The Minority Report of Faith and the Father's Subversive Goodness

Hello All,

When you view God, the Father of Jesus, as a god who, because of his nature, demands sacrifice, it puts you in a very precarious position. A god who requires a sacrifice is a god who must be appeased. Failure to do so can only end in a negative way: an afterlife that you will want to avoid as much as possible. Fear is a powerful motivator.

One way out of this is to create an atonement theory that pits the loving Jesus against his angry Father. Jesus sacrifices himself for you to satiate his blood-thirsty Father. Afterall, we see all those scary passages in Scripture as warnings, right? But along side of them, we also see a thread of goodness, grace, and mercy. What if we were to understand this double story in Scripture differently? Perhaps, that God himself has actually worked into Scripture not a yin and yang we need to somehow find a logic to intermingle together, but rather the very clear, yet minority report of his mercy.

Could it be there by design to show us a real Father God who is Love Itself so that we can by faith refuse the chaos of voices screaming at us otherwise?

The message that God is Love and therefore ultimately restores ALL is the thread of a subversive faith deliberately intended to counter our need for violence and a violent God.

The following two paragraphs are from Brad Jersak's newest text, "A More Christlike Word":

"The broken voice of sacrificial religion demands retributive justice, and so do its gods. By contrast, the Bible also reveals the surprising and counterintuitive response to our spiritual and social malady: humanity redeemed in Christ, the true image of God. God-in-Christ counters retribution with restoration, justice-as-punishment with justice-as-mercy, wrath with forgiveness, and death anxiety with resurrection life. Jesus’s messianic victory is not through military conquest but through radical, kenotic (self-emptying) service. Thus, the voice of Christ forever abolishes sacrificial religion through the supreme act of self-giving love.

The Bible preserves God’s revelation of fallen humanity not because it harmonizes with the voice of self-giving love, but because the former revelation begs for and points to the latter. It is therefore nonnegotiable that we read particular texts in the context of the whole story, so we don’t mistake specific retributive invectives or religious injunctions as “the word of the Lord” to followers of the voice of Jesus."

Which voice in Scripture will you listen to and obey:

The accuser, who believes someone to be guilty and demands violence and wrath?

The victim, who believes the violence against them was undeserved and therefore demands vengeance?

The Law, which believes only retributive justice and sacred/political violence will work?

Or to the voice of the Lamb, which calls for mercy, forgiveness, and self-giving love?

As Jersak states:

"We will need to render due diligence to the often difficult work of distinguishing between the image of God portrayed by sacrificial religion and the image of the Father revealed by the self-offering Lamb.

Grace=Peace,

Jeremy

The End of Violent Sacrifice Caused by Mimesis, not Nature

Hello All,

Many of you may be unfamiliar with René Girard, a 20th Century theologian whose atonement theory has found more and more voice in Christian circles. In short, Girard postulated that the self-sacrifice of Christ on the Roman cross of execution was done to expose the violent nature of humanity. God, who never delighted in sacrifice in the first place, entered into our need for sacrifice caused by a deep covetous desire to be God ourselves. Girard equates this desire with mimesis, the desire to imitate. For example, two children commonly fight over one toy, but only after the first child begins to play with it; the second becomes jealous and wants to possess it for his own. Add more children who want the same toy, and chaos ensues. In Girard's view, this has further implications for Christianity because we become violent in our mimetic jealousy and therefore need to find a scapegoat to unleash our violence rather than upon the community.  Therefore, a victim "saves" society. For example, Cain kills Abel because God was more pleased with Abel; or, Caiaphas' advice concerning the crucifixion of Christ: "You do not realize that it is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish.” (John 11:50)

Below are more enlightening remarks by Girard:

The suffering of Christ "is the underside of scapegoating sacrifice; it reveals everything. In other words, it brings to perfection what is already there in the Hebrew Bible. It is the revelation of sacrifice as false worship: it is nothing more than the result of a false accusation against the victim. [...] Christ is in the place of all victims since the foundation of the world, all sacrificial victims, revealing their accomplice--a willing accomplice--of the violence of humanity with divine permission, as it were, to enable us to reach the point where we become able to understand that."

In other words, God divinely consents to be sacrificed as Christ by humanity's violence in order to expose its violent, mimetic jealousy and thus end the need for sacrifice forever, including its use by humanity as a unifying method. And yet, at the same time, through this sacrifice humanity is saved through Christ, for there could be no humanity without Christ's self-sacrifice--we would have eventually destroyed each other. Therefore, when you celebrate communion, you're actually celebrating Christ having ended the system of violent sacrifice, and through communion, drinking the wine and bread, you actually obtain what you were desiring from the beginning: to be united with God.

