521 results for tag: blog

J is for Jesus – Bono

At this time of year some people are reminded of the poetic as well as the historic truth that is the birth of Jesus. The Christmas story has a crazy good plot with an even crazier premise - the idea goes, if there is a force of love and logic behind the universe, then how amazing would it be if that incomprehensible power chose to express itself as a child born in shit and straw poverty. Who could conceive of such a story? If you believe it was the protagonist, as I do, then we should try to be really respectful of people who think the whole thing is a bit nutty or worse... Religious people are the best and worst of us...handle us with sceptici...

Does the Bible Teach Love or Hate? Peace or Violence? Derek Flood

In discussing my new book on violence in the Bible, which focuses on reading the Bible from the perspective of peace and love, I often hear this objection, "But doesn't the Bible speak of God's wrath?" or "But doesn't Jesus use fear and threat to motivate people?" or "What about this verse here [fill in the blank] that seems to promote violence?" All of these questions are asked by people who want to believe in compassion, who see the moral problems with fear and threat as moral motivators, who recognize the problem with the connection between religion and violence. They want to have a Bible that is just about grace and peace and love. They ...

10 reasons why the cross is the perfect symbol for Christian deconstruction – David Hayward

My deconstruction. I not only documented my own deconstruction in my graphic devotional book, The Liberation of Sophia, but I also launched The Lasting Supper where we help each other through the deconstructive process and find fellowship in the process. The cross is an important Christian symbol. But for me it is more than that. It has become an important human symbol. For me, it symbolizes deconstruction. Why do I say that? It destroys human theology. It frustrates ambition. It throws God into question. It demands a kind of total death. It exposes raw human existence. It challenges the status quo. It mocks magical ...

The Story of Jonah: Dare we hate those whom God loves? – Lazar Puhalo

Coptic Icon of Jonah The story of Jonah presents a quandary. The history of Nineveh and the Assyrians is well known and documented. The Assyrians left their own records and the nations around them had much to say of them. They were hated by all and proud of it. Nineveh, however, never accepted the God of Israel and certainly never repented "in sackcloth and ashes." So what is the story of Jonah about? This story unfolds at a time when Judah and Israel had become particularist. They were turned in on themselves and not even attempting to engage other nations with the worship of the true and living God. Indeed, the population of the two ...

Every Grain of Sand – Brian Zahnd

The Sleeping Gypsy by Henri Rosseau, 1897 In the fury of the moment I can see the Master’s hand In every leaf that trembles, in every grain of sand –Bob Dylan, Every Grain of Sand I had a dream. I dreamed I was riding a yellow bicycle. While riding my yellow bicycle I was intently observing the beauty of creation, especially the vibrant colors — the green of the grass and trees (the human eye is more attune to the green spectrum than any other), the blue sky, the red roses, the yellow dandelions. During my colorful dreamland bike ride I was thinking about the nature of salvation. When I awoke I wrote down my nocturnal thoughts: When ...

God said it, but that doesn’t settle it: Questioning the Bible – Derek Flood

I've been noticing a growing trend of people who are becoming increasingly troubled and unsatisfied with a literalistic approach to the Bible. The objection they have is a moral one: They observe that a "straight forward" and "plain" reading of Scripture inevitably leads people to do things that are against their conscience, against the most basic understandings of morality, and to justify doing these immoral things "because God said it, that settles it." In short, we've learned to read the Bible in a way that makes people immoral and proud of it. One example of this is corporal punishment of children. Many parents feel that it is wrong to hit ...

Jesus as Scapegoat – Richard Rohr

Christianity Without the Religion All the great religions of the world talk a lot about death, so there must be an essential lesson to be learned here. But throughout much of religious history our emphasis has been on killing the wrong thing and avoiding the truth: it’s you who has to die, or rather, who you think you are—your false self. It's never someone else! Historically we moved from human sacrifice to animal sacrifice to various modes of seeming self-sacrifice, usually involving the body. For many religions, including immature Christianity, God was distant and scary, an angry deity who must be placated. God ...

How Does “Dying For Our Sins” Work? – Brian Zahnd

How Does “Dying For Our Sins” Work? Brian Zahnd When we say “Jesus died for our sins,” what does that mean? It’s undeniably an essential confession of Christian faith, but how does it work? This much I’m sure of, it’s not reducible to just one thing. I’ve just finished preaching eight sermons on “The Crucified God” and I know I’ve barely scratched the surface of what the cross means. To try to reduce the death of Jesus to a single meaning is an impoverished approach to the mystery of the cross. I’m especially talking about those tidy explanations of the cross known as “atonement theories.” I find most of them ...

What does God without retribution look like? Ask Jesus — by Michael Hardin

Nothing irks some folks more than losing a God who is wrathful, angry, retributive and punishing. This is only because we want so much to believe that God takes sides, and that side is inevitably our side.  So much of Jesus’s teaching subverts this sacrificial way of thinking. One example is the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector found in Luke 18:9-14, where what counts as righteousness is completely and totally turned on its head! If, in fact, as I argued in my last post, that Jesus begins his ministry by asking what God without retribution looks like (Luke 4), and if he acts this way in his ministry, and if he interprets his ...

A More Christlike God – Brad Jersak & Roger Mitchell (Sparks 2016 Workshop)

"A More Christ-like God" - Brad Jersak's Workshop at SPARKS Brad Jersak is an author and teacher based in Abbotsford, BC. He is on faculty at Westminster Theological Centre (Cheltenham, UK), and is also the editor in chief of CWR (Christianity Without the Religion) Magazine. Brad’s most recent book, "A More Christlike God: A More Beautiful Gospel," seeks to detoxify our images of God to present the Incarnation of Christ as our clearest vision of the nature of God as love. “SPARKS” 2016 was a weekend of conversation and discovery at Ashburnham Place to explore the following theme: “How to remain present, faith-filled, and resilient in the ...

The Wrath of God – Nuanced as Divine Consent – Brad Jersak

A pastor-friend of mine from America was telling me about how one of his pristine elderly congregants was lamenting news of the latest death of their troops in the Middle East. This precious Christian lady said, “Our boys are over there getting killed by the people they are trying to help. Maybe we need another Hiroshima.” Why do we go there? My best answer: the language of wrath is an expression of our felt-need for God to straighten out the ‘bent-ness’ of injustice in our world. Even those who don’t profess faith find themselves looking over their shoulder when tragedy strikes. “What did I do to deserve this?” We find oursel...