546 results for tag: Brad Jersak

Q & R – The Ethics of the Trinity – Brad Jersak

​ Question: I've been reading your A More Christlike God.  On page 102 you discuss "Trinitarian love". I've always taken the Trinity as a "given," and never really looked into its implications. But as I've read Jason Pratt's Sword to the Heart, I've come to see that the Trinity has significant ethical implications; God Self-Begetting (the Father) and God Self-Begotten (the Son) always treat One another lovingly. If a Person of God were to rebel against another Person of God, all existence would cease. This gets around the "Euthyphro dilemma" in a way that I do not think unitarian faiths can.  What are your thoughts?   &nb...

November 2023

CLICK HERE to read now (PDF Format) Articles: 60 Years Later... If JFK Could Talk – pg. 1 The Love of Thanksgiving – pg. 2 Should We Fear God? – pg. 5 A Sickness Unto Death – pg. 7 Quotes & Connections – pg. 8

Q & R: God’s Mighty Sovereignty & Protection – Brad Jersak

QUESTION: I am enjoying reading A More Christlike God, but the chapter(s) on the God of will versus God of love have brought on some anxiety too. When we jettison the wrathful and angry images of a Calvinist God, do we also abandon his mighty sovereignty--his ability to watch over us and protect us? RESPONSE: What an important question! And such a mystery! For those who've not yet read A More Christlike God, our reader's question needs a little background. In the book, I lay out two ancient, ongoing and competing visions of God: The God of pure will: That image of God causes all things and governs every event, including ...

Q&R: “Do not resist an evil person” – Brad Jersak

Question: I was thinking about the passage where Jesus says not to resist someone who's trying to rob you and I was wondering what that meant. Suppose a delivery I was expecting doesn't come in, does that mean I shouldn't ask for a refund? My common sense says no but the passage seems on the surface to have a pretty straightforward interpretation to me. Response: Such a good question! And I think your common sense instincts are right. It's generally important to begin with Christ in his immediate context, which will then help us transpose his principles to our lives more easily. First, here's the text in Matthew 5 (NIV): 38&...

1st Human Head Transplant! – Brad Jersak

First Successful Human Head Transplant! A first successful human head transplant?! Who?! When?! I don't think it was Dr. Sergio Canavero. He was the Italian surgeon who claimed to be the first to perform the surgery successfully. But I don't buy it, for the simple fact that his subject was already deceased... and stayed that way. Cadavres don't count. I know it wasn't Valery Spiridonov. He is a Russian man who suffers from Werdnig-Hoffmann disease, an irreversible muscle-wasting condition. Valery volunteered to be the first subject of a full human head transplant. Reports vary on why he 'bowed out' but he claimed to have found love and ...

Reading from the End – Brad Jersak

Reading from the End: In a previous blog post, I wrote about moving "From the Letter of the Law to the Spirit of the Word." I wrote about how children move from seeing the letters c-a-t to seeing the word "cat" and, ultimately, see past the letters on the page to the image of a cat in their minds automatically. I shared how John Behr compared that to the apostle Paul's encounter with Christ, after which he moved from death-dealing law enforcement to a life-giving gospel. My friend and teacher, John Behr, offered a second analogy to follow up on how the first Christians' reading of Scripture was turned upside down by their experience of the ...

A More Christlike Job (the book) – Part 3 – The Gospel Sense of Job – Brad Jersak

Please review Part 1 (The Literal Sense of Job) and Part 2 (The Moral Sense of Job) Gospel Sense (not simply prophecy): The Gospel Sense is a bit more complex than saying, "Job is a prophecy about Jesus." Instead, we ask, "How does the story of Job prefigure Jesus?" What is the difference? Prophecy is a direct prediction or revelation of future events, while prefigurement is a symbolic foreshadowing or hint of future events. Don't worry, I'll explain. Understanding the difference helps us read the Bible in "the Emmaus Way" (Luke 24:13-27), where Jesus identifies how Moses, the Prophets, and ALL the Scriptures (verses 27, 44) prepare us to ...

A More Christlike Job (the book) – Part 2 – The Moral Sense of Job – Brad Jersak

Please review Part 1 (The Literal Sense of Job) and stay tuned for Part 3 (The Gospel Sense of Job) Moral Sense (not moralistic) For Christians, the Moral Sense of the book relates to 2 Timothy 3:16, which says, "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work." In other words, the Poetry of Job is more than just a morality play that reinforces the Law, especially if we reduce the heart of the Law to prohibitions and punishments (which is to misread it badly). Instead, the moral sense ...