Lastly, I'd like to submit that the whole system of violence erected as sacrifice was brought about not by an evil human nature, but rather by blindness, by deception, and human *minds* hostile toward God. Even after the slaying of Abel, humanity remained in the image of God. It was Paul who clearly saw that Christ was in him and in the Gentiles, and who prayed that a person's heart and mind would be open to the reality that they were in fact objects of Christ's salvation, even while they continued to sin.

Grace=Peace,

Jeremy

Brightening God by Darkening Humanity?

 Hello All,

William Ellery Channing (1780-1842), in argument against the low views of humanity propagated in and before his time by mainline Christianity (and being horrified specifically by slavery and the apathy of some Christians toward it), eventually wrote the following:

“There can be no spirit of brotherhood, no true peace, any farther than men come to understand their affinity with and relation to God and the infinite purpose for which he gave them life. As yet these ideas are treated as a kind of spiritual romance: and the teacher who really expects men to see in themselves and one another the children of God, is smiled at as a visionary. The reception of this plainest truth of Christianity would revolutionize society, and create relations among men not dreamed of at the present day. A union would spring up, compared with which our present friendships would seem estrangements. Men would know the import of the word Brother, as yet nothing but a word to multitudes. None of us can conceive the change of manners, the new courtesy and sweetness, the mutual kindness, deference, and sympathy, the life and energy of efforts for social melioration, which are to spring up, in proportion as man shall penetrate beneath the body to the spirit, and shall learn what the lowest human being is. Then insults, wrongs, and oppressions, now hardly thought of, will give a deeper shock than we receive from crimes, which the laws punish with death. Then man will be sacred in man's sight: and to injure him will be regarded as open hostility towards God.” 

Channing profoundly suggests the above would only have been possible had religion not, in its effort glorify God's splendor, negated humanity's worth; had it not sought to "brighten" God's goodness by emphasizing humanity's "darkness." Imagine how the world would be different if the dominating Christian conceptions of God and people had been different for the last 200 years.

Grace=Peace,

Jeremy

Sulphur is for Pure Praise

 Hello All,

Both the prophet Jeremiah and Jesus himself warned Israel about the coming destruction by Babylon and Rome, respectively. Faith placed in military might is not well founded and this was the problem of Jews in the times of Jeremiah and Jesus and it is also one of our problems today. All too quickly we assume that God is on our side, and this belief is part of a vicious cycle that also creates an "us versus them" mentality. It also feeds and is fed by our desire that evil doers and unbelievers would be punished and ultimately rejected by God (of course, we're never included in *that* number, are we, because we'll *always* be faithful, right???). However, for those with faith in God's goodness and peace toward all humanity, there is a subversive undercurrent of promise throughout Scripture that all humanity will be healed, redeemed, and restored. Isaiah announces it, and Paul later expounds upon it.  Isaiah (45:22-26) writes:

22 Turn to me and be safe,

    all you ends of the earth,

    for I am God; there is no other!

23 By myself I swear,

    uttering my just decree,

    a word that will not return:

To me every knee shall bend;

    by me every tongue shall swear,

24 Saying, “Only in the Lord

    are just deeds and power.

Before him in shame shall come

    all who vent their anger against him.

25 In the Lord all the descendants of Israel

    shall have vindication and glory.”

Paul writes later (Phil. 2:10-11):

10 that at the name of Jesus

    every knee should bend,

    of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

11 and every tongue [joyfully] confess that

    Jesus Christ is Lord,

    to the glory of God the Father.

Of course, now you're going to say to me "Ha! It says that people must turn first in order to be safe. What if someone doesn't turn?"

To which I would respond, "And it also reveals that his word WILL be true, since ALL will come before him, even those who come in shame. Moreover, every knee will bow and every tongue will JOYFULLY confess (exomologeō)."

And what's more, some will come in shame, but that is not the same as saying they'll be condemned and cast into eternal damnation.

Something strange happens in Paul's reference in Philippians. Paul, who is obviously quoting from the Isaiah passage, blatantly omits the part about Israel being vindicated and instead writes that EVERYONE will JOYFULLY confess Jesus' Lordship (isn't that how one is "saved" according to Romans???) and this all is not to Israel's glory, an ethnic group, but rather to the glory of the Father.

When we see the Father we'll realize that he has been working to redeem and restore EVERYONE.

EVERYONE, even Christians, will need to be salted with fire (sulphur is used for purification, not damnation). It's just that some will come having believed, and some not. But ALL WILL JOYFULLY confess Jesus is Lord and give the Father glory.

I didn't say it; Paul did--and it's completely fine and normal for Paul to modify an Old Testament prophet's understanding of God, as he so often does.

