When Jesus Christ laid down his life on the cross of Calvary, it was an act not only of supreme love, but also of deepest humility. The Son of God lowered himself to become a human being, and then descended still further to submit to death, even the brutal, shameful, accursed death of crucifixion.
Yet even while Jesus was being executed, his Father sent visible demonstrations of the fact that here was no ordinary man, and his was no ordinary death. …
[Note: the following was presented in the form of a semi-scripted, role-played interview with ‘Joseph’]
A little earlier, we listened to a reading from Matthew’s Gospel, 1:18-25. This is a very familiar story, and yet quite puzzling in many ways. So I thought it would be good if we could get it straight from the horse’s mouth, as it were. I’m very pleased to welcome a special guest. Joseph, thankyou for coming along and agreeing to answer a few questions about how the birth of Jesus came about.…
Matthew 2:11 – ‘On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshipped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh. ‘
To us, it’s as cosy as a Christmas tree and as comfortable as an old pair of slippers. Of course, we just couldn’t leave it alone, this story of the Magi from the East who came to visit the infant Jesus.…
The law, though it have no power to condemn us, hath power to command us. (Thomas Adams)
The Law by which God rules us is as dear to him as the Gospel by which he saves us. (William Secker)
There are but three ways to fulfil the law: either in my own person here; or to suffer forever in hell; or to believe in and receive another that may do it for me. (Walter Cradock)
The law detects, grace alone conquers sin.…
[The following is based on: Hays, J. Daniel (2001) Applying the Old Testament Law Today. Bibliotheca Sacra 158: 629: 21-35. The article is available here.]
Christians uphold some of the OT laws (such as the Ten Commandments), but violate others (including those relating to food, hygiene, and clothing). We tend to judge their validity on their apparent relevance, but this is abitrary.
How then might we proceed?
The traditional approach is to distinguish between moral, civil and ceremonial laws. …
I’ve just finished reading Emerging Churches – Christian Community in Postmodern Cultures. It is touted (by Brian MacLaren, no less) as the best guide to emerging churches around.
It’s an engagingly-written book, based on interviews with 50 EC leaders in US and UK. Although it therefore incorporates a range of opinions and experiences, the whole thing is given a measure of coherence by the thoughtful commentary of the two researchers/authors.
Gibbs & Bolger summarise the characteristics of emerging churches in their conclusion (pp235ff):-
…Emerging churches are not young adult services, Gen-X churches, churches-within-a-church, seeker churches, purpose-driven or new paradigm churches, fundamentalist churches, or even evangelical churches.
I’m sorry that Michael Pahl is taking a rest from blogging at the moment. But his blog is still worth visiting.
Particularly interesting are some of Michael’s thoughts on inerrancy. I must emphasise that he affirms inerrancy. As a kind of self-criticism, however, he notes the following:-
…The first criticism of a doctrine of inerrancy as it is often formulated is its relevance or usefulness. How helpful is a doctrinal formulation which depends on elusive concepts such as “in the original autographs” (a past-focused elusion), “when correctly interpreted” (a present-focused elusion), or “when all the facts become known” (a future-focused elusion)?
‘Humanity should accept that science has eliminated the justification for believing in cosmic purpose, and that any survival of purpose is inspired only by sentiment.’ (Peter Atkins, Oxford Chemistry Professor)
‘It is fashionable to wax apocalyptic about the threat posed by the AIDS virus, “mad cow” disease and many others, but I think that a case can be made that faith is one of the world’s great evils, comparable to the smallpox virus but harder to eradicate. …
Paul writes in Romans 6:14, ‘sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace.’
What does this mean?
1. Christians are not under law, in the first place, in the sense that they are no longer bound by the ceremonial law of the Old Testament. This law dealt with the Temple and its ritual and, according to the Letter to the Hebrews and other New Testament writings, has been fulfilled in Christ.…
…What a relief it was to become an atheist.
I had become worn out and frustrated by my fruitless search for God.
I had studied holy writings from three different continents. No God there.
I had tried prayer and “positive thinking” as if they were the same thing.
I had wrestled with the problems of theodicy without even knowing that the word existed.
I felt that I had sought God everywhere – in the cosmos, in my neurones, in my bank account.
