260 results for tag: Q & R

Q&R with Brad Jersak – “Christ uniquely revealed God as Abba. Doesn’t the OT also reveal God as Father?”

Question Recently on a podcast, you emphasized how Jesus uniquely revealed God as Abba. I know the Old Testament has multiple references to God as Father so I was wondering made Jesus' revelation of Abba so special? Response Good question! With cudos to Mercy Aiken for alerting me to this (see her explanation below). While rare in the Hebrew Scriptures, the Jewish tradition was not entirely silent on the fatherhood of God. And I'm not claiming that God had not already actually been their Father.  In the Psalms, fatherhood is twice used as an analogy for God’s compassion (Ps. 68:5, 103:13). But it is mainly reserved for the prophe...

Q&R with Brad Jersak: “Under grace, are we still ‘sinners’? Is confessing sin a denial of grace?”

Question Under grace, are we still 'sinners'? Is confessing sin a denial of grace? What about saying "the Lord's Prayer," which asks God to forgive our sins? Some grace teachers regard the Lord's Prayer as Old Covenant since Jesus taught it before the Cross and at the Cross, all sins were already forgiven. What's your take on this? Responses These questions are loaded with a backstory, for sure. I can hear the wounds of shame in how the words "sin" and "sinner" were used as bludgeons on sensitive hearts. And believe me, I can relate. As long as these are still associated with the old pangs of religious shaming, it will be hard to use ...

Q&R with Brad Jersak – “How can God both never give up & ‘give us up’?”

QUESTION Hello Brad, I am exploring the PTM website. My heart certainly wants to believe in full what you write, but then I find things that don’t, in my understanding, square up to other parts of the Bible: Can you explain this? You say that "... the whole chapter [Isaiah 59] describes the Trinitarian love of Abba, Christ and the Spirit of Grace, in hot pursuit of children who suffer alienation.”   I know God does indeed do this, for how else was I saved? But on the other hand, how can we reconcile God being in hot pursuit of his children with those verses in Romans that suggest three times that he ‘gave them up’ ...

Q&R with Brad Jersak – “How do we comprehend the Son and Spirit without demoting them to less than the Father?”

Question So cleary I knew everything in my 20’s and now I know nothing. How do we comprehend Son and Spirit without demotion or less than the Father while having full reverence to 3 and 1? Response Re: the Trinity -- The good news is that you don't have to figure it all out from scratch. Historically, that took Christianity's best minds 300 years and even then, "it's a mystery" was one of their major conclusions. But mystery means more than "we don't know." It included, we couldn't know by reason but learned it by revelation" (i.e. the Scriptures).  What we can do is start with some really basic confessions, which require ...

Q&R with Brad Jersak – “If God consents to our freedom, what’s the point of the relationship?”

Question Hi Mr. Jersak, I’ve been on a deconstruction of theology path the past couple years, as so many have, and have listened to many of your talks. I’ve been stuck for a while now and thought maybe it’s time to reach out. One of the big things that triggered my journey was my daughter getting hurt. My old theology could no longer stand. I have a good pastor who is on a similar journey and have been meeting with him as well.  I now understand that God has such high regard for human choices that he won’t intervene, and yet he is good all the time. But it seems like God is always submitting to peoples choices and standing ...

Q&R with Brad Jersak – “Is preaching Christ’s any-day return right? Is it helpful?”

Question I remember back in the 1970s being scared by Garner Ted Armstrong’s preaching on the World Tomorrow telecasts, taking Matthew 24 out of context and saying the return of Jesus Christ would cut short those tumultuous times, otherwise no flesh would be saved alive. Now I watch Jack van Impe preaching something very similar. I should not be too cynical as the world is a mess and we may well be headed for horrible wars but I am not letting fear religion grip me again. For decades they have been preaching the imminent return of Jesus Christ. Imminent? Right away? As Greg Albrecht says, dispensationalism is fatally flawed. Do you ...

