114 results for tag: blog

Dream On With Jesus by Greg Albrecht

I Have a Dream—given by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., on August 28, 1963—is one of the most well known, most studied and most quoted speeches in the history of our nation. In that historic speech Dr. King used the phrase “I have a dream” eight different times as he called for freedom and justice for all people. Daring to dream can be dangerous—particularly when your dream does not march in lock step with the political and religious establishment. They killed Martin Luther King Jr. because he dared to dream, but they didn’t kill his dream. Throughout history dreamers who ...

Why Did Jesus Call a Woman a Dog?

The Canaanites became mortal enemies of the Jews some 1,500 or so years before the time of Jesus when they resisted the new nation of Israel as it attempted to inhabit the Promised Land. Matthew 15:21-28 relates the story of a Canaanite woman who was so desperate to seek healing for her daughter that she defied social and religious conventions as she publicly spoke to Jesus (a man she didn't know) —beyond that, a Jewish man. We know, from everything else we read in the Gospels, that Jesus, God in the flesh, loved this woman, but it didn't seem that way to her when she first started talking to Jesus. She cries out, "Son of David, have ...

Law and Grace – New and Old

Having just completed a long study of the books of Romans, Galatians and Ephesians, as a survivor of a legalistic church, I am shaking my head about what I and many others used to believe (and many still do, of course!).  How did I once read these books?  It seems I found only what I was looking for, and it was not God’s grace.  My sense is that one can make the Bible mean anything one wants it to mean, they find only and exactly what they are looking for and disagree with all other conclusions. With any form of legalism and in particular with any form of “Christianity” that exalts old covenant law one is convicted that ...

The Gospel of Non-Violence – A Christ-Centered Perspective by Greg Albrecht

For some within Christendom the secular and highly politicized crusade to resist, end police brutality, overcome racism and stop hating people whose sexuality, gender or culture differs is one and the same as the gospel.   Cancel culture is a buzzword for standing against excesses of the North American culture, including the prosperity enjoyed by the “privileged.”  But are these goals one and the same as the gospel? In many cases it is not that hard to be against something, because the act of resistance appeals to the natural desire to minimize and condemn others in order to exalt oneself.  But the gospel is not self ...

Browbeaten and Bullied at Church by Greg Albrecht

One of the most gratifying experiences we have at PTM is when we hear from someone for whom God has "turned on the light." By God's grace they realize their primary allegiance is not to a human religious authority. They realize that churches and church leadership are fellow-servants and laborers for the gospel—and that such organizations and authorities lose their credibility the moment they allow the gospel to be subverted by religion and its legalisms. The following letter is a wonderful example: I recently wrote an article about tithing for our church newspaper. My conclusion is the same as that of PTM—"­­tithing" is an old ...

Get Comfortable with the Questions by Ed Dunn

Once a year, usually around the Fourth of July holiday or the long Thanksgiving Day weekend, we’d all pile into our old family station-wagon and head out from our home in western Pennsylvania for the woods of central Connecticut. We were off and traveling to see our Grammy and Grampy Reeves, grandparents on my mother’s side of the family. It was hard to contain the excitement of five eager children. Our visits were a cherished treat, and both the trip and the time together were treasures we truly looked forward to. Grammy and Grampy Reeves split most years living in two places; the school years in New York City and the summers in upstate ...

Love or Justice? – Greg Albrecht

The discussion of eternal torment and the fate of the "unsaved" is often framed, by the law and order crowd, as a matter of God's love or his justice. Those who are intent on relegating those who, to their knowledge and satisfaction, have never heard or accepted their version of Christianity to eternal torture, often characterize those, like myself, who primarily look for answers based on God's love and grace, as soft-headed, soft-hearted and weak. So which is it—love or justice? Is God primarily a God of love or a God of justice? Here's what I see as the fundamental flaw in real, he-man, tough-as-nails Christianity: • Jesus Christ is the ...

Q&R with Greg Albrecht – “Should we boycott the wedding?”

Recently I was asked to give my opinion about a married man, in the process of divorcing his wife, while dating a younger, unmarried woman. My immediate thought was the response of Jesus when he was asked by someone to get involved in a family about an inheritance. "Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?" (Luke 12:14). However, remembering that Jesus used the question as a way to discuss some of the more important spiritual issues surrounding it (see "The Parable of the Rich Fool"—Luke 12:15-21), I tried to respond in a similar way. The person who asked me the question said that the still-married man was "put under church ...

Citizens of Heaven by Greg Albrecht

From the time I entered the mysterious world of adolescence, watching the 1960 political conventions on television, politics has always mysteriously attracted me. Politics has been one of my personal fascinations that I liken to that of the death wish of bugs on a hot summer night as they do their death dance, flirting with those electrified bug zappers.     Every time we have a presidential election I find this fatal attraction sucking me into the black hole of partisan rhetoric again. I don't mean to infer that it's wrong for a Christian to be politically involved. Some Christians believe that they should not only vote ...

God “Friended” Us! – Greg Albrecht

By Greg Albrecht What a friend we have in Jesus! So goes that great old hymn—and its message is the gospel truth. In John 15:9-17 Jesus encourages us to remain in him and with him. In the Authorized King James Version the word used is "abide." Jesus is requesting that we stay with him. He's saying, "Don't move away. Don't wander away. Stay with me. Remain with me." Jesus is saying, "Keep your eyes and focus on me. Don't ever stop looking to me as the absolute center of your faith. Don't allow religious ceremonies and rituals to confuse you—so that you think our relationship (your friendship with me) depends on you." This passage is a part of a ...

Citizens of God’s Kingdom – Greg Albrecht

Then the Pharisees went out and laid plans to trap him in his words. They sent their disciples to him along with the Herodians. "Teacher," they said, "we know you are a man of integrity and that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. You aren't swayed by men, because you pay no attention to who they are. Tell us then, what is your opinion? Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not?"   But Jesus, knowing their evil intent, said, "You hypocrites, why are you trying to trap me? Show me the coin used for paying the tax." They brought him a denarius, and he asked them, "Whose portrait is this? And whose inscription?" "Caesar's," they ...

The Kingdom of Service – Greg Albrecht

by Greg Albrecht Also a dispute arose among them as to which of them was considered to be greatest. Jesus said to them, "The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those who exercise authority over them call themselves Benefactors. But you are not to be like that. Instead, the greatest among you should be like the youngest, and the one who rules like the one who serves. For who is greater, the one who is at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one who is at the table? But I am among you as one who serves. You are those who have stood by me in my trials. And I confer on you a kingdom, just as my Father conferred one on me, so that ...