50 reasons to be ashamed of Jesus(?)

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The more I read the Gospels, the more I’m struck by the vivid and provocative teaching style of Jesus.  He never merely imparts information: he makes people think.

This certainly gives the lie to ‘gentle Jesus, meek and mild’ (as commonly understood) and to the picture of our Lord as the ‘pale Galilean’.

But it also catches out the unwary, or the careless, reader.  Or, indeed, the reader who is simply looking for trouble.  (Just as there were listeners like that in Jesus’ day, so there are readers like that today).…

Matthew 10:34 – ‘Not peace, but a sword’?

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Matthew 10:34 – “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace but a sword.”

(See also the parallel saying in Luke 12:51-  “Do you think I have come to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division!”)

Looking no deeper than the literal meaning of the words used here, some sceptics see in this verse evidence that Jesus was a warmonger.…

Matthew 10:28 – ‘destroy’: everlasting punishment or annihilation?

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Mt 10:28 – “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Instead, fear the one who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.”

The traditional view

The traditional interpretation goes back at least as far as Tertullian, who espoused a Platonic view of the immortality of the soul (see Fudge, The Fire That Consumes).

Blomberg asserts that

‘”kill,” like “destroy,” does not imply annihilation but eternal suffering, as the qualification “in hell” makes clear.’

…

Mt 12:30/Mk 9:40/Lk 11:23 – For, or against?

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Matthew 12:30 – “Whoever is not with me is against me.” (Also Luke 11:23)

Mark 9:40 – “Whoever is not against us is for us.”

Bart Ehrman (Jesus, Interrupted) asks:

‘Did [Jesus] say both things? Could he mean both things? How can both be true at once? Or is it possible that one of the Gospel writers got things switched around?’

Ehrman has failed to notice that these are not two versions of the same saying, but rather two distinct sayings uttered in different circumstances and for different purposes. …

Mt 16:28/Mk 9:1/Lk 9:27 – “Some standing here will see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom”

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Mt 16:27f – “The Son of Man will come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will reward each person according to what he has done.  I tell you the truth, there are some standing here who will not experience death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.”

Mk 8:38-9:1 – “If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.  …

God is love. Discuss

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The formula ‘God is love’ is often used as if it were a trump card that enabled its user to win every ethical and theological debate.  Moreover, it is appealed to in person-to-person communication and behaviour, so that everything that is said and done is evaluated according to whether the other person feels loved.  The flip side of this is, of course, seen in the current interest in ‘hate speech’ and its associated attitudes and behaviours.…

Perichoresis

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This term (and its Latin equivalent, ‘circumencessio, circuminsessio‘), refers to the mutual indwelling, or coinherence, of the persons of the Trinity.

We rightly distinguish between the persons of the Trinity – Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  They are distinct, but not separate.  Each indwells the others.  They interpenetrate one another.  Their operations are inseparable.

In popular thinking, perichoresis is often understood in terms of ‘dance’.  The attraction here is that this enables the concept to be pictured – dramatised, even. …

God’s sovereign, ceaseless, purposeful activity

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‘Perhaps the dominant theme of the whole Bible is the sovereign, ceaseless, purposeful activity of Almighty God. In contrast to the idols, which had eyes, ears, mouths and hands but could neither see nor hear, neither speak nor act, our God is a living and a busy God. In its own dramatic and figurative way the Bible leaves us no doubt of this. The breath of all living creatures is in his hand. The thunder is his voice and the lightning his fire.…

Deuteronomy 23:6 – ‘Never be kind to a Moabite’?

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Deut 23:3 An Ammonite or Moabite may not enter the assembly of the LORD; to the tenth generation none of their descendants shall ever do so, 23:4 for they did not meet you with food and water on the way as you came from Egypt, and furthermore, they hired Balaam son of Beor of Pethor in Aram Naharaim to curse you. 23:5 But the LORD your God refused to listen to Balaam and changed the curse to a blessing, for the LORD your God loves you.…

Genesis 15:16 – ‘The sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its limit’

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Gen 15:13 Then the LORD said to Abram, “Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a foreign country. They will be enslaved and oppressed for four hundred years. 15:14 But I will execute judgment on the nation that they will serve. Afterward they will come out with many possessions. 15:15 But as for you, you will go to your ancestors in peace and be buried at a good old age. 15:16 In the fourth generation your descendants will return here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its limit.”…