A More Christlike JOB (the book) – Part 1 – The Literal Sense of Job – Brad Jersak

Question: I think I had a revelation reading the Book of Job this week. I wondered why the book bothers with so many conversations that are just wrong anyway and why God needed to correct Job. But what if Job is prophetic? For example, chapters 14-16 are nearly a direct match for the suffering of Jesus. Is Job actually a messianic prophecy? Response: I believe you are on to something, but as with any Christian reading of the Old Testament with the illumination of the Holy Spirit, there are layers of meaning to be considered. Among these, I would include (1) a literal sense that asks, "What does the author mean to convey to his readers?" ...

October 2023

CLICK HERE to read now (PDF Format) Greg Albrecht: For Those Who Are a Little Banged Up – pg. 2 Richard Rohr: Adopting a Beginner’s Mind – pg. 6 Brad Jersak "What is God Teaching Me?" – pg. 7

“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 love union with God—or RE-union (reconciliation) with God. In that case, ...

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 justice. However, Jesus taught no such division. He described being “perfect as ...

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 block of our creedal theology. That's not to say Revelation shouldn't be in the ...

The Wideness of Mercy – Brad Jersak

"Mercy is every manifestation of God's goodness." Mercy Mistaken: A friend of mine was asking whether "mercy" is a worthwhile word (1) if it presupposes divine punishment and (2) if we've left behind our image of God as a punisher. My friend's question is legitimate if we define mercy narrowly as "withholding punishment"... as if "Lord, have mercy" means nothing beyond, "Lord, please don't punish me." If that were the case, I'd probably ditch the word in a heartbeat. BUT... "mercy" reduced to evading retribution misdefines mercy... a classic error I made when I used to say, "Mercy is not getting what you do deserve. Grace is getting what ...

CWR video – Angry, Retributive Images of God

Short video on the images of God.

Are You “Christian”? Brad Jersak

Are You “Christian”? Having firmly identified as an “Ex-vangelical,” a friend of mine was asked whether she would still call herself a Christian. Her answer was necessarily complex since the question involves defining “Christian,” who gets to define it and whether we should preserve the word or put it to rest. Frankly, identifying as “Christian” has always been a bit risky, whether because it incited persecution or was co-opted for domination. So, are you a Christian? How do you feel about that word? What if we were to come at the question from a different angle? The following is a thought experiment that may prove productive: What ...

Walking the Jericho Road – by Brad Jersak

  Epistle Reading: Ephesians 4  - Walk as Children of Light:   8 For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light 9 (for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth), 10 finding out what is acceptable to the Lord. 11 And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them. 12 For it is shameful even to speak of those things that are done by them in secret. 13 But all things that are exposed are made manifest by the light, for whatever makes manifest is light. 14 Therefore, He says: “Awake, you who sleep, Arise from the dead, And ...

“Sin”? Missing What Mark? Brad Jersak

Periodically, I hear sin defined as “missing the mark,” as if this grand discovery will repair our misunderstandings about sin, the gospel or God himself. The imagery of a bulls-eye is recycled with each telling. And fair enough. But truly, nearly everyone accepts this definition, from Southern Baptists to Christian Orthodox, or divergent theologies ranging from the “hyper-grace” camp to hellfire fundamentalists. Some crucial clarifications are in order if “missing the mark” is to serve a Christ-centered perspective on sin. The first question can’t be, “What is sin?” but rather, “What is the mark?” Christians generally ...

Q&R: If God is non-violent, why is nature violent?

QUESTION:   "If God is non-violent ... then why is there evidence of violence in nature, i.e. between animals and also in weather, such as hurricanes/typhoons, volcanic eruptions, etc.?"   RESPONSE:   At the most basic level, I often boil things down to these ideas, which most folks can understand if we provide examples:   1. God created the conditions for life and love, which are the laws of nature and human freedom. This is very good. 2. But nature and humans also cause a lot of suffering. Nature and people can become violent of their own accord. 3. But in his great love for us, God became human to ...

Q & R: “Narrow Way, Narrow Gate” Brad Jersak

Q: If Christ has made possible the salvation of all, why does he say "the gate is narrow and few will find it?" R: Context is so important! Take a moment to ask yourself in which context you first heard this message. Whenever I have heard these words, composed by Jesus Christ himself, almost without exception, they were embedded in the context of an evangelistic sermon describing the way of salvation that leads to eternal life. In contrast, the way of destruction was identified as the road to hell.  In that context, Jesus' warning sounds unequivocal: 1. Only Christians go to heaven; 2. very few will become Christians; 3. therefore, only a ...