWR Blog
Christianity Without The Religion BLOG hosted by Brad Jersak.
“Go and sin no more”? Brad Jersak
Art by John Martin Borg - johnmartinborg.com
Reading John 8 through Genesis 2-3 and the Prodigal Sons:
Throughout Scripture, we see “sin” identified in a variety of ways, including moral failure, law-breaking, poor spiritual hygiene, character flaws, a fatal disease and a sinister slave-driver. And where sin is defined as “missing the mark,” Scripture implies the mark we’re aiming at may be morality, holiness, faith and faithfulness, love of God and each other, or the glory of God.
In my blog post, Sin? Missing what mark? I suggested another mark: our ...
Does God Give Ultimate Authority to Human Leaders? – Greg Albrecht
Question:
I have heard people say that they feel the leader of their nation has the God-given right to take military action without having any human question them. This seems to extend ultimate authority to human leaders, in the name of “the Bible says so.” What do you say?
Response:
When it comes to extending ultimate authority without question, people who religiously attend a brick-and-mortar building on a regular basis may be even more likely to blindly follow a charismatic leader. The tendency to radically place faith in human leadership, whether in ...
Reflections Along the Jesus Way
September 24, 2023 - Quote for the Day:
“The stubborn insistence of the Christ-less perspective of Christendom at large about the appalling fabrication of eternal torture in hell as a just punishment for sinners is one of the most evil, reprehensible and diabolical of all dogmas and teachings – all in the name of God!”
Originally published in:
Letters to My Friends
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"The Time Has Come!"
The best time to plant a tree is 20 or 30 years ago… the second best time to plant a tree is today!
Join us for our Sunday Sermon.
https://www.ptm.org/mp3/FreeDwnld/CWR710.mp3
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 ...