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One of my pastors Jamie Strickland recently talked with me about the Gospel of John. We tried to focus on ways that the Gospel could help and encourage us during this current pandemic, although the discussion could really apply to any situation.
If that interests you, then you can watch the embedded Vimeo video here:
Every now and again, I see a Christian make the argument that we do not need to be nice if we are Christians. Jesus turned over tables. Paul told his opponents to mutilate themselves. And therefore, boldness without the need for niceness must lead the way.
In isolation, the argument seems to make sense. But once we start to think about what that means and compare it to the total message of Scripture, we soon realize that the argument falls to pieces. And further, the argument (when acted upon) makes Christians unidentifiable to the world. And in a very real sense, harshness (an opposite of niceness) takes the Lord’s name in vain.
Why do I make such a strong and perhaps-unnice-statement? Am I a living contradiction? Well, I admit that I used strong language to make a rhetorical point, which I hope becomes clear later on. For now, let’s talk about being nice. [Read more…] about Should Christians Be Nice?
I have been alive for 32 years. Which itself is a weird thing to think about. One year marks the earth’s orbit around the sun during which time is spun for about 365 days. A day spans 24 units of the earth’s spin. All that to say, time has no real existence beyond measuring certain celestial movements.
Why should I define my life and growth on the basis of the movement of planets and stars? Why do they get to tell me I am 32 of something? I am here on earth, existing, and the planet and star (the Sun) I am on and orbit define something essential to who I am.
But do they really? Well, they do because I relate my growth, my change to a set of consistent rotations of the earth, whether it is the earth’s spin or its orbit of the sun. [Read more…] about My Age And My Mind: Why Hope Springs from Despair
We sometimes speak about our sinful nature. Which of course we have. The law of sin uses our flesh to further its aims (Rom 7:25). Yet one possible liability with using the phrase “sinful nature” entails what Paul Dirks recently described as a competition of opposing natures.
I would add that the phrase sinful nature implies that sin has a substantial nature. In other words, it would mean that sinful natures have a created existence because the only things that exist are those created by God. God did not create sin, and therefore it is impossible for sin to have substantial existence. Rather, sin only corrupts God’s good creation like rust on metal. It is not a thing but a corrosion of things.
A better way to speak of the power of sin comes directly out of Paul. He speaks of the flesh* and its passions and desires. By using such language, we can speak accurately about sin and also discover concrete ways to defeat sin since we will know what it is.
Speaking of a sinful nature as such can often obscure sin’s real power by making it sound like a dualistic force that we have to fight in a battle like in the ancient teaching of Manichaeism.
That is not the case. And here is why. [Read more…] about Do We Have a Sinful Nature? Better to Say, We Have Passions And Desires of the Flesh.
Christians are supposed to be new creations whose lives exhibit the power of God (2 Pet 1:3ff). As new creations, we walk and live by the Spirit. Even knowing this, many of us struggle to understand what it looks like to change by the Spirit. We attend regular churches full of regular people who don’t appear very much like Spirit-indwelled new creations. What are we missing?
The answer to these questions involves understanding how we change, what the power of God means, and why sin still exists even among Christians. [Read more…] about What does it look like to change by the Spirit?
Over the last month, many of us have experienced disbelief, worry, and finally numbness. Due to these concerns, we naturally have tried to define our situation and what we should do. How do we protect the vulnerable? How do we protect our economy? How do these two concerns mesh?
Many experts have put their shoulders to the plow to figure out these matters, and I will not (and cannot) add to these specific questions since I neither have the requisite skill nor the ability to review all the data. What I do have are faith and Christian ethics.
And through these, we can navigate the difficult ethical waters of the coming months with some confidence. [Read more…] about How to Navigate Ethics in a COVID19 World