Grace=Peace,

Jeremy

Fear vs. Love

 Hello All,

Why should the Church teach the concept of post-mortem Eternal Conscious Torment (ETC)?  Quite simply put, it is a teaching that leads most quickly and most effectively to moral behavior. Fear of punishment is a powerful motivator.  Even some of the early Church fathers who did not believe in ETC realized this and went the easy route to modify the behaviors of others, while they themselves knew better. In the following paragraph, historian George Marsden quotes from a more recent preacher, Henry Ward Beecher (1813-1887), and reveals Beecher's thoughts on this topic, which I find very honest.

The idea of eternal punishment for all who do not know Christ, accordingly, makes us "shiver and tremble with sensibility." Such sensibilities accounted for the move away from the "medieval literalization" of the doctrine. Nevertheless, Beecher did not shock his audience and deny this doctrine. "I must preach it," he says with apparent sincerity, even though "it makes me sick." It is a "great element of moral government." No one else, however, he hastens to add, need accept this view. "We are to be utterly tolerant of those who have adopted other theories; . . . we are neither to disown them as Christians, nor to discipline them for believing as they do—the day has gone by when a man is to be disciplined for his honest belief. . . ."

Beecher and I may not agree on every point in other areas of his doctrine, and he may not have lived the most exemplary life, but his point is solid.  Again, fear of punishment is a powerful motivator and as others have said, has been seen as necessary to produce a society that is moral in both civil- and self-governance. Fair enough. But to see that as an *absolute* necessity is short-sighted. Fear is a powerful motivator, but Love is more so by far. What would happen if Christians unanimously demonstrated love toward those who are not Christians, and, of course, even to their own? The world would change within one generation. Love seeks to build bridges (which is what the Pharisees were *supposed* to do). Fear, instead, creates unhealthy and destructive borders.

May Holy Spirit convince your heart that you are loved so that you can be love to another person.

Grace=Peace,

Jeremy

A Monstrous God is either Not Good, or Impotent, or both. But we have reason to be Joyful

 Hello All,

Just a quote from Athanasius today, regarding how it was impossible in God's character for him to allow humanity to ultimately perish.  Athanasius, an early church father, did not believe in a monstrous God.

Athanasius (d. 373) believed that because humanity was created in the image of God and by sharing that image with God, reflected God's glory. Because of sin, however, death entered and was antithetical to man's nature. God, being good, could not let man perish into nothingness.  Either God, because he is Goodness, would act to save humanity, or if he did not, then the only conclusion would be that he was not good, or that he was an impotent god. Instead, God saves, restores, resurrects, heals, revives, and sustains forevermore. Therefore, Paul was absolutely correct when he wrote to the church of the Philippians:

"At the name of Jesus every knee should bend, of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue JOYFULLY confess (exomologeō) that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." (Philippians 2:10-11)

Note: the Greek word exomologeō means to joyfully confess, a detail that was "conveniently" omitted by Bible translators. Having been recited for generations without that understanding, the Church has constantly cited this passage with the idea that those who will eventually be sent to hell must at this time be subjugated before a justly angry God. Fortunately, that's not the true meaning of the passage. Every person will see the Lamb and this passage gives at the very least hope that every heart will be persuaded, thus "saved."

And now from Athanasius:

"Man, who was created in God's image and in his possession of reason reflected the very Word Himself, was disappearing, and the work of God was being undone. The law of death, which followed from the Transgression, prevailed upon us, and from it there was no escape. The thing that was happening was in truth both monstrous and unfitting. It would, of course, have been unthinkable that God should go back upon His word and that man, having transgressed, should not die ; but it was equally monstrous that beings which once had shared the nature of the Word should perish and turn back again into non-existence through corruption. It was unworthy of the goodness of God that creatures made by Him should be brought to nothing through the deceit wrought upon man by the devil; and it was supremely unfitting that the work of God in mankind should disappear, either through their own negligence or through the deceit of evil spirits. As, then, the creatures whom He had created reasonable, like the Word, were in fact perishing, and such noble works were on the road to ruin, what then was God, being Good, to do? Was He to let corruption and death have their way with them? In that case, what was the use of having made them in the beginning? Surely it would have been better never to have been created at all than, having been created, to be neglected and perish; and, besides that, such indifference to the ruin of His own work before His very eyes would argue not goodness in God but limitation, and that far more than if He had never created men at all.  It was impossible, therefore, that God should leave man to be carried off by corruption, because it would be unfitting and unworthy of Himself."

Grace=Peace,

Jeremy

Christ is a King, but not like Constantine

 Hello All,

I believe it's important that we understand how we view God.

When Jesus' fans wanted to take him and to thrust him into their idea of who and what the Messiah-King should be, he refused.  Jesus was a King who came riding in humility on a donkey, not a battle horse.  Jesus was a King who served.