Q&R with Brad Jersak – The Creepy Twins of Spiritual Pride and Self-Loathing

Screenshot from Stephen King's "The Shining" Question Do you have any advice in the spiritual pride behind the deeply held belief that “God can’t forgive me”? I've dealt with this for years and it's beginning to hit me how prideful it was. Response Yes, ironically, rejecting the forgiveness of God "because I'm not worthy" is totally prideful but the pride is so often obscured by our self-loathing. We think that if we condemn ourselves that it can't possibly be pride. But what does self-loathing reveal except that the ego has become so deluded that it imagines it has usurped Christ from his throne and his judgment seat and has ...

Q&R with Brad Jersak – Gritty Love or Syrupy Sentimentalism?

QUESTION: Isn’t your emphasis on “love” really just syrupy sentimentalism? The whole “Love Wins” thing sounds great, but in the real world, I don’t see it working. RESPONSE: To reduce love to syrupy sentimentalism, as I suppose many do, drains love of its gritty power. "True grit" is not defined by gun-slinging cowboys or the actors who played them. "True grit" looks like cross-shaped love. When I say that love is gritty, I’m talking about the type of resilience it takes to engage this hard world, so corrupted by injustice and cruelty.When systems of oppression grind away at our humanity, it is normal—even healthy ...

Q & R with Brad Jersak – “What does ‘the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world?” mean?

Question Greetings brother Brad. I have been privileged to hold your book, Stricken by God? in my hands. In the book, you talk about the importance of not collapsing the whole gospel narrative nor our entire soteriology (doctrine of salvation) into Good Friday. We mustn't forget the life and ministry and resurrection of Christ as part of his saving work. I agree with you wholeheartedly. The sending of God's son in toto is what makes our salvation possible--that is true indeed. You say, "the atonement precedes the cross," so we look not only to Good Friday but to the whole mission of Christ from his birth, life death, resurrection, and ...

Q&R with Brad Jersak: “If the Bible isn’t inerrant, can we trust what the Gospels say about Jesus?”

QUESTION: I have read many of your articles with interest and agree with much of what is written. May I ask a question, though?You say that the bible is not infallible and inerrant. And while I can see the logic for that view, how then do we know what is written about the life and mission of Jesus is accurate? If the accounts of some of the incidents in the Old Testament are open to question, why not what is written about Jesus?Thank you in advance for an answer. RESPONSE: A very fair question, thank you.  Let me first begin by addressing the question of inspiration, infallibility and inerrancy. Then I’ll move on to ...

Q & R with Brad Jersak: “What if my spouse stops believing?”

Question: When my husband and I were married, we were both following Christ. Now he says he wants to believe but no longer can. He feels he might now be an atheist. We still love each other, but I'm still a Christian and this has been the most painful thing we've ever encountered together. I’m afraid. I don’t know how a marriage or raising kids like this works? Help! Response: Thank you for checking in on this important question! I hear your heart and your pain. In times like these, I like to pray "the Serenity Prayer" a lot: "God, grant me the serenity to accept what I cannot change,the courage to change the things I can,and the ...

Q & R with Brad Jersak: “How do we practice Matt. 18:15-18 discipline without using it as a bludgeon?”

Question I am part of a Christian group going through some unresolved conflict. One side keeps trying to use Matt 18:15-18 like a sledgehammer against the other. How do we read this passage in context when people try to weaponize it?  Response  Here are Christ’s instructions as translated in N.T. Wright’s New Testament for Everyone version: ‘If another disciple sins against you,’ Jesus continued, ‘go and have it out, just between the two of you alone. If they listen to you, you’ve won back a brother or sister. But if they won’t listen, you should take with you one or two others, so that “ever...

Q&R with Brad Jersak – “Is the Bible our final authority?”

Question: Is the Bible our final authority? My church (and denomination) has a doctrinal statement (or statement of faith) in which it says that "The Bible is our final authority for faith and practice?" How would you respond to that? Response:      This is sort of question I run into frequently with pastors who've challenged my last two congregations. They object that we have not included a statement on Scripture in our doctrinal statement ... when our doctrinal statement was actually the Nicene Creed and Apostles Creeds. My counter challenge was to point out the irony of a 'conservative' creating his own statement of ...

Q&R with Brad Jersak – “Does God Ever ‘Intervene’ in Natural Law?