Eusebius, the baptizer of Emperor Constantine, had this to say of his emperor's victories:

"And thus the Almighty Sovereign himself accords an increase both of years and of children to our most pious emperor, and renders his sway over the nations of the world still fresh and flourishing. …He appoints him this present festival, in that he has made him victorious over every enemy that disturbed his peace: He it is who displays him as an example of true godliness to the human race. … Invested as [Constantine] is with a semblance of heavenly sovereignty, he directs his gaze above, and frames his earthly government according to the pattern of that Divine original, feeling strength in its conformity to the monarchy of God. And this conformity is granted by the universal Sovereign to man alone of the creatures of this earth: for He only is the author of sovereign power, who decrees that all should be subject to the rule of one."

Dr. Brad Jersak remarks:

"Note here how Eusebius defines God’s ‘sovereignty.’ It relates to victory through violence and peace via conquest; monarchy through force and coercive power; rule through decrees and reign as subjugation. Rebellion—polytheism, pluralism and democracy—would be trodden underfoot for the sake of God’s kingdom. [...] What does all this imply? For Eusebius, God’s kingdom had come “on earth as it is in heaven” through the lifework of Constantine. The earthly emperor was now the image and agent of the heavenly King, with the institutional church written in as his happy chaplain, confidant and cheerleader!"

So, if Christian theology conveys to the Christian an exemplar of Jesus in the person of an earthly emperor who brings peace through force and violence, how do you think that Christian's view of God will be defined?  And what will their belief about God and the eternal destiny of a person who is an "enemy" be?  Will that God finally, ultimately, be violent, or will mercy triumph in the end?

Romans 11:32 - "For God has bound everyone over to disobedience (Greek: apeitheia, "obstinate rejection of the will of God"; "unpersuadable-ness") so that he may have mercy on them all."

Grace=Peace,

Jeremy

Inviting People to Worship a Loving but Retributive Jesus? Nonsense.

Hello All,

One way to describe the difficulty some people have with Christianity is to note that the faith has been presented as a mixture of the law of Moses and the grace of Jesus; specifically, that the person is subject to both simultaneously. This situation does not bring true freedom and joy, but rather produces feelings of anxiety, insecurity, and fear. The gospel message of Christianity has been presented to the person through an incongruent lens, making people think that Jesus is more like Moses, and instilling the belief in them that Jesus' supposed heart of compassion is in fact a heart toward karma with the end result for the person being retribution and revenge if they fail to be faithful.  Those are strong words, but they are the ultimate conclusion of a person believes that God is ultimately against them.

The key to understanding the Good News is the removal of any idea that Jesus, and thus the Father, will bring retribution upon any person. Retribution is not the same thing as Judgment. Judgment is a correction, not a punishment. And even if it is a sort of punishment, Scripture is plainly clear that Mercy triumphs in the end over Judgment. Punishment and retribution is not his heart toward us and we do an injustice to someone when we tell them of Jesus's love and compassion in our effort to convert them, but withhold from them our ulterior belief that God will eventually turn his back on them.

The apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthians, that they should understand this problem: "But to this day whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their hearts; but whenever someone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away."

Dr. Brad Jersak writes:

"Jesus came to show and tell us exactly who God is in ways no prophet had the capacity to anticipate—not Moses, David or even Isaiah.

For example, we read in John 1:17 that Moses gave us the Law (a system of rewards and punishments), but Christ brought us grace and truth. We read in 2 Cor. 3:9ff that Moses’ covenant brought condemnation but Jesus’ covenant brings righteousness, true freedom and transformation.

What’s happening here? Rather than replacing Yahweh of the Old Testament with the Christ of the New, these authors emphasize that Moses’ revelation of God as the just Judge (the law-bringer) is being eclipsed by Jesus’ greater revelation of God the loving Father (the gospel-giver). They preach the same God, but through a different lens. With the restorative lens of Jesus and his glad tidings, Yahweh comes into focus as that gracious Father whose judgments are mercy. Whatever maleficent image we see is the result of distorted vision, whether ours or the stories’ characters or their human narrators. Through a retributive lens, even Jesus appears vengeful and violent.

Remember, it’s not only the vengeance or violence from which I’m recoiling: the real problem is the portrait of a God whose un-Christlike naked will eclipses love and trumps grace—a coercive force incongruent with Christ’s cruciform revelation of his Father’s love."

Grace=Peace,

Jeremy

A Potential Savior of All? of Some?

 Hello All,

You gotta love First Timothy 4:9-11 -

"It is a trustworthy statement deserving full acceptance. For it is for this we labor and strive, because we have set our hope on the living God, who is the Savior of all mankind, especially of believers.  Prescribe and teach these things."

Every time "especially" (Greek: malista) occurs in the NT, it is inclusive, not exclusive of that which is in the context.

First Timothy 4:9-11 does not say:

1. That the living God is the Savior only of believers.

2. That the living God only saves some.

3. That believers are saved BEFORE everyone else.

4. That God is a POTENTIAL Savior.

But why the "especially" (Gr: malista)?  Because believers *believe* what is already true about ALL of humanity (pas anthrōpos).  Either Christ is the Savior of all, or he is the Savior of none, but he cannot be the Savior of some.  And if he fails to ultimately save all, and is only a POTENTIAL Savior of either some or all, then he is no Savior at all (or of all), and Savior is the wrong title to give him and the wrong name for the Holy Spirit to inspire us to call him.

Grace=Peace,

Jeremy

Jesus and Moses are not equals

 Hello All,

Someone once said, "Many people want to be married to Jesus, but still think it's ok to have an affair with Moses."

When we think  and read about God in Scripture, nearly every sermon we've ever heard is lingering in our consciousness as our interpreter.  This interpreter wants to make Jesus and Moses equal.  It wants to say that the God Moses revealed is the same revelation of the Father that Jesus gave us.  It's just not true.  And if you read Scripture and think like Moses, the Bible literally says that there is a veil covering your eyes, hiding the truth from you.  Here's what Dr. Brad Jersak writes:

"For example, we read in John 1:17 that Moses gave us the Law (a system of rewards and punishments), but Christ brought us grace and truth. We read in 2 Cor. 3:9ff that Moses’ covenant brought condemnation but Jesus’ covenant brings righteousness, true freedom and transformation.

What’s happening here? Rather than replacing Yahweh of the Old Testament with the Christ of the New, these authors emphasize that Moses’ revelation of God as the just Judge (the law-bringer) is being eclipsed by Jesus’ greater revelation of God the loving Father (the gospel-giver). They preach the same God, but through a different lens. With the restorative lens of Jesus and his glad tidings, Yahweh comes into focus as that gracious Father whose judgments are mercy. Whatever maleficent image we see is the result of distorted vision, whether ours or the stories’ characters or their human narrators. Through a retributive lens, even Jesus appears vengeful and violent.

Remember, it’s not only the vengeance or violence from which I’m recoiling: the real problem is the portrait of a God whose un-Christlike naked will eclipses love and trumps grace—a coercive force incongruent with Christ’s cruciform revelation of his Father’s love."

Jesus trumps Moses just as Mercy triumphs over Judgment.

Grace=Peace,

Jeremy 

An All-awful God

Hello All,

Over the years, and not just recently, it has been becoming more and more apparent that today's average person who professes faith in Christ is in a place of disadvantage if they don't understand at least in part how the beliefs of the Christian faith were transferred from one generation to the next over the centuries.  Some beliefs have been true and good; others very early on took the understanding of God as revealed in Jesus and to the apostles (for they had to work through many misunderstandings themselves) to some very wrong and unChristlike places.  In other words, not every belief one hears on sell from a pulpit is in line with the person of Jesus and how his earliest followers understood words like "believe", "repent", "salvation", "justice", just to name a few.  Even those who retort "I read the Bible for myself" are tragically ignorant of the fact that they're reading an Ancient Near East document two millenia separated from the culture in which it was written.  Sure, you "read the Bible for yourself," but you're also using a western, American lens which has centuries of teachings that just are not in line with the intent of the original authors and the life of God revealed in Christ.

Dr. Brad Jersak writes about the one western theologian, Augustine, who, unbeknownst to the majority of Christians, has given us his interpretation of God's person and nature that is not consistent with the revelation of himself in Christ.

"According to Canadian scholar, Ron S. Dart, Augustine took a position at times quite at odds with the Alexandrian Christianity of Clement and Origen. It is in Augustine that notions such as election, double-predestination, God’s sovereignty, just war and God’s willing and choosing reach a place and pitch that has much in common with the God of Biblical Judaism. …[We see] in Augustine the return to a willing, choosing sovereign God, not bounded by goodness or justice. Such a God could and would use his freedom to elect whom he willed for salvation and whom He willed for damnation. This is not a god [we can] truly trust."

In other words, combine the idea of God as all-powerful with the idea he is all-willful without the lens of Jesus' life of goodness and mercy, and you'll end up with an all-awful god who is not good and who does what he wants.  That god is not for you, but only for himself.

It's important to know the history of the church and how we came to believe what we believe.