Question I’m reading A More Christlike God and it has been a very faith stretching experience in a good way. It is really challenging me. I have a question though from chapter 9 where it says “God willingly chose powerless love in the cosmic Cross of Creation. That is, when God through the Logos (John 1) created the universe, he relinquished control to natural law. From the beginning of time, God has voluntarily refrained (‘ chained’ himself) from violating the order of necessity.” How does Yahweh intervening supernaturally work into this such as the parting of the Red Sea? Does he sometimes violate natural law? Response That's a great ...

Q&R with Brad Jersak – “How do we harmonize the Bible’s judgment and redemption texts?”

Question How do we best harmonize the Bible's 'eschatological' texts? Some described unmitigated judgment and permanent destruction for the majority of the human race, while other passages seem to announce the redemption of everyone in the end. How do we hold both descriptions together? Can we? Or are these really contradictory? Response Yes, it's true: those who pay very close attention to the actual words of Scripture note how difficult it is to reconcile its unmitigated judgment texts with all-encompassing redemption passages. who pay very close attention to the actual words of Scripture note how difficult it is to reconcile its unmitigated ...

Q&R with Brad Jersak – “Was the early church anti-Semitic?”

Question Hi Brad, I’ve run into a few guys that are saying that the Church Fathers were anti-Semitic. Consequently, they at least think the writings of the Church Fathers should be disregarded in what they had to say. There certainly was some anti-Semitism embedded in Christianity but it seems ill-advised to me to disregard the Church Father's writings because of it. I’d love to hear your thoughts on this topic if you can spare the time. Response Before I say respond to your question, let me begin by directly and without qualification denouncing anti-Semitism in all its forms, including the ancient calls to expel or exterminate Jews, the modern ...

Q&R with Brad Jersak – “Wasn’t there separation from God before the veil was torn?”

Question: I just finished reading A More Christlike Way. Great book. Thanks for sharing your thoughts in book form. After reading, I feel that I know you better. I loved reading the parts where you shared your personal experiences as struggles. I could relate to some of those struggles. Susie and I have been discussing the idea of separation from God. We know that we are not separated but something that puzzles us is why was the veil in the temple rent upon Christ’s death? Denied access before the cross, open access after. That appears to suggest separation. Any thoughts? Response: Yes, the tearing of the veil on Good Friday does seem to suggest ...

Q&R with Brad Jersak – “The church is the pillar and foundation of the truth” (seriously?)

Question:  What do you think about the verse that says that "the Church is the pillar and ground of truth"? This has been giving me real hiccups ever since I discovered how the Church (especially in the West) has played fast and loose with the Scriptures, the interpretation of them, and even the ecumenical councils. Add to that the many doctrinal additions of the Roman Church and the denial of Apokatastasis by most Orthodox priests, and I feel disoriented and out of touch with everything. Response: I know! Tough one, right? Given the long history of corruption and waywardness within the Jesus movement and its institutions, Paul's assertion seems ...

Q&R The essence of forgiveness – Brad Jersak

Question What is the essence of forgiveness? If I don't forgive, will I 'lose my salvation'? Response The word 'forgive' literally means 'let go.' If someone has offended me or sinned against me in some way: 1. Forgiving is NOT saying, I'm okay – I might still be suffering.  2. Forgiving is NOT saying, you're okay – they might still need to change. 3. Forgiving is NOT saying, it's okay – the wrong was still wrong 4. Forgiving is NOT saying, we're okay – we might not yet have enough trust to reconcile Forgiveness is letting go. What does that look like?  For me, it means I picture taking those who’ve ...

Q&R follow-up with Greg Albrecht – Would Jesus Attend a Gay Wedding?

This Q & A is a response to Greg Albrecht's "Pastoral Perspective" column in the October edition of CWRm. To view the original Q & A, entitled, "Should I attend my gay daughter's wedding?" CLICK HERE and go to page 14. A CWRm read wrote in with this follow-up question and Greg responds.   QUESTION I read your Pastoral Perspective in the October 2017, CWRm and what I get from your answer is, “It's your decision there is no right or wrong answer.” You even claim Jesus attended “sinful and spiritually toxic places.” I would like you to elaborate on that, because I don't know what your are referring to. I'm sure if he ...