Grace=Peace,

Jeremy

A Willful God

 Hello All,

Dr. Brad Jersak makes an incredible observation regarding the relationship between a person and God.  He observes that we respond willfully (in the negative sense) to the concept that God imposes His will upon us.  That sort of god is controlling, forceful, unyielding, and ultimately not friendly, trustworthy, or good.  He's also the one that throws you into hell.  This is a deep insight, since Jersak goes on to say that such a person will respond in an unhealthy way; they will also become willful (e.g., stubborn, insistent, unyielding).  They'll either crush your resistance with a rock in an attempt to force you to change, as in "turn or burn" theology or they'll fight against a god in which they cannot trust or believe.  As Tozer said, "What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us." We literally mirror to others the God of our understanding.  What would happen if we really knew the freedom God extends to us?  Would we receive it, live in it as a literal place ("Abide in Me"), and offer it to others?

Jersak writes:

"I would argue that a willful God produces willful people who ultimately do whatever they please. They will see themselves either as God’s agents or, in their willfulness, reject God to become his rivals. On the other hand, a completely good God, whose nature is pure love, produces people who imitate him by exemplifying love. That God, who willingly laid down his life for others, inspires loving followers who truly are free—free to move beyond the slavery of self-seeking into self-giving, sacrificial love."

Grace=Peace,

Jeremy

The Santa Claus-God

Hello All,

What's your favorite misrepresentation of God's character? Mine is the Santa Claus-God.

You know the song:

He's making a list,
He's checking it twice,
He's gonna find out who's naughty or nice
Santa Claus is coming to town

He sees you when you're sleeping
And he knows when you're awake
He knows if you've been bad or good
So be good for goodness sake

Dr. Brad Jersak comments:

"Santa is very legalistic and judgmental. “He’s keeping a list (of sins?); he’s checking it twice. He’s going to find out who’s naughty or nice” (like the Lamb’s book of life?). Children are exhorted to behave or else. Even insomnia on Christmas Eve is threatened, because, “He sees you when you’re sleeping; He knows when you’re awake” [even if you fake it!]. Nor can you hide your hypocrisy because, “He knows if you’ve been bad or good; So be good for goodness sake!” Were you good enough?

The point is entirely anti-grace."

Grace=Peace,

Jeremy

 Hello All,

A widely known biblical verse is John 3:16 - “For God so loved that world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life."

But rarely do you hear it combined with the next verse: "For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but so that the world might be saved through Him.”

Dr. Brad Jersak comments:  "In other words, Jesus does not come to announce condemnation from the Father, nor even to save us from the condemnation of the Father, but rather to reveal the love of the Father for those already perishing and suffering condemnation. Instead of a punishing Judge, the Father of Jesus waits on, watches for and then runs to those who’ve come to the end of themselves."

Think about that:  Jesus did not come to save us from the condemnation of the Father, but rather to save us from the consequences of our own darkened conscience.  And let us be certain to remember the final judgment:  "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do" and "It is finished."

Mercy triumphs over judgment.

Grace=Peace,

Jeremy

Are you an obedient orphan?

 Hello All,

"In Scripture we see numerous examples of God telling BOTH non-Christians and Christians to "fear not."  This message came through prophets, angels, and ultimately, perfectly, through Jesus.

"Do not be afraid"

"I am with you always"

"I will never leave you nor forsake you"

"Nothing can separate you from the love of God in Christ Jesus"

"His love endures forever"

"Perfect love drives out fear, because fear involves punishment"

"What son is there that his father does not discipline?"

"You ALL are disciplined"

"To those who have been trained by it, afterward it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness."

"Jesus, the Christ appointed for you, whom heaven must receive until the period of restoration of all things"

"Mercy triumphs over judgment"

Dr. Brad Jersak recognizes that most people feel abandoned by God, as though he is a "deadbeat dad."  He writes:

A "sense of abandonment easily casts a shadow on their impressions of God. It makes them feel like orphans.

They imagine 'the God who abandoned me.' God, the Dad 'who was powerless to intervene' when I was bullied. God, the Dad 'who walked out' the door one day and never came back. God, the Dad I needed to listen and reply, but never visited or answered my calls. God, the Dad I needed to show me how to grow up. God, the Dad I needed to be proud of me when I succeeded and supportive when I failed. God as 'absence'—absence so painful that we need a breather. [...]

The sad and serious truth is that many of God’s people, whether they had a dad or not, suffer from what we call an ‘orphan spirit.’ They’ve never known the love of God as Father or Mother. God seems perpetually distant, absent and silent—disconnected. In fact, our society is broadly afflicted with this sense of isolation. They are crying out for spiritual mothers and fathers who will adopt them and mentor them."

 I submit that the ultimate expression and only logical conclusion of the "orphan spirit" belief is to believe that God will abandon you for all eternity, punishing you forever, and that your salvation depends upon you being a good little boy (an obedient orphan) and never turning your back on God.  It's not consistent with the character of the Father revealed in Jesus.  Yes, there is judgment and discipline, but that's not the end of the story, and it's not even clear what that will exactly look like, but mercy has the very last word.  And what will a MERCIFUL, present, loving, and Almighty Father who ultimately RESTORES all things do?

Grace=Peace,

Jeremy

God wins us by love rather than threats

 Hello All,

Some churches have a very healthy community; some do not. Others are anywhere in the middle.  Have you ever left an unhealthy environment and were then ostracized, as those you were the unhealthy one? Or, perhaps you were even called a rebel?  I know more than a few.  Dr. Brad Jersak writes:

"An ever-increasing proportion of believers have been remembering, preaching, singing and experiencing directly what we call 'the Father’s heart.' So much so that a great number have nearly forgotten how threatening, judgmental and condemning the God of our childhood could sound. We really have moved on. Sometimes we forget the multitudes who fled through local church exits decades ago and have yet to receive the upgrade we now take for granted. Or did they flee precisely because, in their own spirits, God was already rehabilitating their picture of him, while the congregations they attended weren’t ready to ‘go there’?

Each of us had to experience this good news for ourselves. The revelation included:

(1) a fresh emphasis on God as the merciful and hospitable Father; 

(2) who wins us by love rather than threats;

(3) who accepts and adores us while we’re still a mess;

(4) who sees us as we are and heals us with hugs rather than blows.

We were learning at last that it’s the 'kindness of God that leads to repentance' (Rom. 2:4), and that it is only 'the grace of God that teaches us to say no to ungodliness' (Titus 2:11-12)."

Grace=Peace,

Jeremy

Triggering Questions about God

 Hello All,

"When I personally turned my gaze to the God who is completely Christlike, I was confronted with how un-Christlike the ‘church-God’ or even the ‘Bible-God’ can be. Setting Jesus as the standard for perfect theology, many of our current Christian beliefs and practices would obviously face indictment. Even significant swaths of biblical literature don’t line up well with the Christ of the Gospels. Claiming that God is revealed perfectly in Jesus triggers tough questions about the God I once conceived and preached. [...] Paul resolved to preach ‘Christ and him crucified’ (1 Cor. 2:2). You could resist him, you could mock him and beat him up. You could kill him. And we did. Our God is the cruciform Christ, the ‘weakness of God’ (1 Cor. 1:25) who is stronger than men. Why? Because he operates by overcoming love, not by overwhelming force." - Dr. Brad Jersak

Grace=Peace,

Jeremy

Turning from a false image

 Hello All,

We Christians can be terribly critical of those who question their faith or leave it for some other belief or even atheism.  With our blinders on and in the confines of our tunnel vision, we may miss the fact that such a person is not actually rejecting Jesus, but rather a god that is absolutely un-Christlike. Turning from a false image, according to Scripture, is an important decision:  It's actually called repentance and worship.  What if we, as Christians, are hindering others from finding and worshipping the real Jesus when we hold them to our view of who Jesus is, especially when what we believe about him looks more like a child-sacrifice-demanding god like Molech, rather than the exact image of a loving Father who self-sacrifices rather than demands sacrifice?  Consider the following:

"When [Charles Darwin's] precious 10-year-old daughter, Annie, died in 1851, it broke his heart and crushed his faith. Darwin could hold the good purposes of God and the suffering inherent in natural process in healthy tension until he had to endure the terrible suffering of his little girl. It was too much. Whatever Darwin had believed about God, that belief could not survive his grief.

I wonder...the real culprit may actually be an un-Christlike image of God. Which is to say, not God at all. If so, I’m inclined to agree with Walter Wink, who affirmed such atheism as a first step toward true worship, because it represents the rejection of an idol. That is, people like Maher and Darwin might be turning from — i.e., repenting. The next step, which I don’t pretend they have taken, is a turning toward — i.e., faith. I say a Christlike God is worth turning to."  - Dr. Brad Jersak

Grace=Peace,

Jeremy

St. Irenaeus: disciple of Polycarp, disciple of John, the beloved disciple of Jesus

 Hello All,

Jesus became human to present God to humanity.  And, he became human to also present humanity to God, so that humanity would not "cease to exist" (cassaret esse).  Forever.

"For the glory of God is a living man; and the life of man consists in beholding God. For if the manifestation of God which is made by means of the creation, affords life to all living in the earth, much more does that revelation of the Father which comes through the Word, give life to those who see God."

- St. Irenaeus, disciple of Polycarp, disciple of John, the beloved disciple of Jesus

Grace=Peace,

Jeremy

God! Deliver me from ‘god’!

 Hello All,

"Those of us who claim to believe in ‘the God of the Bible’ must become more aware of how we read the text through thick lenses of our own unconscious biases. From these distorting filters we are prone to construct idols of God in our own image. And so, we hear the controversial German preacher, Meister Eckhart, cry out in exasperation, “God! Deliver me from ‘god’!” That is, save me from every shadowy conception of God that I’ve created and worshiped, deceiving myself into believing it is the one true God! So I say no—if there is a God, I don’t just get to fashion him from the clay of my own image. I need him to reveal himself in a way that can be known." - Dr. Brad Jersak

Panic ...because God is good?

 Hello All,

"When we hear the very best news that we’ve all been hoping for—when our wildest hopes of God are confirmed—something odd happens. Instead of bringing relief and deliverance from old assumptions that made us afraid of God, a wall of resistance arises from certain quarters of American Christendom. Why? The possibility that God is that good—as kind and loving and gracious as Jesus—may create panic because that God is unfamiliar to us. Through their own fears or stiff resistance from their peers or leaders, the very folks asking for hope may retreat back to the oppressive god they’ve known for many years. Perhaps they imagine their old certitude gives them a measure of control. When you ‘know’ something, questions become bad. Those who question doctrinal certitudes are considered dangerous." - Brian Zahnd

Grace=Peace,

Jeremy

God in Flesh versus God in Text

 Hello All,

"Any Scripture that claims to be a revelation of God must bow to the living God when he came in the flesh." - Dr. Brad Jersak

Grace=Peace,

Jeremy

Think differently

 Hello All,

Morpheus from The Matrix:  "You have to understand, most of these people are not ready to be unplugged. And many of them are so inert, so hopelessly dependant on the system, that they will fight to protect it."

Grace=Peace,

Jeremy

Your Identity Structure

 Hello All,

"An identity structure is a self-image, an image you carry inside you of who you are and what your role is in relationship to others. If you were hurt a lot as a child, you might have an image of yourself as a “victim.” That self-image will make you more likely to take on the role of the victim in a current situation. Or if you fought back as a child, you might have developed an image of yourself as a “warrior.” That self-image will make you more likely now to take an aggressive stance, rather than a passive one, no matter what the situation. Other examples of self-images might be “achiever,” “lover,” “realist,” and “dreamer.”

Because a change to an identity structure tends to feel like a threat to the self, we usually resist it. Maintaining our familiar identity structures can actually feel to us like a matter of life and death, so we unconsciously try to eliminate any experience or evidence that would challenge them. People will often reveal that they are guarding an identity structure by saying something like “This is who I am” or “That’s just how I’m made.” Our need to maintain our old, familiar sense of “who I am” often makes us want to maintain our survival patterns, even when they are causing us suffering. This is also why we often fight so hard for our limitations. Those limitations have become part of who we think we are."  - Steven Kessler

Grace=Peace,

Jeremy

Are you a follower of Jesus, or just an admirer?

 Hello All,

Are you a follower of Jesus, or just an admirer?

Jesus' "whole life on earth, from beginning to end, was destined solely to have followers and to make admirers impossible." -  Søren Kierkegaard, Danish philosopher and theologian

"The admirer never makes any true sacrifices. He always plays it safe. Though in words, phrases, songs, he is inexhaustible about how highly he prizes Christ, he renounces nothing, will not reconstruct his life, and will not let his life express what it is he supposedly admires. Not so for the follower. No, no. The follower aspires with all his strength to be what he admires. And then, remarkably enough, even though he is living amongst a 'Christian people,' he incurs the same peril as he did when it was dangerous to openly confess Christ." - Kierkegaard

Grace=Peace,

Jeremy

Overcome Yourself

 Hello All,

“The greatest challenge to our life with God is our predisposition to be egocentric, to insist that life be seen and lived only from our perspective.“ - Richard Foster

Grace=Peace,

Jeremy

Community

 Hello All,

“Community is the highest expression of the spiritual life because of its innate tendency to force us to grow and change. Being in relationship helps us learn how to view life sacramentally, to see the sacred tapestry of God woven together by every fiber of life.“ - Richard Foster

Grace=Peace,

Jeremy

The End of Evil and Death

 Hello All,

"The Christian life began with the public acknowledgment of two uncomfortable realities—evil and death—and in baptism, the Christian makes the audacious claim that neither one gets the final word." - Rachel Held Evans

Grace=Peace,

Jeremy

Religion is always "Us" versus "Them"

Hello All,

“The easiest way to make oneself righteous is to make someone else a sinner.” -  Rachel Held Evans

Grace=Peace,

Jeremy

Look at Jesus

Hello All,

"If there is a God, that God is love, and if you want to know what that love looks like and give it content, you look at Jesus. And if you want to see that love in it clearest focus, we look to the cross and on the cross we see Jesus Christ revealing God is:  (1) self-giving, (2) radically-forgiving, (3) co-suffering love, who for us won a decisive victory over Satan, sin, and death to bring us into a conscious awareness of our place in this God who is Trinitarian love."  - Brad Jersak

Grace=Peace,

Jeremy